# Credit Acceptance (CACC.US)

Canonical: https://gigainvestors.com/s/CACC

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:27:11.919Z. Financial observations: FY1996–FY2025.

Listing currency: USD. Reporting currency: USD.

## Verdict

Not a wonderful business

Quality tests for Buy: not passed (profit record: pass; earnings resilience is evidence only). Published buy qualification: no.

Share price: $549.87 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

Estimated value: low $470.39 per share, central $535.25 per share, high $621.59 per share. Buy at or below the central value $535.25 per share. Valuation as of 2026-10-16T07:27:11.919Z; scenarios are not confidence intervals.

Expected annual return: 9.8% at the stated quote. About 9.8% a year at today's price (required return 10.0%). required return 10.0% a year (10% floor; US 10-year bond 5.1% + 4 points).

## Checklist

### understandable: fail

- 1 revenue decline in the last 10 years (informational)

- operating margin variation exceeds 0.35

- Financial history: 10 years

- Years with declining revenue: 1

- Years with a net loss: 0

- Operating margin variation: 0.37×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: 0.55×

- FY2017: 0.53×

- FY2018: 0.59×

- FY2019: 0.57×

- FY2020: 0.32×

- FY2021: 0.68×

- FY2022: 0.38×

- FY2023: 0.19×

- FY2024: 0.15×

- FY2025: 0.48×

### moat: fail

- ROIC median below threshold

- ROIC worst years below threshold (more than 1 bad year allowed)

- ROIC, median of available years: 8.7%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: 4.5%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: -26.4 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 72.4%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 98.7%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 0

- Capital spending / revenue: 0.5%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: 7.4%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: 7.7%

- FY2017: 10.2%

- FY2018: 9.9%

- FY2019: 9.7%

- FY2020: 5.9%

- FY2021: 14.9%

- FY2022: 6.9%

- FY2023: 4.5%

- FY2024: 3.4%

- FY2025: 11.2%

### economics: pass

- Owner earnings / net income, 5-yr: 1.05×

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: $2.6B

- Net income, five-year total: $2.5B

- Return on incremental invested capital: >100%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: -60.7 pp

- Working capital / revenue, change between three-year averages: -444.1 pp

- Working capital / revenue, final three-year average: 1.5%

Chart: Annual owner cash / profit; fiscal year observations.

- FY2021: 1.02×

- FY2022: 1.04×

- FY2023: 1.08×

- FY2024: 1.10×

- FY2025: 1.06×

### management: pass

- Historical market-dollar context (not the management verdict): 2016 to 2025 (9 years)

- buybacks leaned toward cheaper years (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: 9.9% vs 4.5%

- Per-share earnings: 16.31 to 21.99 (three-year endpoint medians)

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 10-year annual growth: -5.7%

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: -8.3%

- Market cap gain: $413M

- Cumulative retained earnings: $77M

- Diluted shares, 10-year annual growth: -5.7%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: -8.3%

- $1 test, starting fiscal year: FY2016

- $1 test, ending fiscal year: FY2025

- Per-share value growth: 3.8%

- Per-share value change: $5.68

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: $16.31

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: $21.99

- Buybacks concentrated in cheaper years (correlation): 0.52

- Average buyback yield: 7.0%

- Buyback history: 10 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: No

- Acquisition spending: $0

- Cumulative net income, 10 years: $4.9B

- ROIC, first three-year median: 9.9%

- ROIC, last three-year median: 4.5%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: $16.31

- FY2017: $24.04

- FY2018: $29.39

- FY2019: $34.57

- FY2020: $23.47

- FY2021: $59.52

- FY2022: $39.32

- FY2023: $21.99

- FY2024: $19.88

- FY2025: $36.38

### accounting: pass

- latest-year receivables to sales index (DSRI) exceeds 1.465

- Sloan accruals: -6.6%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 14.93×

- Restructuring years, last five: 0

- Stock compensation / operating cash flow: 4.8%

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Operating cash / earnings: 2.49×

- Accounting red flags: 1

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 0.00×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -4.1%

- FY2017: -1.9%

- FY2018: -2.1%

- FY2019: -2.1%

- FY2020: -7.5%

- FY2021: -1.6%

- FY2022: -10.2%

- FY2023: -10.9%

- FY2024: -9.1%

- FY2025: -6.6%

## Holders

- [Bill Ruane](https://gigainvestors.com/RC): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

- [Robert Vinall](https://gigainvestors.com/RVC): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

## Price story

Down 20% since Dec 2021 · "Management highlighted underperforming loan vintages from 2022 to 2024, which weighed on loan performance." (finance.yahoo.com, Nov 2025) · sales +7.2%

Story as of 2026-10-16T09:58:27.024Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

Price needs cash profits to grow 1.2% a year for ten years

- 2025-08-01: CACC's Q2 Earnings Lag on High Costs, Finance Charges Provide Support ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/caccs-q2-earnings-lag-high-120200463.html))

- 2025-10-31: CACC Q3 Deep Dive: Revenue Misses, Competitive Pressures and Leadership Transition ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cacc-q3-deep-dive-revenue-125041130.html))

- 2026-01-30: CACC Up on Q4 Earnings Beat Despite Y/Y Rise in Expenses, Provisions ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/cacc-q4-earnings-beat-despite-182000218.html))

### Sales · FY2024–2025

sales +7.2%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/885550/000088555026000047/cacc-20251231.htm; observed 2026-02-13.

