# Upbound Group (UPBD.US)

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

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:32:44.972Z. Financial observations: FY1996–FY2026.

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: $16.45 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

Estimated value: low $36.81 per share, central $41.86 per share, high $48.58 per share. Buy at or below the central value $41.86 per share. Valuation as of 2026-10-16T07:32:44.972Z; scenarios are not confidence intervals.

Expected annual return: 21.7% at the stated quote. About 21.7% 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

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

- operating margin variation exceeds 0.35

- Financial history: 10 years

- Years with declining revenue: 4

- Years with a net loss: 1

- Operating margin variation: 0.66×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: -0.02×

- FY2018: 0.02×

- FY2019: 0.10×

- FY2020: 0.08×

- FY2021: 0.06×

- FY2022: 0.03×

- FY2023: 0.04×

- FY2024: 0.07×

- FY2025: 0.05×

- LTM to Jun 2026: 0.05×

### moat: fail

- ROIC median below threshold

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

- ROIC, median of available years: 8.4%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: 5.9%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: 1.5 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 49.9%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 48.4%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 0

- Capital spending / revenue: 1.4%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: 7.2%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: -6.1%

- FY2018: 5.9%

- FY2019: 23.6%

- FY2020: 33.5%

- FY2021: 10.8%

- FY2022: 6.1%

- FY2023: 6.0%

- FY2024: 10.9%

- FY2025: 7.8%

- LTM to Jun 2026: 9.1%

### economics: pass

- Owner earnings / net income, 5-yr: 6.15×

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: $1.8B

- Net income, five-year total: $294M

- Return on incremental invested capital: >100%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: 0.4 pp

- Working capital / revenue, change between three-year averages: 1.8 pp

- Working capital / revenue, final three-year average: 10.7%

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

- FY2022: 106.33×

- FY2023: 2.94×

- FY2024: 0.10×

- FY2025: 2.64×

- LTM to Jun 2026: 3.39×

### management: fail

- 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: -6.1% vs 7.8%

- Per-share earnings: -2.13 to 1.25 (three-year endpoint medians)

- five-year and ten-year diluted share growth both above threshold

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 10-year annual growth: 1.0%

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: 1.0%

- Market cap gain: $432M

- Cumulative retained earnings: $218M

- Diluted shares, 10-year annual growth: 1.0%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: 1.0%

- $1 test, starting fiscal year: FY2016

- $1 test, ending fiscal year: FY2025

- Per-share value change: $3.38

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: -$2.13

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: $1.25

- Buybacks concentrated in cheaper years (correlation): 0.05

- Average buyback yield: 2.7%

- Buyback history: 9 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: Yes

- Acquisition spending: $1.6B

- Cumulative net income, 10 years: $622M

- ROIC, first three-year median: -6.1%

- ROIC, last three-year median: 7.8%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -$2.13

- FY2017: $0.12

- FY2018: $0.16

- FY2019: $3.10

- FY2020: $3.73

- FY2021: $2.02

- FY2022: $0.21

- FY2023: -$0.09

- FY2024: $2.21

- FY2025: $1.25

### accounting: pass

- Sloan accruals: -7.1%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 1.20×

- Restructuring years, last five: 2

- Stock compensation / operating cash flow: 14.8%

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Operating cash / earnings: 4.17×

- Accounting red flags: 0

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 1.20×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -29.2%

- FY2017: -7.3%

- FY2018: -15.7%

- FY2019: -2.6%

- FY2020: -1.6%

- FY2021: -8.6%

- FY2022: -16.5%

- FY2023: -7.6%

- FY2024: 0.7%

- FY2025: -7.1%

## Holders

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

## Price story

Down 69% since Oct 2021 · "Soft discretionary demand, uneven segment profitability and tighter underwriting are limiting near-term growth." (finance.yahoo.com, Aug 2026) · sales +1%

Story as of 2026-10-16T09:59:46.151Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

Price needs cash profits to shrink 11% a year for ten years

- 2026-04-30: Upbound Q1 Earnings Beat Estimates on Brigit Subscriber Growth ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/upbound-q1-earnings-beat-estimates-161400643.html))

- 2026-07-30: Upbound Q2 Earnings Meet Estimates, FY26 Revenue Outlook Down ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/upbound-q2-earnings-meet-estimates-162800237.html))

### Sales · FY2025–2026

sales +1%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/933036/000093303626000008/upbd-20251231.htm; observed 2026-02-23.

- FY2017: $2.7B 

- FY2018: $2.7B 

- FY2019: $2.7B 

- FY2020: $2.8B 

- FY2021: $4.6B 

- FY2022: $4.2B 

- FY2023: $4.0B 

- FY2024: $4.3B 

- FY2025: $4.7B 

- FY2026: $4.7B 

### Gross margin · FY2026

gross margin 49.1%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/933036/000093303626000008/upbd-20251231.htm; observed 2026-02-23.

