Cushman & Wakefield 2Q Top Line/EBITDA Beat, Guidance Raised; Strong Leasing Offset Particularly Weak Capital Markets

Research evidence excerpt

J P M O R G A N

North America Equity Research

05 August 2026

Cushman & Wakefield

2Q Top Line/EBITDA Beat, Guidance Raised; Strong

Leasing Offset Particularly Weak Capital Markets

Neutral

CWK, CWK US

Price (04 Aug 26):$14.08

REITs & Real Estate Services

CWK reported 2Q26 total gross revenue of $2.8 billion (+11% y/y), which was

ahead of JPMe at $2.6 billion (+6% y/y) and Bloomberg consensus of $2.7 billion

(+7%). To note on the top line is that for 1H, data center revenue growth was 83%.

While this is still likely a low-single-digit percentage of total revenue, we think it

is a meaningful contributor to the outperformance.

Anthony Paolone, CFA AC

Adj. EBITDA was $184 million (+14% y/y), also ahead of JPMe of $175 million

(+8% y/y) and Bloomberg consensus of $177 million (+9% y/y). Adj. EBITDA

margin (based on gross revenue) of 6.6% was in line with JPMe (vs. 2Q25 of 6.5%),

though the incremental margin of 7.9% was a little behind JPMe of 8.9%. With

margins based on gross revenue (including reimbursements) it is hard to ascertain

in a given quarter where the real margin changes were, but we think higher

commissions in the transactional businesses caused lower incremental margins

than we expected. The company put forth its three-year target for 150bps of overall

EBITDA margin expansion from the 2025 baseline of 10.8%. For 2026, it is likely

that CWK’s pick-up will be less than 50bps, perhaps closer to 30bps for the year

as new hires will more meaningfully contribute in 2027 and beyond, and leverage

from investments into systems should also pick up.

Nahom Tesfazghi

(1-212) 622-6682

Michael W. Mueller, CFA

(1-212) 622-6689

(1-212) 622 4884

Daniella De Armas Rosales

(1-212) 622-0050

J.P. Morgan Securities LLC

Adj. EPS was $0.35 (+17% y/y), a penny behind of JPMe at $0.36 (+20% y/y) and

in line with Bloomberg consensus; higher interest expense (interest on payroll

taxes in 2Q and some fx swap headwinds) compared to our model was the biggest

variance.

Bigger picture on the quarter, if it weren’t for capital markets, we think the

company had an overall good print. On the positive side, the high single digit

…