National Vision Holdings, Inc. operates as a leading optical retail chain across the United States, conducting business through its various subsidiary companies. ...
National Vision Holdings, Inc., traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol EYE, is one of the largest optical retail companies in the United States. Founded in 1990 and headquartered in Duluth, Georgia, the company combines professional eye-care services with retail distribution of prescription eyewear and related products. ...National Vision Holdings, Inc., traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol EYE, is one of the largest optical retail companies in the United States. Founded in 1990 and headquartered in Duluth, Georgia, the company combines professional eye-care services with retail distribution of prescription eyewear and related products. Its business model is designed around convenience, affordability, broad geographic access, and vertically coordinated customer service rather than a high-end luxury optical positioning.
The company’s major operating concepts include America's Best, which is widely associated with value-oriented eye examinations and eyewear packages; Eyeglass World; and Vista Optical locations operated in host environments such as Fred Meyer stores and military exchanges. National Vision also operates other vision-center formats and online channels. Its retail network has exceeded 1,200 physical stores and extends across approximately 38 states and Puerto Rico, with the exact footprint changing as stores are opened, relocated, remodeled, or closed.
Products and services include comprehensive eye examinations, refractions, prescription eyeglasses, frames, lenses, contact lenses, sunglasses, optical accessories, repairs, and related optometric services. The company’s material and product cost structure is primarily driven by frames, ophthalmic lenses, contact lenses, store-level labor, optometrist services, occupancy, distribution, logistics, technology, and marketing. In a simplified bill-of-materials view, an eyeglass sale generally contains a frame, prescription lenses, coatings or lens options, packaging, and professional fitting or dispensing labor. Contact-lens sales have a different merchandise profile and are influenced by manufacturer pricing, rebates, inventory turns, and prescription renewal behavior.
National Vision generates revenue from both merchandise and eye-care services. Its value proposition can support customer traffic and bundled purchases, but profitability is affected by wage inflation, optometrist availability, store occupancy costs, insurance and managed-care arrangements, product mix, promotional pricing, and consumer discretionary spending. The supplied trailing-twelve-month data shows approximately 54.2% gross margin, 8.4% EBITDA margin, 3.9% EBIT margin, and 2.3% net margin, illustrating the relatively low net-profit profile typical of a high-volume retail operator. The company reported approximately $13.8 million of net income per share data equivalent to $0.585 per share in the supplied dataset, with no dividend currently indicated.
Alex Wilkes became chief executive officer effective August 1, 2025, following Reade Fahs’s long tenure as CEO; Fahs transitioned to executive chairman. The company’s principal strategic priorities are generally associated with expanding its store base, improving comparable-store productivity, increasing exam capacity, enhancing digital and omnichannel capabilities, managing merchandise costs, and maintaining an attractive value proposition for underserved or price-sensitive consumers. The supplied employee count is 13,138, placing National Vision in the 10,001-20,000 employee category.
YoYYoY means Year-over-Year. It compares the latest annual value with the previous annual value to show long-term trend strength.
QoQQoQ means Quarter-over-Quarter. It compares the latest quarter with the immediately previous quarter to show short-term momentum changes.
RevenueThe total money that came through the front door from selling things, before paying a single bill. Think of it as the grand total of every credit card swipe from customers. (YoY compares this year to last year's performance, while QoQ compares the current three months to the previous three).
$2.0B
+9.0%
-8.3%
Net IncomeThe absolute bottom line. If the company paid every single supplier, employee, banker, and tax collector, this is the actual money left in their pocket at the end of the day.
$29.6M
+203.9%
-60.2%
Gross MarginThe basic markup. If they sell a $100 pair of sneakers, this percentage tells you how much of that price tag is profit right after paying for the rubber and shoelaces, but before paying for things like store rent or TV commercials.
+54.2%
-6.7%
+5.1%
Operating MarginThe 'day job' efficiency score. Out of every dollar a customer spends, this shows how many cents the company keeps after making the product AND paying for all the everyday corporate overhead (like salaries, marketing, and keeping the lights on).
+3.1%
+642.6%
-48.6%
Net MarginThe final take-home percentage. When you strip away every conceivable cost, tax, and interest payment, this is the exact number of cents the company truly gets to keep from every dollar in sales.
+1.5%
+195.3%
-56.6%
Free Cash FlowThe holy grail of corporate cash. It's the spendable, physical money left over after the business pays for its daily operations AND buys the big, expensive upgrades (like new factories or servers) it needs to survive. This is the 'free' money they can use to pay dividends or buy back stock.
$73.5M
+92.6%
-131.9%
FCF MarginThe ultimate cash conversion rate. It shows how good the company is at turning regular sales directly into cold, hard, spendable cash. A high percentage means the business is an absolute cash-printing machine.
+3.7%
+76.7%
-134.8%
Debt / EquityThe financial risk gauge. It compares how much of the company's empire was built using borrowed money (loans) versus the owners' own money (shareholders). A high number means they are heavily leveraged and playing a riskier game; a low number means they are playing it safe.
79.9%
-20.1%
+0.8%
Current RatioThe 12-month survival check. It simply compares the cash they have right now (plus things they can quickly turn into cash) against the immediate bills they absolutely must pay this year. A score above 1 means they have enough in the wallet to cover the upcoming bills without panicking.
0.55x
+2.6%
-4.9%
Total AssetsThe absolute size of the company's empire. It bundles together absolutely everything of value they own—from the cash in the register and the inventory in the warehouse, to the software patents in the vault and the factories on the ground.
Operator: Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Q2 2026 National Vision Holdings Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Tamara Gonzalez, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Tamara Gonzalez: Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to National Vision's Second Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. Joining me on the call today are Alex Wilkes, CEO; and Chris Laden, CFO. Our earnings release issued this morning and the presentation accompanying our call are both available in the Investors section of our website, ir.nationalvision.com. A replay of the audio webcast will be archived in the Investors section after the call. Before we begin, let me remind you that our earnings materials and today's presentation include forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations and projections. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the factors identified in the release and our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The release and today's presentation also includes certain non-GAAP measures. Reconciliation of these measures is included in our release and the supplemental presentation. We would like to draw your attention to Slide 2 in today's presentation for additional information about forward-looking statements and non-GAAP measures. As a reminder, National Vision provides investor presentations and supplemental materials for investor reference in the Investors section of our website. I will now turn the call over to Alex. Alex?
Alex Wilkes: Thanks, Tamara, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today for our second quarter earnings call. The second quarter marked an important step forward for National Vision. We completed a significant technology milestone following the implementation of our e-commerce replatform. And most importantly, we delivered underlying results in line with our strategic framework, driving growth through underdeveloped customers, underpenetrated products and an enhanced customer experience, all while delivering meaningful improvement in profitability. This is the flywheel we are building: a stronger customer mix, better product attachment and a more connected experience and a store base that supports sustainable growth, margin expansion and increased profitability. For the quarter, net revenue grew 2.5% to $499 million and adjusted Comp Store sales increased 2.2%, in line with our expectations discussed on our last quarter call, with accelerated ticket growth helping to offset the temporary replatform impact and broader pressure on lower value transactions. Our trend analysis suggests the replatform impacted total adjusted Comp Store sales by …
