# SLM (SLM.US)

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

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:31:57.085Z. Financial observations: FY1996–FY2025.

Listing currency: USD. Reporting currency: USD.

## Verdict

Not a wonderful business

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

Share price: $22.22 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

## Checklist

### understandable: pass

- 2 revenue declines in the last 10 years (informational)

- Financial history: 10 years

- Years with declining revenue: 2

- Years with a net loss: 0

- Operating margin variation: 0.28×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: 0.43×

- FY2017: 0.44×

- FY2018: 0.41×

- FY2019: 0.44×

- FY2020: 0.64×

- FY2021: 0.76×

- FY2022: 0.35×

- FY2023: 0.77×

- FY2024: 0.43×

- FY2025: 0.50×

### moat: fail

- ROIC median below threshold

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

- ROIC, median of available years: 12.0%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: 1.7%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: 0.1 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 83.3%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 83.2%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 0

- Capital spending / revenue: 0.0%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: -1.3%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: 1.7%

- FY2017: 1.6%

- FY2018: 2.1%

- FY2019: 30.4%

- FY2020: 3.6%

- FY2021: 5.2%

- FY2022: 20.9%

- FY2023: >100%

- FY2024: 32.8%

- FY2025: 18.8%

### economics: fail

- owner earnings cash conversion below threshold

- Owner earnings / net income, 5-yr: -0.09×

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: -$333M

- Net income, five-year total: $3.5B

- Return on incremental invested capital: >100%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: -87.2 pp

- Working capital / revenue, change between three-year averages: -570.8 pp

- Working capital / revenue, final three-year average: -943.8%

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

- FY2021: -0.07×

- FY2022: -0.06×

- FY2023: -0.69×

- FY2024: -0.61×

- FY2025: 0.72×

### management: pass

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

- potential debt-funded buybacks (informational)

- buybacks leaned toward cheaper years (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: 1.7% vs 32.8%

- Per-share earnings: 0.63 to 2.77 (three-year endpoint medians)

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 10-year annual growth: -6.9%

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: -11.4%

- Market cap gain: $980M

- Cumulative retained earnings: $4.1B

- Diluted shares, 10-year annual growth: -6.9%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: -11.4%

- $1 test, starting fiscal year: FY2016

- $1 test, ending fiscal year: FY2025

- Per-share value growth: 20.2%

- Per-share value change: $2.13

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: $0.63

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: $2.77

- Buybacks concentrated in cheaper years (correlation): 0.67

- Average buyback yield: 10.0%

- Buyback history: 8 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: Yes

- Acquisition spending: $142M

- Cumulative net income, 10 years: $6.0B

- ROIC, first three-year median: 1.7%

- ROIC, last three-year median: 32.8%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: $0.58

- FY2017: $0.66

- FY2018: $1.11

- FY2019: $1.34

- FY2020: $2.27

- FY2021: $3.63

- FY2022: $1.79

- FY2023: $2.41

- FY2024: $2.77

- FY2025: $3.53

### accounting: pass

- Sloan accruals: 0.6%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 0.94×

- Restructuring years, last five: 1

- Stock compensation / operating cash flow: 7.0%

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Operating cash / earnings: 0.77×

- Accounting red flags: 0

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 0.02×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: 2.4%

- FY2017: 2.1%

- FY2018: 2.2%

- FY2019: 1.8%

- FY2020: 3.5%

- FY2021: 4.1%

- FY2022: 1.6%

- FY2023: 2.4%

- FY2024: 3.1%

- FY2025: 0.6%

## Holders

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

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

## Price story

Down 32% since Jun 2025 · "Sallie Mae Stock Tumbles 7.6% on Elevated Charge-Off Concerns" (finance.yahoo.com, Jun 2026) · sales +7.3%

Story as of 2026-10-16T09:59:35.502Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

- 2025-10-24: Sallie Mae Q3 Earnings Lag on Higher Expenses, Provisions Decline Y/Y ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sallie-mae-q3-earnings-lag-175800584.html))

- 2025-12-09: SLM stock tumbles after investor day reveals slower EPS growth ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/slm-stock-tumbles-investor-day-141943778.html))

- 2026-04-24: Sallie Mae Q1 Earnings Beat on Y/Y Rise in NII, Fee Income Declines ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/sallie-mae-q1-earnings-beat-140700967.html))

- 2026-07-24: Sallie Mae Q2 Earnings Miss Estimates, NII Dips, Expenses Rise Y/Y ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/sallie-mae-q2-earnings-miss-130800230.html))

### Sales · FY2024–2025

sales +7.3%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1032033/000103203326000011/slm-20251231.htm; observed 2026-02-19.

