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WRLD, World Acceptance Corporation
A diversified business; where the profit really comes from, and whether it is earned or bought, is what the segment detail settles.
Plans to enter into new markets through opening new branches and acquisitions as opportunities arise.
The sale of insurance products is limited to large loans in several states in which we operate.
The business
What it sells, where the money comes from, the kind of company it is.
Next report By 11/8 · the 10-Q for the quarter ended late September · due within 40 days of period end · has filed ~37 days after · the wire records it on arrival
The business in brief
read the 10-K →What this business is and what moves its needle, from its own SEC filings.
- Situation
- Cyclical. Margins collapse and recover repeatedly across the record; a single year, good or bad, misstates the through-cycle earning power.
- What moves the needle
- Operating margin has run about 17% through the cycle, a solid margin the cost base and competition set as much as the price does. The operating margin has swung widely — from 4.4% to 27% over the years — so the through-cycle figure carries more than any single year, and the worst year more than the best. On its own account, the filing leans hardest on pricing power & competition, set against the numbers in what the filing emphasizes, below.
- Is it a good business?
- Return on capital has sat near the cost of capital (median 8%). By owner earnings: roughly 44% of revenue reaches owners as cash, consistently. The cycle and the balance sheet decide this one; the worst year tells more than the median, and the rest is in the 10-K.
Every line is arithmetic on the company's filings, shown in full in the sections below.
The record
Ten years of arithmetic, read across the cycle.
The record, 2017–2026
realized figures from each filing · older years to the left| 2017’17 | 2018’18 | 2019’19 | 2020’20 | 2021’21 | 2022’22 | 2023’23 | 2024’24 | 2025’25 | 2026’26 | TTMTTMJun 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income statement | |||||||||||
| $491M | $503M | $545M | $590M | $528M | $585M | $617M | $573M | $564M | $585M | $592M | RevenueRevenue |
| 50% | 54% | 53% | 59% | 58% | 51% | 45% | 47% | 43% | 52% | 52% | SG&A / revenueSG&A/rev |
| $133M | $121M | $90M | $35M | $111M | $66M | $27M | $99M | $111M | $45M | $51M | Operating incomeOp. inc. |
| 27.2% | 24.0% | 16.5% | 5.9% | 21.1% | 11.2% | 4.4% | 17.3% | 19.7% | 7.7% | 8.6% | Operating marginOp. mgn |
| $106M | $49M | $74M | $35M | $111M | $66M | $27M | $99M | $111M | $45M | — | Pretax incomePretax |
| $74M | $54M | $37M | $28M | $88M | $54M | $21M | $77M | $89M | $35M | $39M | Net incomeNet inc. |
| 36% | — | 22% | 19% | 21% | 18% | 22% | 22% | 20% | 24% | 23% | Effective tax rateTax rate |
| Cash flow & returns | |||||||||||
| $219M | $218M | $245M | $281M | $227M | $272M | $292M | $266M | $254M | $259M | $266M | Operating cash flowOp. cash |
| $7M | $7M | $7M | $7M | $7M | $6M | $6M | $7M | $6M | $6M | $6M | DepreciationDeprec. |
| $134M | $152M | $183M | $217M | $113M | $195M | $255M | $184M | $178M | $219M | $240M | Working capital & otherWC & other |
| $7M | $9M | $10M | $11M | $12M | $6M | $6M | $6M | $4M | $4M | $4M | CapexCapex |
| 1.4% | 1.8% | 1.8% | 1.9% | 2.2% | 1.0% | 0.9% | 1.0% | 0.7% | 0.7% | 0.7% | Capex / revenueCapex/rev |
| $213M | $209M | $238M | $274M | $220M | $266M | $286M | $260M | $250M | $255M | $261M | Owner earningsOwner earn. |
| 43.3% | 41.5% | 43.7% | 46.5% | 41.7% | 45.5% | 46.3% | 45.4% | 44.4% | 43.7% | 44.2% | Owner earnings marginOE mgn |
