Earnings calls, loved by some CFOs and dreaded by others, allow finance leaders and their fellow executives to verbalize their organization’s progress. Each month, CFO.com compiles interesting insights shared by CFOs during these calls for The CFO Earnings Dispatch series. These insights include statements about their company, analysis of financial data and answers to analysts’ questions.
For August, we highlight CFO takes from Affirm, Build-A-Bear, J.M. Smucker, Intuit, MSG Entertainment, Rumble and U-Haul.
1. Affirm
Market cap: $29.25 billion
Date of call: Aug. 28
Affirm positioned itself around long-term financing partnerships at a time when its larger rival Klarna is preparing to go public. CFO Michael Linford said, “It is important that we pick capital partners who we think are going to be our partners for the long term and not just worrying about who’s the lowest bid today.” He pointed to alliances with firms like Sixth Street and leading insurance asset managers as examples of how the company aligns with what it calls “the blue chips of these asset managers.”
Discussing interest rates, Linford reiterated that the mechanics of funding costs remain consistent regardless of the direction of rate changes. “A one-point move in reference rates should translate to about a 40 bps change in our funding cost,” he said, while emphasizing the majority of Affirm’s funding adjusts with a lag of one to two years. He also noted the company considers the broader context behind declining rates, such as whether they reflect rising unemployment or consumer stress.
Seasonality was another factor in recent results, particularly within Affirm’s 0% financing programs. “One of the ways that we can do that is by making the shortest term that’s presented in the financing program a 0% offer,” Linford explained. He added that this structure shortens term lengths for merchants, and it contributed to quarter-to-quarter variation.
2. Build-A-Bear
Market cap: $803.48 million
Date of call: Aug. 28
Build-A-Bear reported the most profitable second quarter in company history, with revenues rising 11.1% to $124.2 million and pretax income jumping 32.7% to $15.3 million. CFO Voin Todorovic highlighted the company’s momentum, saying, “This was the most profitable second quarter and first half in the company’s history.” He pointed to double-digit growth across both retail and commercial segments, improved gross margins and strong consumer demand.
Despite record results, management cautioned about mounting external pressures. Todorovic said tariffs have already added about $1 million to costs in Q2, with the full-year impact expected to be nearly $11 million. “Tariffs are a real cost that we are facing,” he said. Combined with $5 million in higher medical and labor costs, tariffs have contributed to the nearly $16 million headwinds the company faces, he noted. Even so, Build-A-Bear raised its guidance for full-year pretax income to $62 million to $70 million.
Traffic trends and product launches also played a role in quarterly gains. Domestic store traffic rose 3% compared to a 3% decline nationally, while e-commerce demand grew 15.1%. Todorovic pointed to initiatives like the launch of “Mini Beans” collectibles, which drove higher ticket prices and helped offset promotional pullbacks. “We are doing things that are within our control,” he said, emphasizing tighter promotional cadence and customer service improvements to sustain momentum heading into the back half of the year.
3. Bill.com
Market cap: $4.78 billion
Date of call: Aug. 27
Bill.com delivered strong Q4 and full-year results, with core revenue up 16% year over year and non-GAAP operating income reaching $240 million in fiscal 2025. It was the first earnings call for CFO Rohini Jain, who joined the company in early June. “In fiscal year 2025, we achieved strong growth and margin expansion, over-delivering on the commitments that we had set out at the beginning of the year,” Jain said, pointing to disciplined investment management and efficiencies that funded Bill.com’s AI platform.
Even as Q4 revenue accelerated to $346 million, Jain cautioned about headwinds tied to tariffs and small- and medium-sized business spending. “SMBs have a finite wallet, and they are trying to absorb some of the costs of the tariffs, which is leaving them less money to spend on advertising and [travel and and expenses],” she said. Bill.com guided fiscal 2026 revenue to $1.59 billion to $1.63 billion, or 9% to 11% growth, with non-GAAP operating income expected between $240 million and $270 million.
Looking ahead, Jain highlighted AI as a key driver of the company’s next phase. “The first phase is really to get a lot of these agents out, driving value to the SMBs and have them adopt and use it so that we can make them the best product there is available,” she said. Longer term, she described opportunities to monetize AI through subscription pricing and transaction-based revenue, underscoring Bill.com’s goal of evolving into a multibillion-dollar enterprise.
4. J.M. Smucker
Market cap: $11.94 billion
Date of call: Aug. 27
J.M. Smucker said it expects mid 20% price increases across its at-home coffee brands, including Folgers, Dunkin’ and Café Bustelo, to offset higher tariffs and keep profits on track. CFO Tucker Marshall told analysts that outlook for the full year “has not changed at the midpoint.” Marshall also said “we do see favorability coming through our fiscal year as a result of better-than-anticipated price elasticity of demand assumptions through our coffee portfolio. But that benefit is being offset by increased tariffs.”
He explained pricing actions taken in May and August, combined with favorable elasticity, lifted the coffee outlook by about $100 million for fiscal 2025. “Unfortunately, tariff rates have gone above 10%, and we have to react to that,” he said, noting the roughly 25-cent headwind is largely absorbed in the coffee portfolio. He added that while coffee profits are holding steady, the timing of hedging and higher costs in Q1 and Q2 will shift more profitability to the second half.
