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 November, we highlight CFO takes from Zoom, Nvidia, Virgin Galactic, Bark, Warner Bros. Discovery, Texas Roadhouse, DoorDash and Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
1. Zoom
Market cap: $26.07 billion
Date of call: Nov. 24
Michelle Chang spent much of her earnings call qualifying the quality of Zoom’s profitability and cash flow. She flagged that the jump to a 50% free cash flow margin was helped by one-time improvements in collections and DSO, calling those changes “durable” but warning investors they “won’t continue to see that marked progress as we go forward.” She also acknowledged that enterprise net dollar expansion stuck at 98% remains a drag on growth and said an inflection above 100% is the goal, but would not put a timeline on it.
Strategically, Chang positioned AI and CX as the engines that have to bend those growth curves higher over time. She told analysts the company now thinks in three AI-first priorities, starting with “elevating workplace with AI” across the whole meeting lifecycle and then “driving new products with AI” in both horizontal collaboration and vertical use cases like contact center and hiring. Overall, her message was that Zoom’s model is shifting from seat expansion in meetings to a broader AI platform where growth will come from attaching new AI SKUs and CX products to an increasingly enterprise-heavy base.
2. Nvidia
Market cap: $4.47 trillion
Date of call: Nov. 19
Colette Kress, who recently crossed the billionaire net-worth threshold as the CFO of Nvidia, made clear that China remains a pressure point despite record data center results. She noted that “sizable purchase orders never materialized… due to geopolitical issues and the increasingly competitive market in China,” and reiterateed Nvidia is “not assuming any data center compute revenue from China” in its Q4 outlook. Inventory rose 32%, and supply commitments climbed 63% sequentially, which Kress framed as positioning for demand outside China as hyperscalers and model builders continue to run Nvidia’s installed base at full utilization.
Her comments landed just before President Donald Trump announced that Nvidia will be allowed to ship its H200 AI chips to “approved customers” in China under a new structure that gives the U.S. a 25% revenue cut. Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping “responded positively” to the plan, with the Commerce Department finalizing details that will also apply to AMD and Intel.
Nvidia and AMD had previously agreed to share 15% of China’s chip revenue with the U.S. government, even as China warned companies against using Nvidia’s lower-spec H20 model. Kress did not address the policy shift on the call, underscoring that Nvidia’s near-term forecast still excludes China compute revenue and leans instead on what she described as “visibility to half a trillion dollars in Blackwell and Rubin revenue” through 2026.
3. Virgin Galactic
Market cap: $226.26 million
Date of call: Nov. 13
Space tourism company Virgin Galactic reported only $400,000 in revenue for the quarter, but CFO Doug Ahrens kept the focus on the company’s shift toward a scalable operating model built for high utilization. He highlighted tighter cost control as operating expenses fell to $67 million, free cash flow improved to negative $108 million and liquidity reached $424 million.
Ahrens said the business is intentionally transitioning from R&D to capitalized manufacturing, with property, plant and equipment costs up 67% since 2024, and reiterated the long-term model of “approximately $450 million in annual revenue at high margins” and “approximately $100 million in adjusted EBITDA” from two ships flying roughly 125 missions a year. Once commercial service begins, he said Virgin Galactic expects “cash flow positivity within two, three months.”
Ahrens also pointed to engineering milestones that strengthen those economics, most notably the new oxidizer tank that completed 4,000 test cycles and is now “qualified for the life of the spaceship,” compared with the prior 40-flight limit that required costly downtime. The value, he said, is less about the tank itself than “being able to continue to operate, not have an interruption to do a major maintenance like that.” He added that capex should “ramp down in the middle of 2026” as production completes and said the timing of break-even will hinge on hitting the planned flight rate and blended ticket pricing once operations begin.
4. Bark
Market cap: $112.91 million
Date of call: Nov. 10
Bark’s finance chief highlighted how the company is reshaping its cost base and customer mix to support more durable growth. CFO Zahir Ibrahim said recent customers are “higher value,” upgrade more often into premium tiers, prepay at higher rates and show stronger retention as the team shifts away from discount-driven acquisition and improves the company’s Shopify platform. He noted that Bark spent an extra $1 million on marketing only because acquisition costs fell to their lowest level since fiscal 2023.
Ibrahim also pointed to a long-term margin plan that leans on sourcing changes, productivity gains and a 2026 price increase to ease tariff pressure. He called the decision to retire the $45 million convertible note in cash a deliberate move to simplify the balance sheet and create flexibility as the company expands commerce, premium subscriptions and a pet travel service dubbed Bark Air. With supplier transitions and tariff policy still uncertain, he kept guidance narrow but said the company is set up to reinvest in the initiatives that improve customer quality and long-term economics.