- FY2016: $960M 

- FY2017: $1.1B 

- FY2018: $1.4B 

- FY2019: $1.7B 

- FY2020: $1.8B 

- FY2021: $2.0B 

- FY2022: $1.8B 

- FY2023: $1.8B 

- FY2024: $1.8B 

- FY2025: $2.0B 

### Gross margin · FY2025

gross margin 83.2%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1032033/000103203326000011/slm-20251231.htm; observed 2026-02-19.

- FY2016: 83.4% 

- FY2017: 83.5% 

- FY2018: 82.0% 

- FY2019: 78.8% 

- FY2020: 94.2% 

- FY2022: 65.3% 

- FY2024: 77.9% 

- FY2025: 83.2% 

## Owner memo

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

### How it makes money

Operates in credit services; annual sales are USD 2 billion.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1032033/000103203326000011/slm-20251231.htm#000103203326000011 (filed 2026-02-19); FY2025: revenue 1984393000; grossProfit 1651706000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); SLM.US: SLM Corporation, through its subsidiaries, originates and services private education loans to students and their families to finance the cost of their education in the United States. It provides retail deposit accounts, including high-yield savings accounts, money market accounts, and certificates of deposit; and interest-bearing omnibus accounts. The company was formerly known as New BLC Corporation and changed its name to SLM Corporation in December 2013. SLM Corporation was founded in 1972 and is headquartered in Newark, Delaware.

### Why customers stay

It earns 12% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-19); FY2023: grossProfit / revenue = 111.6%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-19); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 77.9%.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1032033/000103203326000011/slm-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-19); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 83.2%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-19); 10-year return on capital observations [[2016,0.01702446795575236],[2017,0.016401948257390633],[2018,0.0207748067560185],[2019,0.30378706810460626],[2020,0.03621482034847795],[2021,0.0518796263099403],[2022,0.20946877802510336],[2023,2.130086383035729],[2024,0.3275123276431549],[2025,0.18781986367276624]]; median 0.11984974499135327. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Where the cash goes

Paid dividends in 10 of 10 years; bought back USD 368.7 million of shares.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1032033/000103203326000011/slm-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-19); FY2025: growth capex 0; upkeep 0; cash acquisitions 0; owner earnings 534960000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-19); Dividend observations: [[2016,21204000],[2017,15714000],[2018,15640000],[2019,67951000],[2020,56085000],[2021,65198000],[2022,121990000],[2023,118938000],[2024,117468000],[2025,700000000]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1032033/000103203326000011/slm-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-19); FY2025: cash repurchases 368736000 USD.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 1.3% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); SLM.US SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 1.304 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-16.

### What the price says

The price is 2.4 times annual sales.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-19); Closing price 22.22 USD; reporting-to-trading FX 1; FY2025 annual sales per share 9.408540921892335; price multiple 2.3616839406307117. FY2025 cash earnings/share 2.5363892392159837. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

