Here's a classic Wall Street story: a company reports a great quarter, beats expectations, and the stock tanks. That's what happened to Planet Fitness, Inc. (PLNT) on Tuesday. The gym chain delivered solid fourth-quarter numbers, but investors decided to focus on what's coming next—and they didn't like what they saw.
The stock dropped over 9% to $82.48, hitting a fresh 52-week low. The culprit? A cautious outlook for 2026 that fell short of what analysts were hoping for.
Let's break it down. For the quarter, Planet Fitness posted adjusted earnings per share of 83 cents, beating the consensus estimate of 79 cents. Revenue came in at $376.258 million, up 10.5% from a year ago and ahead of the Street's expectation of $367.892 million. So far, so good.
The company's core business metrics looked healthy. System-wide same club sales—a key measure of performance at existing locations—rose 5.7% year-over-year. Total system-wide sales hit $1.3 billion, up from $1.2 billion. Revenue grew across all segments: franchise revenue up 9.6%, corporate-owned clubs up 7.4%, and equipment sales up 15.3%. Adjusted EBITDA increased to $146.3 million from $130.8 million.
Planet Fitness also kept up its expansion pace, opening 104 new clubs in the quarter (93 franchisee-owned, 11 corporate-owned). That brings the total to 2,896 clubs globally. The company ended the year with about 20.8 million members.
"We ended the year with approximately 20.8 million members, and a global footprint of nearly 2,900 clubs, reinforcing the quality of our member experience and our core conviction that anyone can get a great workout at Planet Fitness for an incredible value," said CEO Colleen Keating.
So why the sell-off? The guidance. For 2026, Planet Fitness forecast adjusted EPS in the range of $3.35 to $3.38. That's notably below the analyst consensus estimate of $3.54. Revenue guidance of $1.443 billion also missed the Street's $1.459 billion expectation.
The company isn't slowing down its growth plans, though. It expects to open 180 to 190 new clubs system-wide in 2026 and place about 150 to 160 sets of new equipment in franchisee-owned locations. Management projects system-wide same club sales growth of 4% to 5% and an adjusted EBITDA increase of approximately 10%.
Financially, the company exited the quarter with a strong cash position: $607 million in cash and marketable securities, including $345.7 million in cash and equivalents, $66.3 million in restricted cash, and $195 million in marketable securities.
In the end, it's a tale of two timeframes: a strong past quarter versus a future that looks good, just not as good as Wall Street wanted. And in the market, sometimes that's all it takes.
