Brink's (BCO)

Cash management services provider Brink's (NYSE:BCO) beat Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q4 CY2025, with sales up 9.1% year on year to $1.38 billion. Guidance for next quarter’s revenue was optimistic at $1.37 billion at the midpoint, 2.6% above analysts’ estimates. Its non-GAAP profit of $2.54 per share was 2.7% above analysts’ consensus estimates.

Company Overview

Known for its iconic armored trucks that have been a fixture in American cities since 1859, Brink's (NYSE:BCO) provides secure transportation and management of cash and valuables for banks, retailers, and other businesses worldwide.

Rising concerns over physical security, cybersecurity threats, and workplace safety regulations will present opportunities for companies in this sector. AI and digitization will enhance surveillance, access control, and threat detection, which could benefit key players in Safety & Security Services. These trends could also introduce ethical and regulatory concerns over data privacy and automated decision-making in security operations, giving rise to headline risks. Finally, increasing scrutiny on private security practices and evolving criminal justice policies again mean that companies in the space need to operate with the utmost care or risk being the poster child of abuse of power.

Brink's main competitors in the global cash management and secure logistics industry include Loomis AB (Sweden), Prosegur (Spain), and Garda World Security Corporation (Canada).

A company’s long-term sales performance can indicate its overall quality. Any business can experience short-term success, but top-performing ones enjoy sustained growth for years.

With $5.26 billion in revenue over the past 12 months, Brink's is one of the larger companies in the business services industry and benefits from a well-known brand that influences purchasing decisions.

As you can see below, Brink's grew its sales at a solid 7.3% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years. This is an encouraging starting point for our analysis because it shows Brink’s demand was higher than many business services companies.

We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within business services, a half-decade historical view may miss recent innovations or disruptive industry trends. Brink’s recent performance shows its demand has slowed as its annualized revenue growth of 3.9% over the last two years was below its five-year trend. We’re wary when companies in the sector see decelerations in revenue growth, as it could signal changing consumer tastes aided by low switching costs.

This quarter, Brink's reported year-on-year revenue growth of 9.1%, and its $1.38 billion of revenue exceeded Wall Street’s estimates by 1.8%. Company management is currently guiding for a 9.5% year-on-year increase in sales next quarter.

Looking further ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 4.5% over the next 12 months, similar to its two-year rate. This projection doesn't excite us and implies its newer products and services will not accelerate its top-line performance yet. At least the company is tracking well in other measures of financial health.

Operating margin is one of the best measures of profitability because it tells us how much money a company takes home after subtracting all core expenses, like marketing and R&D.

Brink's was profitable over the last five years but held back by its large cost base. Its average operating margin of 9.4% was weak for a business services business.

On the plus side, Brink’s operating margin rose by 4.4 percentage points over the last five years, as its sales growth gave it operating leverage.

This quarter, Brink's generated an operating margin profit margin of 13.1%, down 3.8 percentage points year on year. This contraction shows it was less efficient because its expenses grew faster than its revenue.

Revenue trends explain a company’s historical growth, but the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) points to the profitability of that growth – for example, a company could inflate its sales through excessive spending on advertising and promotions.

Brink’s EPS grew at an astounding 17.9% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years, higher than its 7.3% annualized revenue growth. This tells us the company became more profitable on a per-share basis as it expanded.

Diving into Brink’s quality of earnings can give us a better understanding of its performance. As we mentioned earlier, Brink’s operating margin declined this quarter but expanded by 4.4 percentage points over the last five years. This was the most relevant factor (aside from the revenue impact) behind its higher earnings; interest expenses and taxes can also affect EPS but don’t tell us as much about a company’s fundamentals.

Like with revenue, we analyze EPS over a shorter period to see if we are missing a change in the business.

For Brink's, its two-year annual EPS growth of 7% was lower than its five-year trend. This wasn’t great, but at least the company was successful in other measures of financial health.

In Q4, Brink's reported adjusted EPS of $2.54, up from $2.12 in the same quarter last year. This print beat analysts’ estimates by 2.7%. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects Brink’s full-year EPS of $8.03 to grow 13.4%.

If you’ve followed StockStory for a while, you know we emphasize free cash flow. Why, you ask? We believe that in the end, cash is king, and you can’t use accounting profits to pay the bills.

Brink's has shown impressive cash profitability, giving it the option to reinvest or return capital to investors. The company’s free cash flow margin averaged 7.3% over the last five years, better than the broader business services sector. The divergence from its underwhelming operating margin stems from the add-back of non-cash charges like depreciation and stock-based compensation. GAAP operating profit expenses these line items, but free cash flow does not.

Brink’s free cash flow clocked in at $325.9 million in Q4, equivalent to a 23.6% margin. This cash profitability was in line with the comparable period last year and above its five-year average.

Brink's reported $2.27 billion of cash and $4.52 billion of debt on its balance sheet in the most recent quarter. As investors in high-quality companies, we primarily focus on two things: 1) that a company’s debt level isn’t too high and 2) that its interest payments are not excessively burdening the business.

With $977.3 million of EBITDA over the last 12 months, we view Brink’s 2.3× net-debt-to-EBITDA ratio as safe. We also see its $159.3 million of annual interest expenses as appropriate. The company’s profits give it plenty of breathing room, allowing it to continue investing in growth initiatives.

We were impressed by Brink’s optimistic revenue guidance for next quarter, which blew past analysts’ expectations. However, EPS guidance for the coming quarter was just in line. We were also happy its revenue outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. Overall, we think this was a solid quarter with some key areas of upside. Investors were likely hoping for more, and shares traded down 6.3% to $127 immediately following the results.

Updated: February 26, 2026 at 11:51 PM EST

Before making an investment decision, investors should account for Brink’s business fundamentals and valuation in addition to what happened in the latest quarter.

There are some positives when it comes to Brink’s fundamentals. To kick things off, its revenue growth was solid over the last five years. On top of that, Brink’s astounding EPS growth over the last five years shows its profits are trickling down to shareholders, and its projected EPS for the next year implies the company will continue generating shareholder value.

Brink’s P/E ratio based on the next 12 months is 14.2x. Looking at the business services landscape right now, Brink's trades at a pretty interesting price. For those confident in the business and its management team, this is a good time to invest.

Wall Street analysts have a consensus one-year price target of $146 on the company (compared to the current share price of $127.00), implying they see 15% upside in buying Brink's in the short term.