DoorDash reported Q2 2026 after the close on August 5. Revenue was $4.5B, up 36% year over year. Marketplace GOV was $33.1B, up 36%. Total orders were 970 million, up 27%. Adjusted EBITDA was $914M, up 40%, at 2.8% of GOV. GAAP net income was $200M, down 30%, and diluted EPS was $0.46 against $0.65 a year ago.
This morning we previewed the print around two claims: consensus of $0.50 on $4.32B implied a 23% earnings decline against 31% revenue growth, and the Rule of 40 score had sat between 46 and 51 for three straight quarters while diluted EPS fell in three straight. Both halves broke, in opposite directions.
The calls, graded
| What we said | What the print says |
|---|---|
| Consensus $4.32B of revenue, +31% | Beat. $4.5B, +36%. |
| Consensus $0.50 of EPS, a 23% decline | Missed, and the decline was worse. $0.46, down 29% year over year. |
| The R40 score has been stuck at 46–51 for three quarters | Broke out. 52.5 on DoorDash's own free-cash-flow definition — see below, because the definition matters here. |
| Diluted EPS fell in three straight quarters | Streak ended, sequentially. $0.42 to $0.46. Year over year it still fell. |
A quarter that beats on revenue by four points of growth and misses on EPS by four cents is a quarter where the money went somewhere. It went into GOV growth and into the cash line.
The Rule of 40, recomputed — and a definitional problem worth naming
| Quarter | Revenue | FCF (house) | FCF margin | Revenue YoY | R40 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 Q2 | $3,284M | $438M | 13.34% | — | — |
| 2025 Q3 | $3,446M | $808M | 23.45% | +27.35% | 50.80 |
| 2025 Q4 | $3,955M | $367M | 9.28% | +37.66% | 46.94 |
| 2026 Q1 | $4,036M | $537M | 13.31% | +33.11% | 46.42 |
| 2026 Q2 | ~$4,500M | see below | — | +36% | 52.5 |
The three prior quarters are exactly the 46-to-51 band the preview described. This quarter clears it.
But the number depends on whose free cash flow you use, and the two disagree by a lot. DoorDash reported $944M of operating cash flow and called $742M of it free cash flow. Our house definition is operating cash flow less purchases of property and equipment, and it is consistently the larger of the two for this company. In Q2 2025 DoorDash reported $504M of operating cash flow and $355M of free cash flow — a $149M deduction — while the property-and-equipment line we store for that quarter was $66M. An $83M gap on the same quarter.
So the 52.5 above uses DoorDash's own $742M, giving a 16.49% free-cash-flow margin on top of 36% revenue growth. On the house definition the score will be higher, and we will restate it when the 10-Q gives us the property-and-equipment line rather than infer it now.
Either way the conclusion holds: the band broke upward, and it broke on the cash half, not the growth half.
The guidance carries a cash warning the headline does not
Q3 guidance is $33.0B–$34.0B of Marketplace GOV and $950M–$1,100M of adjusted EBITDA. On GOV that is roughly flat to slightly up on the $33.1B just delivered — a deceleration against the 36% just printed, and the kind of guide that explains why the shares fell after hours despite the revenue beat.
The line worth reading twice is in the full-year outlook: DoorDash expects a negative $700M–$800M free-cash-flow impact for 2026 from merchant payment timing. That is not an earnings item and it will not touch adjusted EBITDA. It lands squarely on the half of the Rule of 40 that just carried the score above the band.
A company guiding to $950M–$1,100M of quarterly adjusted EBITDA while flagging three quarters' worth of free cash flow leaking out on working capital is telling you the two halves of its score are about to disagree. Full-year stock-based compensation of $1.2B–$1.3B and D&A of $1.1B–$1.2B are the other reason GAAP net income fell 30% in a quarter when adjusted EBITDA rose 40%.
The gap between the two profit numbers is the whole story
Adjusted EBITDA up 40%. GAAP net income down 30%. Same quarter, same business.
That divergence is what the Rule of 40 is supposed to protect a reader from, and it only does so if the cash half is honest — which is why the definitional gap above matters more than it looks. A score built on a company-defined free-cash-flow figure inherits that company's definition of the word. Ours does not, and this quarter that difference moves the number by several points.
The number to watch next quarter is not GOV. It is whether the merchant-payment-timing drag shows up where management says it will, and what the score looks like once it does.