Coupang earnings: third quarter 2026

Coupang, the online retailer whose business is mainly in South Korea, sold more in the third quarter of 2026 than a year earlier, but it swung from a profit to a loss. A fire at its Incheon warehouse added large costs, yet even without them the business lost money, and it went from producing spare cash to using it while still buying back its own shares. ¹

Against what analysts expected

Analysts expected a loss of $0.23 a share, according to Nasdaq's earnings calendar. The company's own adjusted loss of $0.18, which leaves out the fire costs, was smaller than that, while its reported loss of $0.28 was larger, so whether the quarter came in better or worse depends on how the fire is counted. ¹²

The strong points

• Sales rose 7% to about $10 billion, and faster still once currency swings are removed, so customers kept buying even as profit fell. ¹
• Its debt is modest next to its cash, with about $1 billion of borrowings due within a year. ¹

The weak points

• Leaving out the fire costs, the business still made an operating loss of $202 million, against an operating profit a year ago. ¹
• Free cash flow, the cash left after running the business and investing in it, was negative $72 million, against positive cash a year ago. ¹
• It still bought back $201 million of its own shares in the quarter, paid from cash on hand rather than cash the business made. ¹

Our verdict on the quarter

A strong report. Leaving out the fire, the loss per share was smaller than analysts expected and the company changed no forecast, though behind that the business swung from a profit to a loss and used cash, so the grade rests on expectations that were already low.

The results as published

• The results release itself
• The filing it came with (SEC)
• The previous results, for what it forecast then

Notes

1. Coupang's results release, 3 November 2026: sec.gov. ↩
2. Nasdaq's earnings calendar, 3 November 2026. ↩