Strategy earnings: third quarter 2026

Strategy, the company that holds bitcoin and also sells software, reported net income of $19.53 billion for the third quarter of 2026, up from $2.79 billion a year earlier. Almost all of it was a $20.91 billion rise in the paper value of its bitcoin, not cash earned. Its software sales fell 3% to $125.4 million. The payments it owes to holders of its preferred shares roughly tripled, and it sold some bitcoin to help pay them. It also built a $5.07 billion dollar reserve. ¹

Against what analysts expected

Earnings per share came in at $44.75, more than double the $21.50 analysts expected on average, according to Nasdaq's earnings calendar. Nearly all of the difference reflects the paper gain on bitcoin rather than the software business. ¹²

The strong points

• The rise in bitcoin's price gave Strategy a paper gain of $20.91 billion on the coins it holds, and that gain makes up nearly all of the quarter's profit. ¹
• The company holds $5.07 billion in dollars, which it says covers 3.4 years of its dividends and interest. ¹

The weak points

• Dividends owed on the preferred shares tripled to $419.6 million in the quarter, and part of them was paid by selling bitcoin. ¹
• Sales from the software business fell 3% to $125.4 million. ¹
• Debt due within a year jumped to $1.05 billion, from $31 million in December. ¹

What the company expects

• The founder and chairman says he believes a new bitcoin boom is beginning and that demand from large investors is back. ¹
• Strategy says it plans to keep buying back its STRC preferred shares while they trade below $100, after buying back about $2.0 billion of them this quarter. ¹

Our verdict on the quarter

A mixed report. The headline profit was enormous and far above what analysts expected, but it is a paper gain on bitcoin, while the software business shrank and the growing preferred dividends were partly paid by selling bitcoin.

The results as published

• The results release itself
• The filing it came with (SEC)

Notes

1. Strategy's results release, 29 October 2026: sec.gov. ↩
2. Nasdaq's earnings calendar, 29 October 2026. ↩