Gilian Munson
Analyst · Goldman. Please unmute your audio and video and ask your question
Thank you, Luis. Q1 was a solid quarter. We achieved double-digit growth in both bookings and revenue, expanded gross margin, and delivered adjusted EBITDA of $83 million, which is about 29% of our revenue. As you consider 2026, it is worth reiterating how we are thinking about the year. We are investing deliberately to set us up to be a larger, more durable, long-term business. This means that for this year, we are managing the business towards the targets that we shared on the fourth quarter call. Specifically, 10% to 12% bookings growth, 15% to 18% revenue growth, and an adjusted EBITDA margin of about 25%. To help with your modeling, we have provided point estimates for full-year 2026, consistent with those ranges: bookings growth of roughly 10.5%, revenue growth of roughly 16.1%, and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 25.7%. A few things we want to make sure are on your radar as you build out your models. On bookings, our expected Q2 bookings growth of about 6% reflects a tough comp. The prior-year quarter included the initial rollout of Energy, a price increase on our most popular subscription plan, and exceptional advertising performance. We expect about 17% growth in Q2 for revenue, after which we expect growth to step down in Q3 before stabilizing in Q4. We do expect bookings growth to accelerate through the second half with about three points of acceleration in Q3 and a further rise in Q4. For gross margin, we expect it to be approximately 71% in Q2, after which it will trend down to roughly 69% by the end of the year as AI-powered feature use in our products expands. Adjusted EBITDA margin in Q2 should be roughly 24%. We expect Q3 adjusted EBITDA margin to be flat to slightly down from Q2 before approaching 27% in Q4. The overall message is that 2026 is a key strategic investment year for us, and it is playing out as we expected so far, as demonstrated by the point estimates for our financials that we have shared. We enter Q2 with over $1 billion in cash, no debt, and expect to generate over $350 million in free cash flow this year. We plan to continue executing on our buyback authorization under which repurchases to date are 514 thousand shares, or about 1% of our fully diluted shares outstanding. 2026 is a big year for Duolingo, Inc., and I am very excited about what we are building. I will now turn it back to the operator, and we can take your questions.