| $213M | $209M | $235M | $270M | $215M | $266M | $286M | $260M | $250M | $255M | $261M | Free cash flowFCF |
| 43.3% | 41.5% | 43.1% | 45.7% | 40.8% | 45.5% | 46.3% | 45.4% | 44.4% | 43.7% | 44.2% | Free cash flow marginFCF mgn |
| — | — | — | — | — | $11M | $23M | $2M | $19M | $0 | $2M | AcquisitionsAcquis. |
| $5M | $5M | $75M | $197M | $102M | $111M | $14M | $36M | $54M | $132M | — | BuybacksBuybacks |
| ($132M) | ($170M) | ($207M) | ($279M) | ($82M) | ($452M) | ($181M) | ($135M) | ($153M) | ($233M) | — | Investing cash flowInv. cash |
| ($84M) | ($31M) | ($63M) | $394K | ($141M) | $183M | ($114M) | ($135M) | ($104M) | ($7M) | — | Financing cash flowFin. cash |
| ($775K) | $132K | $3M | $0 | $0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Exchange-rate effectFX |
| $3M | $17M | ($23M) | $2M | $4M | $3M | ($3M) | ($5M) | ($2M) | $20M | — | Change in cashΔ cash |
| 12% | 8% | 8% | 3% | 11% | 5% | 2% | 8% | 10% | 4% | 4% | ROICROIC |
| 16% | 10% | 7% | 7% | 22% | 14% | 6% | 18% | 20% | 10% | 11% | Return on equityROE |
| 16% | 10% | 7% | 7% | 22% | 14% | 6% | 18% | 20% | 10% | 11% | Retained to equityRetained/eq |
| Balance sheet | |||||||||||
| $12M | $12M | $9M | $12M | $16M | $19M | $17M | $5M | $5M | $6M | $10M | Cash & investmentsCash+inv |
| $24M | $23M | $25M | $25M | $25M | $24M | $24M | $23M | $20M | $17M | — | Net PP&ENet PP&E |
| $6M | $7M | $7M | $7M | $7M | $7M | $7M | $7M | $7M | $7M | $7M | GoodwillGoodwill |
| $801M | $841M | $855M | $1.0B | $954M | $1.2B | $1.1B | $1.1B | $1.0B | $1.1B | $1.1B | Total assetsAssets |
| $295M | $245M | $252M | $451M | $405M | $697M | $599M | $498M | $448M | $587M | $573M | Total debtDebt |
| $284M | $232M | $243M | $439M | $389M | $678M | $582M | $493M | $443M | $581M | $562M | Net debt / (cash)Net debt |
| 6.2× | 6.3× | 5.0× | 1.3× | 4.3× | 2.0× | 0.5× | 2.1× | 2.6× | 0.9× | 1.0× | Interest coverageInt. cov. |
| $340M | $300M | $303M | $618M | $549M | $845M | $732M | $632M | $571M | $703M | — | Total liabilitiesTotal liab. |
| $461M | $541M | $552M | $412M | $405M | $373M | $384M | $422M | $437M | $351M | $362M | Shareholders’ equityEquity |
| 1.0% | 1.1% | 3.2% | 4.9% | 3.7% | 3.0% | 1.5% | −0.3% | −3.5% | — | −3.3% | Stock comp / revenueSBC/rev |
| Per share | |||||||||||
| 8.8M | 9.0M | 9.2M | 8.0M | 6.7M | 6.4M | 5.9M | 5.9M | 5.5M | 5.0M | 4.6M | Shares out (diluted)Shares |
| $55.91 | $56.11 | $59.16 | $74.19 | $79.13 | $91.95 | $104.52 | $97.72 | $102.45 | $116.43 | $129.14 | Revenue / shareRev/sh |
| $8.38 | $5.99 | $4.05 | $3.54 | $13.23 | $8.47 | $3.60 | $13.14 | $16.21 | $6.88 | $8.54 | EPS (diluted)EPS |
| $24.21 | $23.31 | $25.86 | $34.48 | $33.04 | $41.86 | $48.44 | $44.33 | $45.48 | $50.83 | $57.07 | Owner earnings / shareOE/sh |
| $24.21 | $23.31 | $25.52 | $33.91 | $32.26 | $41.86 | $48.44 | $44.33 | $45.48 | $50.83 | $57.07 | Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh |
| $0.78 | $1.02 | $1.07 | $1.42 | $1.75 | $0.95 | $0.99 | $1.01 | $0.67 | $0.77 | $0.90 | Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh |
| $52.52 | $60.40 | $59.98 | $51.80 | $60.69 | $58.61 | $65.02 | $72.06 | $79.35 | $69.84 | $79.06 | Book value / shareBVPS |
| 9-yr | 5-yr | |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue / share | +8.5%/yr | +8.0%/yr |
| Owner earnings / share | +8.6%/yr | +9.0%/yr |
| EPS | −2.2%/yr | −12.3%/yr |
| Capital spending / share | −0.1%/yr | −15.1%/yr |
| Book value / share | +3.2%/yr | +2.8%/yr |
Where the cash went
ReinvestBuybacksDividendsAcquisitionsRetainedEach year's operating cash, by what management did with it: the mix, and how it drifts.
