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Why Klarna Stock Crashed 22% on Tuesday Morning

Written by Anders Bylund for The Motley Fool Key Points Klarna reported earnings of $0.01 per share on $1.04 billion of revenue, beating analyst estimates on both counts. Management cut full-year reโ€ฆ

Why Klarna Stock Crashed 22% on Tuesday Morning
Nasdaq News โ€” 18 August 2026
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Key Points Klarna reported earnings of $0.01 per share on $1.04 billion of revenue, beating analyst estimates on both counts. Management cut full-year revenue guidance to roughly $4.12 billion, well below the $4.42 billion analysts expected. Klarna also announced that its CFO and CMO will step down in early 2027. 10 stocks we like better than Klarna Group โ€บ Klarna (NYSE: KLAR) is Swedish for "clear up" or "sort it out." The name feels ironic today, with the stock down 21.9% as of 10 a.m. ET, despite a strong Q2 report. Aren't headline surprises supposed to lift stocks? Q2 2026 was the easy part That wasn't a typo. The Stockholm-based fintech crushed Wall Street's estimates in the second quarter of 2026. The average analyst expected a net loss of $0.05 per share on revenues near $993 million. The company reported positive earnings of $0.01 per share and $1.04 billion of top-line revenues. That's not even a close call, and sales rose 27% year over year. Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue ยป The stock fell anyway, for at least two clear reasons. Management offered full-year revenue guidance of $4.12 billion, give or take $40 million. The current analyst consensus points to $4.42 billion, and Klarna's earlier guidance was above $4.34 billion. Klarna pointed to currency-exchange headwinds and shifting consumer trends in the German market. The earnings report wasn't Klarna's only news today. The company also announced transitions for its CFO and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) roles. Six-year CFO Niclas Neglรฉn and nine-year CMO David Sandstrรถm will remain in their roles into early 2027, but Klarna is looking for new talent in New York. It's hard to say which item weighed more heavily on Klarna's stock today. Weak guidance and executive turnover make a tough single-day combo. Image source: Getty Images. Down 47% and still hard to read After today's drop, the " buy now, pay later " specialist's stock is down 47% year to date. The company is growing rapidly while forming partnerships with OpenAI, where its AI shopping app now lives inside ChatGPT, and Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) , which is bringing Klarna's payment options to Google Search and the Gemini app. However, investors aren't sure what to make of its cloudy financial picture. Klarna is clearing up its profit problem and creating a credibility issue instead. Beating a quarter is easy to celebrate; cutting the year is harder to explain away, especially while the CFO and CMO are packing their bags. I wish Klarna would live up to its clear-eyed name. Should you buy stock in Klarna Group right now? Before you buy stock in Klarna Group, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy nowโ€ฆ and Klarna Group wasnโ€™t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, youโ€™d have $409,970 !* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, youโ€™d have $1,381,040 !* Now, itโ€™s worth noting Stock Advisorโ€™s total average return is 969 % โ€” a market-crushing outperformance compared to 215% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor , and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors. See the 10 stocks ยป *Stock Advisor returns as of August 18, 2026. Anders Bylund has positions in Alphabet. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet and Klarna Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy .

Klarna reported earnings of $0.01 per share on $1.04 billion of revenue, beating analyst estimates on both counts.

Management cut full-year revenue guidance to roughly $4.12 billion, well below the $4.42 billion analysts expected.

Klarna also announced that its CFO and CMO will step down in early 2027.

Klarna (NYSE: KLAR) is Swedish for "clear up" or "sort it out." The name feels ironic today, with the stock down 21.9% as of 10 a.m. ET, despite a strong Q2 report. Aren't headline surprises supposed to lift stocks?

That wasn't a typo. The Stockholm-based fintech crushed Wall Street's estimates in the second quarter of 2026. The average analyst expected a net loss of $0.05 per share on revenues near $993 million. The company reported positive earnings of $0.01 per share and $1.04 billion of top-line revenues. That's not even a close call, and sales rose 27% year over year.

Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue ยป

It's hard to say which item weighed more heavily on Klarna's stock today. Weak guidance and executive turnover make a tough single-day combo.

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