- FY2017: 63.6% 

- FY2018: 63.5% 

- FY2019: 61.6% 

- FY2020: 59.4% 

- FY2021: 48.8% 

- FY2022: 49.0% 

- FY2023: 50.7% 

- FY2024: 48.1% 

- FY2025: 48.4% 

- FY2026: 49.1% 

## Owner memo

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

### How it makes money

Operates in software application; annual sales are USD 4.7 billion.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/933036/000093303626000008/upbd-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-23); FY2025: revenue 4695061000; grossProfit 2271709000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-15); UPBD.US: Upbound Group, Inc., a technology and data-driven company, provides financial solutions in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. It operates through four segments: Acima, Rent-A-Center, Brigit, and Mexico. The company also provides furniture, including mattresses, tires, consumer electronics, appliances, tools, handbags, computers, and accessories. In addition, it offers merchandise on an installment sales basis; and the lease-to-own transaction to consumers who do not qualify for traditional financing, the lease-to-own transaction through staffed or unstaffed kiosks located in third-party retailer's locations, and other virtual options. Further, the company provides various financial health products and tools through mobile and web applications. It operates retail installment sales stores under the Get It Now and Home Choice names; lease-to-own and franchising location under the Rent-A-Centre and RimTyme trade names; and company-owned stores, franchise stores, and e-commerce platform through rentacenter.com, getitnowstores.com, and homechoicestores.com. The company was formerly known as Rent-A-Center, Inc. and changed its name to Upbound Group, Inc. in February 2023. Upbound Group, Inc. was incorporated in 1986  and is based in Plano, Texas.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 48.1% to 50.7% during 2023–25; it earns 8.4% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-23); FY2023: grossProfit / revenue = 50.7%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-23); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 48.1%.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/933036/000093303626000008/upbd-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-23); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 48.4%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-23); 10-year return on capital observations [[2017,-0.061068626585661256],[2018,0.05939717379945078],[2019,0.23599715765405568],[2020,0.3345098738695342],[2021,0.10813903913048019],[2022,0.06136077067587939],[2023,0.059574283095073156],[2024,0.10901518621443425],[2025,0.07785983971179258],[2026,0.0906978076205146]]; median 0.0842788236661536. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Can it raise prices

Kept about a 49% gross margin through 2022 cost inflation.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/933036/000093303626000008/upbd-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-23); Gross margin observations: [[2021,0.48762646311698327],[2022,0.48983274100483537],[2023,0.5065252517712973]]; range within 2 percentage points.

### Where the cash goes

Paid dividends in 9 of 10 years.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-23); FY2017: growth capex 0; upkeep 65460000; cash acquisitions 2525000; owner earnings 19786000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.12761548569695744.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-23); FY2018: growth capex 0; upkeep 27962000; cash acquisitions 2048000; owner earnings 49476000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.04139380709839114.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-23); FY2019: growth capex 0; upkeep 21157000; cash acquisitions 28915000; owner earnings 213704000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.13530397184891252.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-23); FY2020: growth capex 0; upkeep 34545000; cash acquisitions 700000; owner earnings 230237000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.0030403453832355356.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-23); FY2021: growth capex 0; upkeep 62450000; cash acquisitions 1273528000; owner earnings 242323000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 5.255497827280118.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-23); FY2022: growth capex 0; upkeep 61387000; cash acquisitions 995000; owner earnings 1313977000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.0007572430872077669.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-23); FY2024: growth capex 0; upkeep 56275000; cash acquisitions 1413000; owner earnings 12372000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.11420950533462658.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/933036/000093303626000008/upbd-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-23); FY2025: growth capex 0; upkeep 66863000; cash acquisitions 278942000; owner earnings 193340000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 1.4427536981483398.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-23); Dividend observations: [[2016,25554000],[2017,12811000],[2018,0],[2019,13707000],[2020,63119000],[2021,71505000],[2022,79188000],[2023,83056000],[2024,82299000],[2025,87865000]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 3.9% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-15); UPBD.US SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 3.941 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-15.

### What the price says

The price assumes cash profits shrink 11% yearly over ten years.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-23); Ten-year compound average after fade. Initial solved rate -0.16676436830719915. Price 16.45; FX 1; discount 0.1; same standard ten-year fade to terminal 0.03. FY2015 owner earnings/share -16.336060320452404 → FY2025 3.298641916331127. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