Outside of coffee, the company expects about $30 million in savings from SKU rationalization and the closure of its Indianapolis bakery, with $10 million realized in Q4 and the remainder in fiscal 2027. The company also raised its free cash flow outlook to $975 million, up $100 million, citing recurring benefits from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. “It is not a one-time benefit,” Marshall said. “We plan to… support our ongoing debt paydown efforts in order to achieve our three times leverage profile by the end of fiscal year ’27.”
5. Intuit
Market cap: $186.4 billion
Date of call: Aug. 21
Intuit CFO Sandeep Aujla said fiscal 2025 was marked by accelerating AI adoption across the company’s platform, especially in assisted tax and mid-market services. “Our disciplined approach to managing the business allowed us to achieve strong margin expansion while driving breakthrough adoption in assisted tax, introducing transformative AI agents across our business solutions, and building our mid-market go-to-market capabilities,” he said.
Looking ahead, Aujla pointed to customer behavior and pricing dynamics as important factors shaping 2026. “Once you look outside of our accounting platform, in desktop and in services, we had less pricing heading into fiscal 2026 than what we took in ’25,” he said. He emphasized that the underlying business remains strong, with growth in QuickBooks, TurboTax and Credit Karma expected to continue even as pricing plays a smaller role.
AI adoption and customer funnel dynamics are also central to Intuit’s strategy. “Search and AI traffic is not apples to apples,” Aujla said. “The AI traffic tends to be much higher consideration and converts automatically better through the funnel.” On Mailchimp, the company’s email marketing and automation platform, he added that the mid-market team is showing “really good progress” and that small businesses “are the bread and butter,” with confidence the business will be “exiting double digits this fiscal year.”
6. MSG Entertainment
Market cap: $1.93 billion
Date of call: Aug. 13
David Collins, CFO of MSG Entertainment, said the company is entering fiscal 2026 with multiple growth levers, ranging from adding more events at its venues to expanding sponsorships and premium hospitality. “As we enter the new fiscal year, we see a number of avenues for growth across our business, which include continuing to increase the number of events at our venues, driving growth in per event profitability, building on the success of Christmas Spectacular and growing our sponsorship and premium hospitality businesses,” he said.
Collins pointed to early strength in ticket sales and bookings as a sign of continued demand. He said advanced sales for its Christmas Spectacular are pacing well ahead of last year, with higher yields on both individual and group tickets, and that concerts at Madison Square Garden are on track for a record first quarter. “We remain confident in our ability to continue to grow this business this fiscal year,” Collins said, noting that additional shows could be added if demand holds.
Looking ahead, Collins emphasized both balance sheet discipline and flexibility to invest in the guest experience. He said the company is continuing to renovate suites and enhance theaters such as Radio City and the Beacon, while also keeping capital returns in focus. “We repurchased approximately $40 million of our Class A common stock during fiscal ’25, delivering on one of our core capital allocation priorities,” he said. “Going forward, we will continue to explore ways to opportunistically return capital to our shareholders.”
7. Rumble
Market cap: $2.43 billion
Date of call: Aug. 11
Rumble CFO Brandon Alexandroff said second quarter results showed progress in monetization as subscriptions, licensing and tipping offset weaker ad revenue. “ARPU increased to 42 cents, up 24% sequentially,” he said, pointing to higher premium and local subscription activity as signs the strategy is working.
Profitability improved as major creator deals rolled off, giving the company more flexibility. “Cost of services improved 26% year over year… primarily due to the expiration of various programming and content agreements,” Alexandroff said. He added that Rumble will “continue to evaluate our optionality going forward” as it balances content costs with growth.
Alexandroff emphasized that the company’s strengthened balance sheet and new partnerships give it room to shift priorities. “Materially moving towards adjusted EBITDA breakeven is still important… but it’s become a lesser relative priority as we evaluate investing into aggressive growth,” he said. He pointed to the backing of Tether and strong liquidity, $306.4 million at quarter end, including $22.6 million in Bitcoin holdings, as support for that strategy.
8. U-Haul
Market cap: $10.37 billion
Date of call: Aug. 7
U-Haul CFO Jason Berg said first-quarter results reflected solid revenue growth but were pressured by higher depreciation and losses on equipment sales. “Cargo vans that we purchased over the last two years that are now being sold came into the fleet with higher initial costs, and the current market resale values are not reflecting this, resulting in a loss,” he said. Berg added that increased depreciation from a larger box truck fleet also weighed on earnings.
Berg noted U-Box, its portable storage and moving container service, continues to grow faster than the core truck rental business. “U-Box one-way transactions are leading the way. They’re exceeding our truck rental transactions as a percentage,” he said. He emphasized the product’s growth is independent of truck rentals: “I certainly don’t look at the performance of the one-way shipping of U-Box product and juxtapose it against the truck rental numbers… what you should expect is for U-Box performance as a percentage to exceed the truck rental gains that we’re able to make.”
Self-storage remains a key contributor, with under-90% occupancy sites representing about $260 million in potential revenue upside. “A very rough estimate would be maybe 80% of that, give or take, is going to flow to the bottom line,” Berg said. He noted liability costs and depreciation are pressuring margins, and added, “What we’ve been trying to do is slow the spend, not because we don’t believe in self-storage… but because we want to be rational in our capital allocation.”