5. Warner Bros. Discovery
Market cap: $73.19 billion
Date of call: Nov. 6
Warner Bros. Discovery’s CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels highlighted how shifting away from costly NBA rights and building a standalone sports streaming app will help protect earnings while giving Discovery Global more choices on sports. He said the company expects “hundreds of millions of dollars of benefit next year” from the rights transition and stressed that sports will remain “one key pillar of our strategy” even as they get more disciplined on returns. According to the insight shared on the call, the company plans on using the new app so they can sell sports as a buy-through or bundle rather than weighing down HBO Max.
On streaming, Wiedenfels and CEO David Zaslav framed HBO Max as a quality-first growth engine that is already throwing off cash, with the DTC segment expected to deliver “more than $1.3 billion in EBITDA this year” after a $2.5 billion loss three years ago and a target of “more than 150 million total streaming subscribers” once 2026 launches in markets like Germany, Italy, the U.K. and Ireland are complete. All of this is unfolding as WBD has agreed to sell its studio and streaming assets to Netflix in an $82.7 billion deal, while Paramount Skydance has launched a rival all-cash bid for the full company, adding another layer of strategic uncertainty around who will ultimately execute that plan.
6. Texas Roadhouse
Market cap: $10.99 billion
Date of call: Nov. 6
VP of finance and interim CFO Keith Humpich of Texas Roadhouse kept the focus on managing inflation and capital deployment, telling investors the company is planning for “approximately 7%” commodity inflation in 2026, with beef volatility driving most of the pressure during his last earnings call as interim finance chief. He said wage and other labor inflation should run “3% to 4%” next year, with mandated increases around 1%, and emphasized that operators are staying productive as “labor hours grew at approximately 35% of comparable traffic growth.” Despite restaurant margin percentage compression, Humpich stressed that store-level profit dollars per week remain about 35% above 2019 and said management is maintaining a conservative pricing stance to protect value and traffic.
On growth and investment, Humpich reiterated that the restaurant chain will lean into new units and franchise acquisitions under an initial 2026 capex plan of “approximately $400 million,” excluding the California franchise buyout. With about 35 new company-owned openings and the acquisition of five California units at the start of the year, he guided to “5% to 6% store week growth in 2026” and said capital will be prioritized toward developing and maintaining the existing base. He also confirmed that after the California deal, the remaining franchise pool will be 31 locations, concentrated in three larger groups, signaling more potential acquisition optionality over time.
7. DoorDash
Market cap: $94.95 billion
Date of call: Nov. 5
Fueled by stronger unit economics, DoorDash CFO Ravi Inukonda cast 2026 as a year of heavy reinvestment that still delivers modest margin expansion on his latest earnings call appearance. He told investors that for the “existing business, including the investments” and excluding Deliveroo, adjusted EBITDA margin should be “up slightly compared to 2025,” even as the company plans to pour several hundred million dollars into a unified global tech stack, autonomy and new software products.
Inukonda stressed that growth has accelerated for four straight quarters, unit economics “continue to improve” across segments and profit dollars are rising, which he called the trigger for DoorDash’s long-standing philosophy to reinvest when gross order value and order economics outperform. He said the bar for payback periods and IRR has not changed, and that incremental projects are only scaling because more experiments have reached product market fit.
On Deliveroo, Inukonda said the acquisition is tracking to the original deal thesis and is already a meaningful profit driver, telling investors to “think of” about $200 million as Deliveroo’s EBITDA contribution, including planned spending on product, selection, quality and people. He noted that Deliveroo’s growth is running in the double digits and ahead of expectations, and clarified that shifting from Deliveroo’s to DoorDash’s EBITDA definition will create an $8 million to $10 million headwind to reported EBITDA.
8. Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Market cap: $112.81 billion
Date of call: Nov. 3
During his earnings call session, Vertex Pharmaceuticals CFO Charles Wagner said his priority is directing capital toward innovation and expansion. “We are investing in our pipeline right now in commercialization, we are making capital investments in support of the business as well, and that remains the top priority,” he said, noting that share repurchases sit behind those needs and are used opportunistically when the stock pulls back.
Wagner also outlined how he evaluates risk as the company scales multiple launches and accelerates its kidney portfolio. He said the increase in operating expenses reflects intentional spending across several renal indications and on building a durable pain franchise around JOURNAVX. He added that tariffs should have “immaterial” impact due to Vertex’s U.S. footprint and diversified supply chain. Across capital allocation, operating expense and external uncertainty, Wagner signaled a consistent theme: investing ahead of revenue to build a larger multivertical business.