- FY2016: $969M 

- FY2017: $1.1B 

- FY2018: $1.3B 

- FY2019: $1.5B 

- FY2020: $1.7B 

- FY2021: $1.9B 

- FY2022: $1.8B 

- FY2023: $1.9B 

- FY2024: $2.2B 

- FY2025: $2.3B 

### Gross margin · FY2025

gross margin 98.7%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/885550/000088555026000047/cacc-20251231.htm; observed 2026-02-13.

- FY2016: 68.8% 

- FY2017: 69.3% 

- FY2018: 67.9% 

- FY2019: 71.2% 

- FY2020: 74.8% 

- FY2021: 77.0% 

- FY2022: 73.6% 

- FY2024: 61.6% 

- FY2025: 98.7% 

## Owner memo

Memo as of 2026-10-16T08:06:05.509Z.

### How it makes money

Operates in credit services; annual sales are USD 2.3 billion.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/885550/000088555026000047/cacc-20251231.htm#000088555026000047 (filed 2026-02-13); FY2025: revenue 2317200000; grossProfit 2288200000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 61.6% to 100% during 2023–25; it earns 8.7% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-13); FY2023: grossProfit / revenue = 100%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-13); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 61.6%.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/885550/000088555026000047/cacc-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-13); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 98.7%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-13); 10-year return on capital observations [[2016,0.07651803918092367],[2017,0.10225295755045233],[2018,0.09920326299234372],[2019,0.09677297115053207],[2020,0.059233963750872205],[2021,0.14866879580116527],[2022,0.06880833604634723],[2023,0.045101995775136364],[2024,0.03374581277405394],[2025,0.11231976729290409]]; median 0.08664550516572787. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Where the cash goes

Paid dividends in 3 of 10 years; bought back USD 725.4 million of shares.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-13); FY2016: growth capex 0; upkeep 5500000; owner earnings 342600000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-13); FY2017: growth capex 0; upkeep 8400000; owner earnings 478200000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-13); FY2018: growth capex 4229731.8703321405; upkeep 20870268.12966786; owner earnings 572629731.8703321. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.007386504114127858.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-13); FY2019: growth capex 4400000; upkeep 22400000; owner earnings 656100000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.006706294772138394.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-13); FY2020: growth capex 0; upkeep 8500000; owner earnings 436300000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-13); FY2021: growth capex 0; upkeep 7600000; owner earnings 977000000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-13); FY2022: growth capex 0; upkeep 3100000; owner earnings 558300000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-13); FY2023: growth capex 0; upkeep 4000000; owner earnings 308700000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-13); FY2024: growth capex 0; upkeep 1800000; owner earnings 273900000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/885550/000088555026000047/cacc-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-13); FY2025: growth capex 0; upkeep 1600000; owner earnings 448900000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-13); Dividend observations: [[2016,0],[2017,0],[2018,0],[2019,0],[2020,0],[2021,11800000],[2022,15100000],[2023,5200000],[2024,0],[2025,0]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/885550/000088555026000047/cacc-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-13); FY2025: cash repurchases 725400000 USD.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 36.7% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); CACC.US SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 36.721 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-16.

### What the price says

The price assumes cash profits grow 1.2% yearly over ten years; actual growth was 10.1%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-13); Ten-year compound average after fade. Initial solved rate 0.004796558472374701. Price 549.87; FX 1; discount 0.1; same standard ten-year fade to terminal 0.03. FY2015 owner earnings/share 14.77068053753838 → FY2025 38.52963232568345. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

