Key Highlights

  • BFAM shares trading down 16.58% to $55.88 today, from a prior close near $67.
  • Third quarter Revenue rose 5% to $841.5 million, led by back-up care growth.
  • A $290.0 million Goodwill impairment, mostly tied to Australia, produced a GAAP loss of $4.76 per share.
  • Adjusted Diluted Earnings per Share climbed 15% to $1.80 from $1.57.
  • 2026 adjusted EPS guidance is now $4.98 to $5.03, with revenue near $3.07 billion.

A $290 Million Australia-Linked Impairment Drives the Third Quarter Loss

Bright Horizons Family Solutions (NYSE:BFAM) shares are trading down 16.58% at $55.88 today, a day after the company reported third quarter results on October 29. The prior close works out to roughly $67, and the price now sits below the $57.63 low shown for the 52-week range as of late July.

The headline number was a net loss of $230.7 million, against Net Income of $78.6 million a year earlier. The swing reflects a $290.0 million goodwill impairment, mostly tied to Australian operations, plus a higher tax rate and higher interest expense. GAAP diluted earnings per share was a loss of $4.76, compared with earnings of $1.37 in the same quarter of 2025.

The company provides early education and child care, back-up care and educational advisory services to working families and employers. It operates about 1,000 centers across the U.S., U.K., Netherlands, Australia and India and serves more than 1,450 employers.

Revenue Up 5% and Adjusted EPS Up 15% Beneath the Charge

Revenue rose 5%, or about $38.7 million, to $841.5 million, driven mainly by growth in back-up care and partly offset by closed full-service centers. Adjusted EBITDA also rose 5%, to $163.3 million.

Adjusted diluted earnings per share increased 15% to $1.80 from $1.57. The company had reported second quarter adjusted earnings per share of $1.28, up 20%, on revenue of $779.18 million.

The gap between the GAAP loss and the higher adjusted figures is largely explained by the impairment, along with the higher tax rate and interest expense cited in the release. Back-up care, the main growth driver, grew 19% to $194 million in the second quarter.

Full-Year Guidance Comes Down From the July Range and Cash Sits at $119.2 Million

The company now expects 2026 revenue of about $3.07 billion and diluted adjusted earnings per share of $4.98 to $5.03. At its second quarter report in late July, guidance called for revenue of $3.085 billion to $3.115 billion and adjusted earnings per share of $5.05 to $5.15, so both measures moved lower.

This is not the first guidance change this year. In March, the company guided to revenue of $3.075 billion to $3.125 billion and adjusted earnings per share of $4.90 to $5.10, and said it planned to close 45 to 50 full-service centers.

Cash and equivalents were $119.2 million at September 30, with $436.0 million available under the revolving Credit facility. Year to date, the company repurchased about 7.7 million shares for $557.7 million.

Pre-Charge Valuation Markers and the Fourth Quarter Report Frame What Comes Next

In late July, a market tracker showed a Market Value of $4.10 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.45 when the shares traded near $78, along with a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $96. Those figures predate today's decline and the impairment. The next checkpoints are the pace of center closures, back-up care growth, and the fourth quarter report, where the new guidance range will be tested.