Rent the Runway (RENT) Q2 FY2026 Earnings: The 0.48% Interest Rate Explained
Listen to this report
The Hook
Rent the Runway $RENT owes $120.0 million on a term loan priced at term SOFR plus 5.00 percent. In the quarter ended July 31, 2026 it reported net interest expense of $0.2 million. The reconciliation sits in one sentence of Note 6: "The effective interest rate of the new term loans issued to the Lender as of July 31, 2026 was 0.48 percent."
Nobody negotiated 0.48 percent. It is the arithmetic of a troubled debt restructuring, and it does more work in this quarter's income statement than anything that happened in a warehouse. Net loss halved to $12.9 million from $26.4 million, and $6.7 million of that $13.5 million improvement is the interest line alone. The same counterparty that lends at an effective 0.48 percent also holds 84 percent of the voting power of the stock.
Company Snapshot
Rent the Runway (RENT) rents designer apparel by subscription, rents a-la-carte through Reserve, and sells used inventory through Resale. This is the Form 10-Q for the second quarter of fiscal 2026, the three months from May 1, 2026 to July 31, 2026, filed September 11, 2026 (accession 0001468327-26-000088). The fiscal year ends January 31, so this is not a calendar quarter and the prior-year comparison is the three months ended July 31, 2025.
Two things landed with it. A Form S-1 filed the same day registers up to $15.0 million of Class A common stock issuable on exercise of subscription rights, a second rights offering. And on September 14, 2026, Paige Thomas became Chief Executive Officer and President, the third person in the seat since founder Jennifer Hyman resigned effective May 15, 2026.
A 1-for-20 reverse stock split took effect April 2, 2024. Both quarters compared below sit after it, and the filing states all share and per-share amounts are retroactively adjusted, so no further adjustment applies here.
The Financial Story
The print is genuinely better. Revenue of $97.7 million was up 20.8 percent. Gross profit, which the company defines in its MD&A as revenue less fulfillment and less rental product depreciation and revenue share, was $35.3 million against $24.3 million, a 36.1 percent margin versus 30.0 percent. Operating loss narrowed to $7.8 million from $20.1 million. Adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP measure reconciled in the filing, was $12.6 million against $3.6 million.
| Q2, quarter ended July 31 | 2026 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Total revenue, net | $97.7M | $80.9M |
| Gross profit (MD&A definition) | $35.3M | $24.3M |
| Operating loss | -$7.8M | -$20.1M |
| Interest expense, net | -$0.2M | -$6.9M |
| Securities litigation expense | -$6.1M | $0.0M |
| Net loss | -$12.9M | -$26.4M |
Now the parts. First, the growth is price, not customers. Ending Active Subscribers fell to 140,826 from 146,373, a decline of 3.8 percent. Total revenue per Average Active Subscriber rose to about $659 from about $551, up roughly 19.5 percent, which is where essentially all of the 20.8 percent came from. The company raised subscription prices in August 2025 and, in June 2026, "implemented a new shipping charge for Subscription plans in response to increasing shipping costs from carriers." It adds: "We expect the shipping charge to be temporary." Its own risk factors say the charge "may have a negative impact on subscriber retention in the future."
Second, most of that revenue is not revenue as most readers use the word. Of the $97.7 million, $83.8 million is Subscription and Reserve rental revenue recognised under ASC 842 as operating lease income, because renting a garment is legally a lease. Only $13.9 million, 14.2 percent, is contract revenue under ASC 606, and the filing says that piece is "primarily related to the sale of rental product." The largest revenue line in this company is rent received on clothing, and the ASC 606 line is mostly the resale of clothing that has finished depreciating. A query for the canonical concept "revenue" returns both $97.7 million and $13.9 million; they differ by seven times and only the qname tells you which is which.
