Access earnings results, analyst expectations, report, slides, earnings call, and transcript.
The earnings call highlighted strong financial performance with revenue growth, increased bookings, and a robust cash position. The Q&A section revealed promising AI initiatives and partnerships, particularly with MindTrip and PayPal, despite some vague responses. The company's strategic focus on AI and innovation, coupled with positive market sentiment and no immediate debt concerns, suggests a positive outlook. Given the market cap, the stock is likely to see a moderate positive movement of 2% to 8% over the next two weeks.
Normalized Adjusted EBITDA Grew 10% year-on-year, with a margin improvement of over 160 basis points to 19%. This growth was driven by full-year revenue growth and ongoing expense management.
Pro Forma Free Cash Flow $57 million for the full year, which includes $19 million of disbursements related to refinancing fees and interest paid earlier than expected. This reflects a year-on-year increase.
Debt Reduction Over $1 billion in debt was paid off, reducing pro forma net leverage by approximately 25% compared to year-end 2024. This was achieved through cash on the balance sheet and proceeds from the sale of Hospitality Solutions.
Cash Balance Ended the year with $910 million, including $98 million of restricted cash for debt repayments in the first quarter of 2026. This strong cash position supports further investment and growth.
Revenue $2.8 billion for the full year, up 1% year-on-year, primarily driven by growth in distribution revenue.
Gross Margin 57.2% for the full year, which was within expectations. The margin was influenced by revenue mix and FX impacts.
Air Distribution Bookings Grew 4% year-on-year in the fourth quarter and 7% in December. Growth was impacted by the U.S. government shutdown and flight cancellations but ended the year with strong momentum.
Hotel Distribution Bookings Increased 5% year-on-year to $42 million, with a gross hotel booking value exceeding $20 billion annually. The attachment rate to air bookings increased over 130 basis points year-on-year.
Sabre Payments Gross spend on the platform increased more than 35% year-on-year, producing strong revenue growth. This was one of the fastest-growing business areas in 2025.
Agentic APIs and MCP server: Sabre introduced agentic APIs and a proprietary MCP server designed for the travel industry, enabling AI agents to better understand and operate within travel content and workflows.
AI-driven airline technology: Sabre is delivering modular AI-driven solutions, including tools for real-time revenue optimization and gen AI chat capabilities.
NDC integrations: Added 15 live integrations in 2025, bringing the total to 42, with NDC representing approximately 4% of total air distribution bookings.
Air distribution bookings: Grew 4% in Q4 and 7% in December 2025, with expectations for mid-single-digit growth in 2026.
Hotel distribution bookings: Increased 5% year-on-year to $42 million, with gross hotel booking value exceeding $20 billion annually.
Sabre Payments growth: Gross spend on the platform increased by more than 35% year-on-year, driving strong revenue growth.
Debt reduction: Paid off over $1 billion in debt, reducing pro forma net leverage by approximately 25% compared to year-end 2024.
Cash balance: Ended 2025 with $910 million in cash, including $98 million of restricted cash for debt repayments in Q1 2026.
Expense management: Normalized adjusted EBITDA grew 10%, with a margin improvement of 160 basis points to 19%.
AI-native transformation: Sabre is transitioning from a GDS-focused company to an AI-native technology leader, leveraging its vast travel data and proprietary logic.
Executive leadership changes: Announced new leadership roles to align with AI and innovation strategies, including promotions and new appointments.
Strategic partnerships: Collaborated with PayPal, MindTrip, and Virgin Australia to develop AI-driven travel solutions and conversational commerce platforms.
AI disintermediation risk: Concerns that AI bots could bypass Sabre's marketplace and connect directly to suppliers, potentially reducing Sabre's role in the travel ecosystem.
Government shutdown impacts: The U.S. government shutdown led to reduced government and military travel, lower inbound U.S. traffic, and increased flight cancellations, negatively affecting air distribution bookings.
Debt and leverage challenges: Despite progress in reducing debt and extending maturities, Sabre still faces high leverage and significant annual cash interest expenses, which could impact financial flexibility.
Restructuring costs: The inflation offset program involves $65 million in restructuring costs, with $60 million in cash outflows expected in 2026, contributing to negative free cash flow for the year.
Revenue mix and FX impacts: Changes in revenue mix and foreign exchange pressures, including a weaker U.S. dollar, are expected to negatively impact gross margins in 2026.