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

- 2016-10: $7.05 per share

- 2016-11: $10.07 per share

- 2016-12: $11.02 per share

- 2017-01: $11.88 per share

- 2017-02: $11.99 per share

- 2017-03: $12.10 per share

- 2017-04: $12.54 per share

- 2017-05: $10.39 per share

- 2017-06: $11.50 per share

- 2017-07: $11.08 per share

- 2017-08: $10.17 per share

- 2017-09: $11.47 per share

- 2017-10: $10.59 per share

- 2017-11: $11.57 per share

- 2017-12: $11.30 per share

- 2018-01: $11.44 per share

- 2018-02: $10.91 per share

- 2018-03: $11.21 per share

- 2018-04: $11.48 per share

- 2018-05: $11.43 per share

- 2018-06: $11.45 per share

- 2018-07: $11.29 per share

- 2018-08: $11.72 per share

- 2018-09: $11.15 per share

- 2018-10: $10.14 per share

- 2018-11: $10.27 per share

- 2018-12: $8.31 per share

- 2019-01: $10.71 per share

- 2019-02: $11.05 per share

- 2019-03: $9.91 per share

- 2019-04: $10.16 per share

- 2019-05: $9.51 per share

- 2019-06: $9.72 per share

- 2019-07: $9.11 per share

- 2019-08: $8.44 per share

- 2019-09: $8.82 per share

- 2019-10: $8.44 per share

- 2019-11: $8.53 per share

- 2019-12: $8.91 per share

- 2020-01: $10.92 per share

- 2020-02: $10.37 per share

- 2020-03: $7.19 per share

- 2020-04: $8.34 per share

- 2020-05: $7.58 per share

- 2020-06: $7.03 per share

- 2020-07: $6.77 per share

- 2020-08: $7.64 per share

- 2020-09: $8.09 per share

- 2020-10: $9.19 per share

- 2020-11: $10.61 per share

- 2020-12: $12.39 per share

- 2021-01: $13.88 per share

- 2021-02: $15.79 per share

- 2021-03: $17.97 per share

- 2021-04: $19.66 per share

- 2021-05: $20.25 per share

- 2021-06: $20.94 per share

- 2021-07: $18.83 per share

- 2021-08: $18.75 per share

- 2021-09: $17.60 per share

- 2021-10: $18.35 per share

- 2021-11: $17.78 per share

- 2021-12: $19.67 per share

- 2022-01: $18.34 per share

- 2022-02: $19.70 per share

- 2022-03: $18.36 per share

- 2022-04: $16.73 per share

- 2022-05: $19.59 per share

- 2022-06: $15.94 per share

- 2022-07: $15.60 per share

- 2022-08: $15.28 per share

- 2022-09: $13.99 per share

- 2022-10: $16.59 per share

- 2022-11: $17.46 per share

- 2022-12: $16.60 per share

- 2023-01: $17.57 per share

- 2023-02: $14.38 per share

- 2023-03: $12.39 per share

- 2023-04: $15.02 per share

- 2023-05: $15.26 per share

- 2023-06: $16.32 per share

- 2023-07: $16.18 per share

- 2023-08: $14.24 per share

- 2023-09: $13.62 per share

- 2023-10: $13.00 per share

- 2023-11: $15.03 per share

- 2023-12: $19.12 per share

- 2024-01: $19.88 per share

- 2024-02: $20.83 per share

- 2024-03: $21.79 per share

- 2024-04: $21.19 per share

- 2024-05: $21.46 per share

- 2024-06: $20.79 per share

- 2024-07: $22.69 per share

- 2024-08: $22.06 per share

- 2024-09: $22.87 per share

- 2024-10: $22.03 per share

- 2024-11: $27.38 per share

- 2024-12: $27.58 per share

- 2025-01: $27.91 per share

- 2025-02: $30.19 per share

- 2025-03: $29.37 per share

- 2025-04: $28.91 per share

- 2025-05: $32.37 per share

- 2025-06: $32.79 per share

- 2025-07: $31.80 per share

- 2025-08: $31.28 per share

- 2025-09: $27.68 per share

- 2025-10: $26.85 per share

- 2025-11: $29.30 per share

- 2025-12: $27.06 per share

- 2026-01: $27.15 per share

- 2026-02: $18.74 per share

- 2026-03: $21.41 per share

- 2026-04: $23.08 per share

- 2026-05: $22.12 per share

- 2026-06: $25.94 per share

- 2026-07: $26.00 per share

- 2026-08: $25.97 per share

- 2026-09: $22.63 per share

- 2026-10: $22.22 per share

## Annual estimated value (USD 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

Prior published observations retained from 2026-10-15T06:37:42.266Z where newer inputs omit a numeric field or fiscal period.

## Sources

[Original 10-K filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1032033/000103203326000011/slm-20251231.htm); period 2025-12-31, filed 2026-02-19.

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.