Third, the margin expansion is two cost lines, and it does not survive the half-year. The 609 basis points decompose exactly:
| Cost line, percent of revenue | Q2 FY2025 | Q2 FY2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fulfillment | 27.8% | 24.1% | -376 bps |
| Rental product depreciation and revenue share | 42.2% | 39.8% | -233 bps |
| Gross margin | 30.0% | 36.1% | +609 bps |
Both are operating leverage on a bigger revenue number rather than lower dollar cost: fulfillment rose 4.4 percent in dollars and rental product depreciation and revenue share rose 14.1 percent. Inside that second line, the Rental Product note discloses depreciation and write-offs of $14.7 million against $15.9 million a year ago, which leaves a residual of $24.2 million against $18.2 million; the MD&A attributes the increase to "higher revenue share expenses due to higher Share by RTR units utilized," the consignment program under which brands supply product at zero or a fraction of wholesale cost. And the six-month gross margin was 31.2 percent against 30.7 percent, a 50 basis point move, because the first quarter of this year ran at roughly 25.9 percent against roughly 31.5 percent a year earlier. One quarter is not a trend line.
Fourth, the interest line. The October 28, 2025 recapitalization was accounted for as a troubled debt restructuring of $334.2 million of existing debt. The lender took $234.2 million of it in 26,175,193 newly issued Class A shares and rolled $100.0 million into new term loans, the Investor Group added $20.0 million, and the company booked a $96.3 million gain, which is why the fiscal year ended January 31, 2026 shows net income of positive $22.6 million on $329.8 million of revenue. Under that accounting the new loan went onto the books at the total undiscounted future cash payments, $149.5 million, creating a $39.5 million debt premium. That premium now amortizes against interest expense. The quarter's $0.2 million net interest expense is $2.3 million of premium amortization offset against $2.7 million of paid-in-kind interest and $0.2 million of other net interest income. None of it is cash and none of the principal moved.
So the $157.5 million carrying value is not $157.5 million of borrowings. It is $120.0 million of principal, plus $5.4 million of capitalized PIK interest, plus $32.1 million of future interest already on the balance sheet. That matters for the fair value comparison: the filing's estimate of $115.9 million is 73.6 percent of carrying value but 92.4 percent of the $125.4 million actually owed. And it is not a market price. The debt is a private facility; the fair value is a Level 3 output of a Black-Derman-Toy model using the company's own implied credit spread. In the April 30, 2026 filing the input was "the median of option adjusted spreads for similar financial instruments"; in this one it is "the lower end." The filing gives no reason for the change.
Fifth, the counterparty. The Related Party note states that all $157.5 million of long-term debt is held by the Investor Group and that the Investor Group "held 84% of the voting power of the Company's outstanding Class A Common Stock as of July 31, 2026." Rent the Runway tells investors in its risk factors that it is a "controlled company" under Nasdaq listing standards and therefore need not maintain a majority-independent board. The lender that removed the minimum liquidity maintenance covenant on January 28, 2026, permitted interest to be capitalized instead of paid through May 3, 2027 on April 1, 2026, and advanced another $10.0 million on September 1, 2026 is the owner. Cash and equivalents were $29.0 million at quarter end, down from $43.6 million a year earlier; cash including restricted cash fell $21.9 million in six months, to $37.2 million from $59.1 million.
Sixth, the settlement. Securities litigation expense of $6.1 million and a $9.0 million accrual, against zero at January 31, 2026, resolve the 2022 class action over the IPO prospectus. Every claim in that case was dismissed except the ones about fulfillment costs. The $9.0 million is $6.0 million cash plus $3.0 million of stock, with roughly $2.9 million of the cash coming from insurers and roughly $3.1 million from the company, which is the $6.1 million charged. The court granted preliminary approval September 10, 2026 with a final approval hearing December 15, 2026.
On tax: the filing charges income tax expense of $0.1 million for the quarter (us-gaap:IncomeTaxExpenseBenefit) against a $12.8 million pretax loss, with a full valuation allowance on all United States net deferred tax assets. The cash element, us-gaap:IncomeTaxesPaidNet, is not tagged in this 10-Q, so no cash-tax figure is asserted here. Cash interest, net, was $2.8 million across the six months.
Valuation
Rent the Runway closed at $1.93 on September 14, 2026, a market capitalisation of about $65.2 million on 33.77 million shares (price and market cap from stockanalysis.com; the share count matches the 33,774,121 on the 10-Q cover). Trailing twelve-month revenue, derived from the filings, is $366.9 million: $329.8 million for the year ended January 31, 2026, less $150.5 million for the prior-year half, plus $187.6 million for this half.
