LKQ (LKQ) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript Motley Fool Transcribing, The Motley Fool May 4, 2026 29 min read LKQ . DATE Thursday, April 30, 2026 at 8 a.m. ET CALL PARTICIPANTS President and Chief Executive Officer — Justin Jude Chief Financial Officer — Rick Galloway Full Conference Call Transcript Justin Jude: Thank you, Joe, and good morning, everyone.
We appreciate you joining us today. Q1 was another quarter of solid progress across our operating segments, and we're increasingly confident in our positioning as North America continues to recover. This quarter reflected the team's operating discipline and relentless focus on the things within our control, taking market share, protecting margins and improving productivity.
LKQ has started 2026 with a strong foundation, featuring a more focused organization, disciplined execution and an unwavering commitment to long-term value creation. Now I'll provide a brief update on each segment, highlighting demand trends, commercial execution and the actions we're taking to expand profitability. North America organic revenue declined 0.5% on a per day basis, an improvement over last year's decline of 4.1% and a sequential improvement from Q4's decline of 1%.
These results highlight a gradual recovery and reinforce our confidence in the direction of our North American operations. Comparable claims were down approximately 2% to 4%, demonstrating steady recovery from the levels we saw throughout 2025. Importantly, we achieved strong performance in our aftermarket collision product line, surpassing the growth levels of the segment.
This positive momentum was partly driven by an increase in utilization of alternative parts, which reached a record high of nearly 40% through February, and we anticipate that this favorable trend continues in March as well. We also renewed several MSO agreements and further integrating ordering capabilities with our key partners. These integrations are designed to increase the ease and velocity of ordering, improved procurement workflows and position us to capture more share of wallet.
Elitek, our calibration and diagnostic business delivered strong organic growth and healthy EBITDA margins in the quarter. For context, an increasing share of collision repairs require calibration and diagnostics. And we estimate that requirement has risen to roughly 75% today from about 62%, 3 years ago.
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