LPL Financial (LPLA) Q3 2026 earnings summary

Executive summary

• Q3 revenue rose 17% YoY to $5.344B; net income was $356.6M, or $4.52 diluted EPS, versus a $29.5M net loss in Q3 2025.

• Adjusted EPS was a record $5.97, up 15% YoY; adjusted pre-tax margin was 38.6%.

• Total client assets reached $2.565T, up 11% YoY; organic net new assets were $29.1B, a 5% annualized growth rate.

• Commonwealth conversion preparations remained on track for mid-November, with expected asset retention of ~83%.

Financial highlights

• Gross profit was $1.662B, up 12% YoY; adjusted EBITDA was $864.2M, up 12%, and adjusted pre-tax income was $641.1M, up 13%.

• Core G&A was $532.2M, up 11% YoY; reported total expenses rose 6% to $4.859B.

• Client cash revenue was $472M, up $15M QoQ; service and fee revenue was $218.1M, up $9M QoQ, while transaction revenue was $79M, down $4M.

• Nine-month revenue grew 28% to $15.469B; net income rose 94% to $1.092B and diluted EPS was $13.68 versus $7.15.

• Q3 2025 acquisition costs included $419.0M incurred at the Commonwealth closing; Q3 2026 acquisition costs were $83.1M.

Outlook and guidance

• 2026 Core G&A guidance narrowed to $2.140B-$2.160B, including $350M-$355M related to Commonwealth; excluding Commonwealth, guidance is $1.790B-$1.805B.

• Q4 TA loan amortization is expected at ~$160M and D&A at ~$130M; interest expense is expected to rise ~$11M QoQ, with promotional expense at a similar level to Q3.

• Q4 ICA yield is expected to increase ~20 bps; service and fee revenue is expected to decline by a few million, while transaction revenue is expected to rise by a few million.

• Fully onboarded and integrated Commonwealth is expected to generate ~$415M in annual run-rate EBITDA, versus acquired baseline EBITDA of ~$90M; full ramp is estimated by Q4 2027.

• Normalized organic growth toward the higher end of the mid-to-high single-digit range depends partly on institutional wins; onboarding contributions may increasingly benefit 2028.