CPRT changes
Pick any two versions below to diff them.
- Discount category
- Well below intrinsic value → Below intrinsic value
- About
- Copart runs online auctions for wrecked and total-loss vehicles. Insurance companies removed: list totaled cars on Copart's platform. added: supplied 79% of the units Copart sold in fiscal 2026. Buyers bid on the cars, mostly added: to dismantle them for parts or removed: export. added: to export them. Copart added: has 286 yards in 11 countries, and it owns added: much of the land removed: the cars sit on. added: under them. This land, plus long-term local permits, is hard for a new competitor to copy.
- Thesis
- Copart trades at a discount because one large insurance customer moved its business to rival RB Global. The market fears added: that this is the start of a bigger removed: shift, not one lost contract. Jeff Liaw's sudden exit as CEO added: shift and that the yard network is easier to switch away from than it looked. U.S. units fell 5.7% in removed: July 2026 added: the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, and operating income fell faster than revenue. The change of CEO adds to removed: this uncertainty. added: the uncertainty: Jeff Liaw left on July 31, 2026, and Jay Adair, the previous CEO, removed: returned to the role the same day. added: returned. The removed: new $1.9 billion removed: deal to buy added: cash purchase of ACV Auctions adds integration removed: risk on top of this. added: risk. Copart expects ACV removed: loses money today, added: to have no effect on earnings per share in the first full year and removed: Copart does not expect it to add to removed: profit before added: them from fiscal 2028. For the removed: discount added: gap to close, removed: total-loss car added: U.S. insurance unit volume must removed: stabilize added: become stable once the removed: RB Global loss fully laps added: lost customer is in the removed: year-over-year numbers, expected by mid-2027. added: comparison base, from early 2027. Copart said that without this one customer, its U.S. insurance assignments grew 2.3% in the fourth quarter, so other insurers must keep that growth. The ACV removed: deal, launched as a tender offer on September 17, 2026, should added: deal must also close by the end of removed: 2026. Its early progress will show whether it distracts management from the core auction business. Copart's added: 2026 without a long antitrust review. The next removed: quarterly report is added: report, expected around removed: December 2026. added: November 19, 2026, shows the first quarter of volume under Adair. A clear removed: read added: answer on removed: whether the volume removed: loss was a one-time event likely takes removed: another two to four quarters, removed: stretching into mid-2027. added: to the fiscal 2027 results in September 2027.
- Risks
- A large insurance customer moved business to Copart's main competitor, RB Global, removed: starting added: and the effect started to show in January 2026. removed: The loss expands in stages through mid-2027. added: Copart does not name the customer. If Copart keeps losing volume after removed: that, this added: loss is in the comparison base, this was not one lost contract. It is a sign added: that the business is easier to switch away from than its competitive advantage assumes. The ACV Auctions deal adds integration risk. ACV loses money today. Copart says added: that the deal will not add to removed: profit added: earnings per share before fiscal year 2028. added: If regulators ask for more information, the closing can move into 2027. If the deal fails for antitrust reasons, Copart must pay ACV a fee of $115.3 million. Costs removed: are growing added: grow faster than revenue removed: right now. added: In fiscal 2026, revenue grew 0.4% and operating income fell 2.6%. If this continues, profit keeps falling even while revenue grows. added: Since October 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice has investigated Copart about anti-money-laundering controls. The fiscal 2026 annual report still describes this investigation.
- Balance sheet
- Cash: $4.5B Debt: $0.0M Net cash: $4.5B Undrawn credit line: removed: $1.3B, added: $1.2B, to January 2031 Copart has no borrowings, and it can pay for the ACV Auctions deal from cash and stay debt-free. The deal costs about $1.9 billion in cash, with no financing condition, but net cash and interest income will fall after it closes. At July 31, 2026, added: cash, cash removed: includes added: equivalents and restricted cash added: were $1,908 million, and removed: $2,582 million of held-to-maturity removed: securities. added: Treasury bills were $2,582 million. Lease liabilities were $88 removed: million. This cash earned $182 million added: million, of removed: net added: which $86 million were operating leases. Net interest income added: was $182 million in fiscal 2026. $598 million of the cash sat in foreign subsidiaries, and Copart intends to keep it abroad. removed: Copart also owns most of its yard land. added: Land at cost was $2,501 million. Total equity was $9.1 billion, with only $511 million of goodwill. Copart signed its unsecured added: $1.25 billion revolving credit facility removed: in added: on January removed: 2026, and it added: 23, 2026. It was undrawn except for $22.5 million of letters of credit. In fiscal 2026, Copart spent $1.6 billion to buy back 43.4 million removed: shares. Thus cash added: shares, at an average of $37.63. Cash and securities fell from $4.8 billion at July 31, 2025. As of Jul 31, 2026.