The first problem is that there is no single enterprise value, because there is no single debt number.
| Debt measure | Amount | Plus market cap, less $29.0M cash | EV / LTM revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carrying value on the balance sheet | $157.5M | $193.7M | 0.53x |
| Principal plus capitalized PIK | $125.4M | $161.6M | 0.44x |
| Same, plus the September 1 term loans | $135.4M | $171.6M | 0.47x |
| The filing's Level 3 fair value | $115.9M | $152.1M | 0.41x |
Taking principal plus PIK plus the new $10.0 million as what is actually owed, net debt is $106.4 million against $29.0 million of cash. Against that, three scenarios on stated assumptions, valuing the business on sales because it has no earnings to capitalise:
| Scenario | Assumption | EV / revenue | Implied equity | Per share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bear | Actives keep falling, the June shipping charge rolls off, revenue back near $330M | 0.25x | none | $0.00 |
| Base | Revenue holds at $366.9M, margin settles at the 31.2% half-year level, burn narrows but does not close | 0.40x | $40.4M | $1.20 |
| Bull | Actives stabilise, the 36.1% quarterly margin holds, free cash flow turns positive in FY2028 | 0.60x | $113.7M | $3.37 |
That is implied value under stated assumptions, not a price target and not advice. What today's price implies sits between the base and bull cases, which is to say the market is paying for the margin to hold and the subscriber count to stop falling. The cheapest independent check on all of it is the exchange itself: the 26,175,193 shares the Investor Group took in October 2025 for $234.2 million of debt are worth about $50.5 million at the September 14 close.
Risks
There is no remaining borrowing availability under the New Credit Agreement, and the Liquidity note says so plainly. The company states it expects sufficient liquidity for at least twelve months from issuance, and plans "to explore additional funding sources," with no assurance those plans complete. Total liabilities of $257.9 million against total assets of $192.4 million leave stockholders' equity at negative $65.5 million, which is $1,066.7 million of paid-in capital against a $1,132.2 million accumulated deficit. The October 2025 recapitalization lifted that equity line from negative $232.1 million to negative $35.1 million; three quarters later it is back to negative $65.5 million.
Dilution is the live risk. The S-1 registers up to $15.0 million of stock issuable on subscription rights; the filing fee exhibit sets no price, but at the September 14 close that would be roughly 7.8 million shares, about 23 percent of the current count. The October 2025 rights offering priced at $4.08. And with 84 percent of the votes, the outcome is the controlling holder's to decide.
Operationally: gross rental product is flat at $160.4 million against $160.2 million at January 31, with net book value down to $84.1 million, while purchases of rental product fell to $27.7 million for the half from $42.0 million. The company frames that as last year's spend being "a strategic, intentional increase," not this year's being a cut. Apparel is depreciated over three years to a 20 percent salvage value and accessories over two years to 30 percent; those estimates carry the asset base. Reserve revenue is declining, tariffs and carrier surcharges are named repeatedly, and the settled lawsuit was specifically about fulfillment cost disclosure.
The Bottom Line
The operating business did get better this quarter, and the improvement is real: fulfillment at 24.1 percent of revenue is genuine leverage. But the headline turnaround is mostly two things that are not operating results. The first is a debt whose effective rate is 0.48 percent because a restructuring pre-loaded its interest onto the balance sheet. The second is a 20.8 percent revenue increase delivered by 3.8 percent fewer subscribers paying more, partly through a charge the company itself expects to be temporary. Both are disclosed, both are checkable in the tagged data, and both are owned by the same counterparty that holds 84 percent of the votes. Watch three lines next quarter: ending Active Subscribers, the shipping charge, and whether the rights offering prices.
Every figure above was pulled from Rent the Runway's SEC filings through RoboSystems, which turns XBRL filing data into a queryable graph. Quarter figures are from the Form 10-Q filed September 11, 2026 for the period ended July 31, 2026, accession 0001468327-26-000088; annual figures from the Form 10-K filed April 14, 2026. The share price is the September 14, 2026 close via stockanalysis.com. Gross profit, revenue per subscriber, the enterprise value table and the scenario grid are derived from those figures and are labelled as such. This is not investment advice and contains no price target.