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

- 2016-10: $10.09 per share

- 2016-11: $11.55 per share

- 2016-12: $11.25 per share

- 2017-01: $8.96 per share

- 2017-02: $8.67 per share

- 2017-03: $8.87 per share

- 2017-04: $10.69 per share

- 2017-05: $11.41 per share

- 2017-06: $11.72 per share

- 2017-07: $13.22 per share

- 2017-08: $12.10 per share

- 2017-09: $11.48 per share

- 2017-10: $9.94 per share

- 2017-11: $11.24 per share

- 2017-12: $11.10 per share

- 2018-01: $10.83 per share

- 2018-02: $7.52 per share

- 2018-03: $8.63 per share

- 2018-04: $10.11 per share

- 2018-05: $9.49 per share

- 2018-06: $14.72 per share

- 2018-07: $14.84 per share

- 2018-08: $14.74 per share

- 2018-09: $14.38 per share

- 2018-10: $14.25 per share

- 2018-11: $14.68 per share

- 2018-12: $16.19 per share

- 2019-01: $17.50 per share

- 2019-02: $18.61 per share

- 2019-03: $20.87 per share

- 2019-04: $24.93 per share

- 2019-05: $23.86 per share

- 2019-06: $26.63 per share

- 2019-07: $27.03 per share

- 2019-08: $25.53 per share

- 2019-09: $25.79 per share

- 2019-10: $25.87 per share

- 2019-11: $26.03 per share

- 2019-12: $28.84 per share

- 2020-01: $29.13 per share

- 2020-02: $21.29 per share

- 2020-03: $14.14 per share

- 2020-04: $19.91 per share

- 2020-05: $25.46 per share

- 2020-06: $27.82 per share

- 2020-07: $28.92 per share

- 2020-08: $30.70 per share

- 2020-09: $29.89 per share

- 2020-10: $30.90 per share

- 2020-11: $33.82 per share

- 2020-12: $38.29 per share

- 2021-01: $43.30 per share

- 2021-02: $57.76 per share

- 2021-03: $57.66 per share

- 2021-04: $57.55 per share

- 2021-05: $61.81 per share

- 2021-06: $53.07 per share

- 2021-07: $57.22 per share

- 2021-08: $63.08 per share

- 2021-09: $56.21 per share

- 2021-10: $53.26 per share

- 2021-11: $44.17 per share

- 2021-12: $48.04 per share

- 2022-01: $42.15 per share

- 2022-02: $28.41 per share

- 2022-03: $25.19 per share

- 2022-04: $24.12 per share

- 2022-05: $27.54 per share

- 2022-06: $19.45 per share

- 2022-07: $23.53 per share

- 2022-08: $25.84 per share

- 2022-09: $17.51 per share

- 2022-10: $20.85 per share

- 2022-11: $24.09 per share

- 2022-12: $22.55 per share

- 2023-01: $26.89 per share

- 2023-02: $26.85 per share

- 2023-03: $24.51 per share

- 2023-04: $26.66 per share

- 2023-05: $29.91 per share

- 2023-06: $31.13 per share

- 2023-07: $34.63 per share

- 2023-08: $30.62 per share

- 2023-09: $29.45 per share

- 2023-10: $26.06 per share

- 2023-11: $29.10 per share

- 2023-12: $33.97 per share

- 2024-01: $33.20 per share

- 2024-02: $33.76 per share

- 2024-03: $35.21 per share

- 2024-04: $31.01 per share

- 2024-05: $32.82 per share

- 2024-06: $30.70 per share

- 2024-07: $37.73 per share

- 2024-08: $33.30 per share

- 2024-09: $31.99 per share

- 2024-10: $29.24 per share

- 2024-11: $34.39 per share

- 2024-12: $29.17 per share

- 2025-01: $29.34 per share

- 2025-02: $25.82 per share

- 2025-03: $23.96 per share

- 2025-04: $19.90 per share

- 2025-05: $22.94 per share

- 2025-06: $25.10 per share

- 2025-07: $20.64 per share

- 2025-08: $25.41 per share

- 2025-09: $23.63 per share

- 2025-10: $19.38 per share

- 2025-11: $17.92 per share

- 2025-12: $17.56 per share

- 2026-01: $18.90 per share

- 2026-02: $21.45 per share

- 2026-03: $18.05 per share

- 2026-04: $19.76 per share

- 2026-05: $19.21 per share

- 2026-06: $21.22 per share

- 2026-07: $19.39 per share

- 2026-08: $18.30 per share

- 2026-09: $15.70 per share

- 2026-10: $16.45 per share

## Annual estimated value (USD per share)

- FY2016: low $7.83 per share, central $8.81 per share, high $10.13 per share

- FY2017: low $4.37 per share, central $4.92 per share, high $5.66 per share

- FY2018: low $5.78 per share, central $6.32 per share, high $7.03 per share

- FY2019: low $4.12 per share, central $4.65 per share, high $5.35 per share

- FY2020: low $12.11 per share, central $13.52 per share, high $15.41 per share

- FY2021: low $39.88 per share, central $45.34 per share, high $52.61 per share

- FY2022: low $63.99 per share, central $72.68 per share, high $84.24 per share

- FY2023: low $65.19 per share, central $74.14 per share, high $86.06 per share

- FY2024: low $261.28 per share, central $297.30 per share, high $345.26 per share

- FY2025: low $36.51 per share, central $41.48 per share, high $48.10 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/933036/000093303626000008/upbd-20251231.htm); period 2025-12-31, filed 2026-02-23.

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.