- Checkpoints
- Oct 7, 2026: ACV tender offer expires after extension. removed: Pending. added: Passed. Watch: A majority of ACV shares tendered by 5:00 p.m. ET passes; another extension because fewer than half of shares are tendered fails or delays the deal. added: Outcome: 52.84% of ACV shares were tendered, and Copart extended the offer to October 15 only to wait for the end of the antitrust waiting period. Oct 13, 2026: US antitrust waiting period for ACV deal ends. Pending. Watch: The waiting period ends without a second request from regulators passes; a second request, which delays closing into 2027, fails. added: Oct 15, 2026: ACV tender offer expires after second extension. Pending. Watch: Copart accepts the tendered shares and the deal closes passes; another extension or a failed offer fails. Nov 19, 2026 (estimate): Q1 FY2027 results: unit volume and operating margin. Pending. Watch: Stable US insurance unit volume outside the lost customer and a smaller fall in operating margin pass; wider volume loss or a further margin drop fails. Dec 2026 (estimate): ACV Auctions acquisition closes. Pending. Watch: Closing by the end of calendar 2026 with a clear integration plan passes; a delay or a block by regulators fails. Sep 2027 (estimate): Q4 FY2027 results after removed: RB Global added: the customer loss removed: fully laps. added: is in the base. Pending. Watch: Year-over-year insurance unit volume that is flat or growing passes; continued volume loss after the lost contract laps fails.
- Recent events
- Oct added: 8, 2026: Copart extended its tender offer for ACV Auctions a second time, to 5:00 p.m. ET on October 15, 2026. At the October 7 expiry, 52.84% of ACV shares were tendered, which is more than the majority the offer needs. The reason Copart gave for the extension is to let the U.S. antitrust waiting period end on October 13. Oct 1, 2026: Copart extended its tender offer for ACV Auctions to October 7, 2026. Copart added: withdrew and refiled its U.S. antitrust form on September 28 to give regulators more time. removed: The waiting period ends October 13. About 47.8% of ACV shares were tendered by September 30. added: ACV shareholders filed three lawsuits about the offer's disclosures in September. Sep 17, 2026: Copart began a tender offer, through subsidiary Apple Merger Sub, Inc., to buy all outstanding ACV Auctions shares for $10.50 per share in cash. The offer removed: first set an expiry of September 30, 2026. Copart later extended it to October 7, 2026. The offer needs a majority of shares tendered and antitrust clearance. The deal has no financing condition and is expected to close by the end of calendar 2026. Sep 10, 2026: Copart reported Q4 FY2026 results. Revenue grew 2.4% to $1.15 billion. Operating income fell removed: 10.6%. The added: 10.6%, and the operating margin fell removed: 4.7 percentage points. added: from 36.7% to 32.0%. Net income fell 17.4%. U.S. units fell 5.7%. Without the one lost insurance customer, U.S. insurance assignments grew 2.3%. Sep 10, 2026: Copart agreed to buy ACV Auctions for $1.9 billion in removed: cash. added: cash, a premium of about 45% to ACV's price on August 10, 2026. ACV runs a separate marketplace, where car dealers buy and sell used cars from each other. added: Copart expects no effect on earnings per share in the first full year, and a gain from fiscal 2028. Jul removed: 31, added: 8, 2026: added: Copart named Jane Pocock, the head of Copart UK, as President from August 1, 2026. Jun 29, 2026: Copart said that Jeff Liaw removed: stepped added: will step down as removed: CEO. added: CEO on July 31, 2026, and that Jay Adair, the added: Executive Chairman and the previous CEO, removed: returned to added: will take the role removed: the same added: again on that day. added: Liaw stays as a special advisor.