## Monthly share-price history (USD per share)

- 2016-10: $184.10 per share

- 2016-11: $191.84 per share

- 2016-12: $217.51 per share

- 2017-01: $205.28 per share

- 2017-02: $200.46 per share

- 2017-03: $199.41 per share

- 2017-04: $203.25 per share

- 2017-05: $215.02 per share

- 2017-06: $257.14 per share

- 2017-07: $249.10 per share

- 2017-08: $272.30 per share

- 2017-09: $280.17 per share

- 2017-10: $286.73 per share

- 2017-11: $302.90 per share

- 2017-12: $323.48 per share

- 2018-01: $329.71 per share

- 2018-02: $314.69 per share

- 2018-03: $330.41 per share

- 2018-04: $330.84 per share

- 2018-05: $353.01 per share

- 2018-06: $353.40 per share

- 2018-07: $383.60 per share

- 2018-08: $456.71 per share

- 2018-09: $438.07 per share

- 2018-10: $424.42 per share

- 2018-11: $409.42 per share

- 2018-12: $381.76 per share

- 2019-01: $398.02 per share

- 2019-02: $439.86 per share

- 2019-03: $451.93 per share

- 2019-04: $496.22 per share

- 2019-05: $456.39 per share

- 2019-06: $483.83 per share

- 2019-07: $478.03 per share

- 2019-08: $452.65 per share

- 2019-09: $461.31 per share

- 2019-10: $437.81 per share

- 2019-11: $430.46 per share

- 2019-12: $442.33 per share

- 2020-01: $428.98 per share

- 2020-02: $403.20 per share

- 2020-03: $255.69 per share

- 2020-04: $311.57 per share

- 2020-05: $369.82 per share

- 2020-06: $419.01 per share

- 2020-07: $467.94 per share

- 2020-08: $386.80 per share

- 2020-09: $338.64 per share

- 2020-10: $298.12 per share

- 2020-11: $298.48 per share

- 2020-12: $346.14 per share

- 2021-01: $385.77 per share

- 2021-02: $363.02 per share

- 2021-03: $360.23 per share

- 2021-04: $394.79 per share

- 2021-05: $447.46 per share

- 2021-06: $454.11 per share

- 2021-07: $484.77 per share

- 2021-08: $579.68 per share

- 2021-09: $585.30 per share

- 2021-10: $598.21 per share

- 2021-11: $624.90 per share

- 2021-12: $687.68 per share

- 2022-01: $539.56 per share

- 2022-02: $550.12 per share

- 2022-03: $550.37 per share

- 2022-04: $512.50 per share

- 2022-05: $595.31 per share

- 2022-06: $473.41 per share

- 2022-07: $575.91 per share

- 2022-08: $532.08 per share

- 2022-09: $438.00 per share

- 2022-10: $465.62 per share

- 2022-11: $473.96 per share

- 2022-12: $474.40 per share

- 2023-01: $462.64 per share

- 2023-02: $444.34 per share

- 2023-03: $436.04 per share

- 2023-04: $489.50 per share

- 2023-05: $445.68 per share

- 2023-06: $507.93 per share

- 2023-07: $556.60 per share

- 2023-08: $501.77 per share

- 2023-09: $460.12 per share

- 2023-10: $402.43 per share

- 2023-11: $457.00 per share

- 2023-12: $532.73 per share

- 2024-01: $541.07 per share

- 2024-02: $553.60 per share

- 2024-03: $551.55 per share

- 2024-04: $513.72 per share

- 2024-05: $490.83 per share

- 2024-06: $514.68 per share

- 2024-07: $574.90 per share

- 2024-08: $466.53 per share

- 2024-09: $443.42 per share

- 2024-10: $425.00 per share

- 2024-11: $497.70 per share

- 2024-12: $469.46 per share

- 2025-01: $507.77 per share

- 2025-02: $492.39 per share

- 2025-03: $516.35 per share

- 2025-04: $487.42 per share

- 2025-05: $477.30 per share

- 2025-06: $509.43 per share

- 2025-07: $490.28 per share

- 2025-08: $514.73 per share

- 2025-09: $466.93 per share

- 2025-10: $447.34 per share

- 2025-11: $461.97 per share

- 2025-12: $443.46 per share

- 2026-01: $498.24 per share

- 2026-02: $473.18 per share

- 2026-03: $423.46 per share

- 2026-04: $504.91 per share

- 2026-05: $573.64 per share

- 2026-06: $636.74 per share

- 2026-07: $568.91 per share

- 2026-08: $599.74 per share

- 2026-09: $531.00 per share

- 2026-10: $549.87 per share

## Annual estimated value (USD per share)

- FY2016: low $242.41 per share, central $346.29 per share, high $406.78 per share

- FY2017: low $293.37 per share, central $419.08 per share, high $492.28 per share

- FY2018: low $340.29 per share, central $486.12 per share, high $571.03 per share

- FY2019: low $459.56 per share, central $656.49 per share, high $771.17 per share

- FY2020: low $524.58 per share, central $720.30 per share, high $844.57 per share

- FY2021: low $690.55 per share, central $986.46 per share, high $1,158.77 per share

- FY2022: low $771.18 per share, central $1,053.11 per share, high $1,234.48 per share

- FY2023: low $486.81 per share, central $553.94 per share, high $643.29 per share

- FY2024: low $495.42 per share, central $563.73 per share, high $654.66 per share

- FY2025: low $421.14 per share, central $479.20 per share, high $556.50 per share

Historical values use today's bond yield for every fiscal year

Historical values use today's FX rate into trading currency for every fiscal year

Historical values use current restated fundamentals and current commodity classification; they are not point-in-time estimates

## Sources

[Original 10-K filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/885550/000088555026000047/cacc-20251231.htm); period 2025-12-31, filed 2026-02-13.

Estimates depend on assumptions and are not guarantees or investment advice. Underlying data remains subject to its source licenses; public reading does not grant bulk redistribution rights.