Sabre Corporation

Second-quarter revenue was $712 million, up 4% year over year. Normalized adjusted EBITDA was $151 million, up 19% year over year, and adjusted EBITDA margin expanded 272 basis points to 21.2%. Gross margin was 57.1%, at the high end of the company’s 56% to 57% range. Free cash flow was positive $10 million in Q2, and cash ended at $697 million. For 2026, Sabre raised full-year pro forma adjusted EBITDA guidance to approximately $600 million and free cash flow guidance to approximately negative $65 million, while reaffirming full-year revenue and air distribution bookings growth outlook. For Q3, management expects normalized adjusted EBITDA of approximately $155 million; for Q4, approximately $125 million. Air distribution bookings and revenue are expected to grow in the flat to low single-digit range in Q3 and low to mid-single digits in Q4.

Kurt Ekert said the quarter came in ahead of expectations and highlighted continued momentum in the company’s growth strategies. He emphasized that Sabre is positioning itself as a leader in the emerging agentic AI travel channel, citing its open platform, MCP Server, and growing developer ecosystem as reasons for optimism. He also pointed to progress across Marketplace, Airline Technology, Lodging Expansion, and Payments, including a new airline technology win in Africa.

Michael Randolfi said Q2 results exceeded expectations across revenue, gross profit, normalized adjusted EBITDA, and free cash flow. He explained that the 57.1% gross margin was helped by booking mix and higher-margin payments/media revenue, and that roughly two-thirds of the EBITDA outperformance came from higher gross income while the rest came from timing of technology investments. He noted free cash flow guidance improved to about negative $65 million, with roughly $60 million of restructuring costs tied to the inflation offset program, and said the company now has no debt maturities until 2029 after extending its AR securitization facility through September 2029.

Analysts pressed on why Airline Technology revenue was down year over year and whether competitive behavior from Amadeus was affecting the business. Management said the quarterly variation was mainly timing-related, with less license-fee and performance-deliverable revenue in the quarter, and reiterated that the business should be in the $140 million to $150 million range in Q3 and Q4. On Amadeus, Kurt Ekert repeated concerns about PSS leverage limiting competition in OOSD and said Sabre is pursuing an open, modular alternative. Questions on AI focused on whether large AI labs will move into travel; management said big players are initially focused on enterprise and retail e-commerce, but believes travel is likely to follow, and that Sabre is well positioned given its multisource platform and 60 active pilot/production partners. Analysts also asked about bookings outperformance and NDC; management attributed the strength to share gains, LCC growth, NDC growth, and above-average corporate mix.