NDC and LCC volume growth margin pressure: Growth in NDC and LCC volumes, while driving revenue, is expected to result in slightly lower gross margins due to incremental gross profit at lower margins.
Competition in AI and travel technology: Emerging AI-native companies and competitors in the travel technology space could challenge Sabre's market position, despite its first-mover advantage in agentic AI solutions.
Growth Outlook: Driven by distribution share gains, expansion of multisource content platform, growth in hotel distribution and payments business, and improving airline technology performance.
AI Strategy: Positioning Sabre as an AI-native technology leader, leveraging vast data, integrated content, and complex logic to support travel workflows. AI-native APIs and agentic solutions are expected to drive long-term growth.
NDC Bookings: Exited 2025 with NDC representing approximately 4% of total air distribution bookings. Expecting acceleration in NDC bookings throughout 2026.
Volume Growth: Annual volume growth for 2026 and 2027 expected to be in mid-single digits, driven by share gains, NDC bookings, and LCC solution.
Revenue Growth: Mid-single-digit revenue growth expected for 2026 and 2027, supported by volume growth and IT Solutions revenue growth.
IT Solutions Revenue: Expected to grow in mid-single digits for 2026, with growth primarily in the back half of the year.
Gross Margin: Pro forma gross margin for 2026 expected to be in the range of 56% to 57%, with higher margins in the latter quarters.
Free Cash Flow: 2026 free cash flow expected to be negative $70 million due to restructuring costs. Excluding restructuring, free cash flow would be near breakeven. Positive free cash flow anticipated in 2027.
Capital Expenditures: Annual CapEx spend expected to remain approximately $80 million.
Debt and Leverage: No large debt maturities until 2029. Focus on deleveraging and maintaining a strong cash balance.
AI Partnerships: Strategic partnerships with PayPal, MindTrip, and Virgin Australia to enhance AI-driven travel solutions. Product launches expected in 2026.
The selected topic was not discussed during the call.
The earnings call highlighted strong financial performance with revenue growth, increased bookings, and a robust cash position. The Q&A section revealed promising AI initiatives and partnerships, particularly with MindTrip and PayPal, despite some vague responses. The company's strategic focus on AI and innovation, coupled with positive market sentiment and no immediate debt concerns, suggests a positive outlook. Given the market cap, the stock is likely to see a moderate positive movement of 2% to 8% over the next two weeks.
While Sabre shows positive signs with improved EBITDA margins, strong payments growth, and a promising low-cost carrier platform, concerns exist. The government shutdown impact, reduced EBITDA guidance, and unclear details on key initiatives create uncertainties. The market may react neutrally given the mixed signals and Sabre's small-cap status.
The earnings call summary shows mixed signals: improved EBITDA margins and digital payments growth, but declines in air distribution bookings and negative free cash flow. The Q&A reveals management's cautious outlook due to market changes and industry weaknesses. Despite optimism in certain areas like AI cost efficiencies and partnerships, uncertainties about GDS bookings and NDC growth persist. Given the market cap, the stock is likely to remain stable in the short term, resulting in a neutral prediction for the next two weeks.
While financial metrics like EBITDA and cash flow are positive, revenue stagnation and declining margins are concerns. The debt reduction plan is a positive move, but the market's challenging environment and soft growth projections offset it. The Q&A reveals mixed sentiments, with some optimism on revenue models and strategic initiatives. The company's mid-cap status suggests moderate reaction, leading to a neutral stock price outlook.
All transcripts are sourced directly from the official live webcast or the company’s official investor relations website. We use the exact words spoken during the call with no paraphrasing of the core discussion.
Full verbatim transcripts are typically published within 4–12 hours after the call ends. Same-day availability is guaranteed for all S&P 500 and most mid-cap companies.
No material content is ever changed or summarized in the “Full Transcript” section. We only correct obvious spoken typos (e.g., “um”, “ah”, repeated 10 times”, or clear misspoken ticker symbols) and add speaker names/titles for readability. Every substantive sentence remains 100% as spoken.
When audio quality is poor or multiple speakers talk over each other, we mark the section instead of guessing. This ensures complete accuracy rather than introducing potential errors.
They are generated by a specialized financial-language model trained exclusively on 15+ years of earnings transcripts. The model extracts financial figures, guidance, and tone with 97%+ accuracy and is regularly validated against human analysts. The full raw transcript always remains available for verification.