BigBear.ai Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: BBAI) used its second-quarter 2026 earnings call to signal confidence in full-year targets, contract momentum, and plans to deploy its substantial cash reserves toward acquisitions.
Management maintained its 2026 revenue guidance of $135 million to $165 million, citing customer wins and continued traction across its AI product portfolio.
Second-quarter revenues rose 13% year over year to $36.75 million, edging past the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $36.4 million and demonstrating steady top-line progress.
The reported loss of 4 cents per share came in narrower than the consensus loss estimate of 5 cents, representing a 20% earnings surprise for the quarter.
Gross margin reached 32.8%, up 781 basis points year over year, driven by a higher revenue mix from GenAI platforms and products commanding better margins.
CEO Kevin McAleenan said the company won more than 20 new contracts during the quarter, with individual contract values ranging up to $5 million each.
McAleenan also referenced the previously announced $53 million intelligence-customer contract from the first quarter, reinforcing the scale of deals BigBear.ai is pursuing in national security markets.
Backlog reached $269.6 million at June 30, up 9% from year-end, with CFO Sean Ricker attributing the increase to wins across the company’s full product portfolio.
CargoSeer secured a five-year commercial deployment agreement in El Salvador following a 12-month pilot, marking the platform’s first deployment in Central America combining cargo X-ray imagery, trade documents, and structured data.
Ask Sage added a new win with Naval Air Systems Command and expanded options for air-gapped and locally connected environments supporting classification levels up to top secret, operating across multiple AI models without an external network.
McAleenan also highlighted ConductorOS exercises in which one soldier controlled multiple drones from different vendors, and at the Army’s Jailbreak event the software connected a sensor and missile system that had not previously communicated.
Ricker confirmed BigBear.ai ended the quarter with approximately $410 million of cash and investments, capital management intends to deploy toward new capabilities and accretive acquisitions.
McAleenan stated his two primary second-half priorities are top-line growth and identifying M&A targets with technologies that can be deployed rapidly at scale, noting Ask Sage and CargoSeer are fully integrated and performing well.
Adjusted EBITDA came in at negative $11.6 million, compared to negative $8.5 million a year earlier, reflecting heavier investment in sales, go-to-market capabilities, and research and development.
Selling, general, and administrative expenses increased $10.4 million to $31.8 million, driven by Ask Sage amortization, legal and proxy costs, and higher sales and marketing spending.
Ricker highlighted the July achievement of CMMC Level 2 certification ahead of schedule, presenting it as evidence of execution discipline and a broadening of customer trust.
Management’s second-half message centered on converting recent contract wins into recognized revenue, scaling acquired capabilities, and building momentum for stronger top-line growth heading into 2027.
BBAI currently carries a Zacks Rank of 4 (Sell), with Value, Growth, Momentum, and VGM Style Scores each rated F, the weakest grade within the Zacks A-to-F hierarchy, reflecting an unfavorable near-term earnings-estimate revision profile.
