Temporary space provider WillScot (NASDAQ: WSC) reported revenue ahead of Wall Street’s expectations in Q1 CY2026, but sales fell by 2% year on year to $548.6 million. The company’s full-year revenue guidance of $2.25 billion at the midpoint came in 3.1% above analysts’ estimates. Its non-GAAP profit of $0.21 per share was 27.6% above analysts’ consensus estimates.

Is now the time to buy WillScot Mobile Mini? Find out by accessing our full research report, it’s free.

Tim Boswell, President and Chief Executive Officer of WillScot, commented, "Our first quarter 2026 results were encouraging, with clear progress across our commercial and operational priorities for the year. We are seeing a steady increase in demand from larger project opportunities, most notably in the data center, power generation and utility, diversified manufacturing, and events sectors, that align well with both our value proposition and our strategic focus on enterprise accounts, new verticals, and our expanded offerings. Order and activation trends continued to strengthen through April, which combined with the growing volume of larger projects, is giving us better visibility into the second half of the year and is consistent with our longer-term strategy to drive higher quality revenue mix. Operationally, our teams are mobilizing to support increased activity levels by executing our previously announced Network Optimization Plan, rolling out our route optimization and dispatch platform in the field, continuing to optimize centralized shared services, and activating fleet to increase availability and minimize lead times across the network. Each of these initiatives supports our ability to capture immediate market opportunities while improving long-term profitability and the customer experience."

Company Overview

Originally focusing on mobile offices for construction sites, WillScot (NASDAQ: WSC) provides ready-to-use temporary spaces, largely for longer-term lease.

Revenue Growth

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. Luckily, WillScot Mobile Mini’s sales grew at a decent 8.1% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years. Its growth was slightly above the average industrials company and shows its offerings resonate with customers.

Long-term growth is the most important, but within industrials, a half-decade historical view may miss new industry trends or demand cycles. WillScot Mobile Mini’s recent performance marks a sharp pivot from its five-year trend as its revenue has shown annualized declines of 2.5% over the last two years.

We can better understand the company’s revenue dynamics by analyzing its most important segments, Leasing and Delivery and Installation, which are 77.6% and 18.1% of revenue. Over the last two years, WillScot Mobile Mini’s Leasing revenue (recurring) averaged 4.1% year-on-year declines while its Delivery and Installation revenue (non-recurring) averaged 3.7% declines.

This quarter, WillScot Mobile Mini’s revenue fell by 2% year on year to $548.6 million but beat Wall Street’s estimates by 6.2%.

Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to decline by 3.8% over the next 12 months, similar to its two-year rate. This projection doesn't excite us and suggests its products and services will see some demand headwinds.

ONE MORE THING: 3 Hidden Platforms Growing 3X Faster than Amazon, Google, and PayPal. Amazon, Google, and Meta all followed the same playbook: Dominate an ignored market. Build an unbeatable moat. Scale until you’re unstoppable.

These three platforms are running that exact playbook right now. The early investors in Amazon made fortunes. The early investors in these could do the same. Get All 3 Stocks Here for FREE.

Operating Margin

Operating margin is one of the best measures of profitability because it tells us how much money a company takes home after procuring and manufacturing its products, marketing and selling those products, and most importantly, keeping them relevant through research and development.

WillScot Mobile Mini has been a well-oiled machine over the last five years. It demonstrated elite profitability for an industrials business, boasting an average operating margin of 17.9%. This result isn’t surprising as its high gross margin gives it a favorable starting point.

Analyzing the trend in its profitability, WillScot Mobile Mini’s operating margin decreased by 11.9 percentage points over the last five years. This raises questions about the company’s expense base because its revenue growth should have given it leverage on its fixed costs, resulting in better economies of scale and profitability.

This quarter, WillScot Mobile Mini generated an operating margin profit margin of 17.6%, down 3.7 percentage points year on year. Since WillScot Mobile Mini’s operating margin decreased more than its gross margin, we can assume it was less efficient because expenses such as marketing, R&D, and administrative overhead increased.

Earnings Per Share

We track the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) for the same reason as long-term revenue growth. Compared to revenue, however, EPS highlights whether a company’s growth is profitable.

Sadly for WillScot Mobile Mini, its EPS declined by 1.8% annually over the last five years while its revenue grew by 8.1%. This tells us the company became less profitable on a per-share basis as it expanded due to non-fundamental factors such as interest expenses and taxes.

Diving into the nuances of WillScot Mobile Mini’s earnings can give us a better understanding of its performance. As we mentioned earlier, WillScot Mobile Mini’s operating margin declined by 11.9 percentage points over the last five years. This was the most relevant factor (aside from the revenue impact) behind its lower 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.

WillScot Mobile Mini’s two-year annual EPS declines of 26.9% were bad and lower than its two-year revenue losses.

In Q1, WillScot Mobile Mini reported adjusted EPS of $0.21, down from $0.24 in the same quarter last year. Despite falling year on year, this print easily cleared analysts’ estimates. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects WillScot Mobile Mini’s full-year EPS of $1.07 to grow 2.4%.

Key Takeaways from WillScot Mobile Mini’s Q1 Results

It was good to see WillScot Mobile Mini beat analysts’ EPS expectations this quarter. We were also excited its revenue outperformed Wall Street’s estimates by a wide margin. Zooming out, we think this was a solid print. The stock traded up 5.6% to $24.62 immediately following the results.

WillScot Mobile Mini put up rock-solid earnings, but one quarter doesn’t necessarily make the stock a buy. Let’s see if this is a good investment. When making that decision, it’s important to consider its valuation, business qualities, as well as what has happened in the latest quarter. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).