Net income is the accountant's number; owner earnings is the cash an owner could take out. The walk between them, off the cash-flow statement, and whether the gap is widening or holding.
In fiscal 2026 the business turned $35M of profit into $255M of owner earnings: more cash than the profit line showed, after the non-cash charges and the capital it put back in.
| FY2026 | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reported net income | $35M | $89M | $77M | $21M | $54M |
| Depreciationnon-cash charge added back | +$6M | +$6M | +$7M | +$6M | +$6M |
| Amortization of intangible assetsnon-cash charge added back; the purchase price of past acquisitions, expensed over time | +$3M | +$4M | +$4M | +$4M | +$5M |
| Stock-based compensationreal costnon-cash, but a real cost | — | −$20M | −$2M | +$9M | +$18M |
| Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items | +$216M | +$174M | +$180M | +$251M | +$190M |
| Cash from operations | $259M | $254M | $266M | $292M | $272M |
| Capital expenditurecash put back in to keep running and to grow | −$4M | −$4M | −$6M | −$6M | −$6M |
| Owner earnings | $255M | $250M | $260M | $286M | $266M |
| Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue | 44% | 44% | 45% | 46% | 46% |
Owner earnings is the cash an owner could pull out without starving the business: operating cash less the capital it must spend to hold its position .
Maintenance capex is estimated as depreciation where a growing business invests above it; free cash flow is the figure the scorecard's free-cash margin reads.
Quality & stewardship
Returns, the balance sheet, capital allocation, and pay.
Owner’s Scorecard
Will it survive?
- Does not cover its interestOperating income $45M ÷ interest expense $49M
What this means
A full year of operating profit didn't cover the interest bill. This is the zombie zone: the business depends on refinancing, asset sales, or forbearance to service its debt.
- How heavy is the debt, net of cash? $581M · 12.8× operating profitHeavy net debtCash $6M − debt $587M
What this means
Netting $6M of cash and short-term investments against $587M of debt leaves $581M owed, about 12.8× a year's operating profit (13.0× on the gross debt, before the cash). Net debt is the leverage figure that matters: the cash is already set against the debt. Strategic or illiquid investments aren't counted here.
- Not enough data
What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.
Is it a good business?
- Solid through the cycle10-yr median, range 2%–12%; 4% latest = NOPAT $35M ÷ invested capital $932MIndustry peers: median 10%
What this means
The rate the business earns on the money tied up in it, Buffett's north star, because over time a stock tracks the ROIC beneath it. Above ~15% sustained hints at a moat; a return below the cost of capital (~8%) erodes value as a business grows rather than building it — the test Buffett weighs most. The headline is the median of the last 10 years (it ran 4% most recently), so one peak or trough year doesn't set the verdict. Asset-light businesses (R&D expensed, little capital) read artificially high, pair this with Owner Earnings.
- High through the cycle10-yr median margin, range 42%–46%; latest $255M = operating cash $259M − maintenance capex $4MIndustry peers: median 46%
What this means
What an owner could take out without starving the business: operating cash less the maintenance capital it must spend to hold its position — Buffett's owner earnings. That's 44% of revenue this year, a 44% median across 10 years.
- Cash-backedCash from ops $259M ÷ net income $35M
What this means
How much of reported profit showed up as operating cash. Above 1× is reassuring; well below suggests earnings lean on accruals. One year is noisy, growth and working-capital swings distort it, and this is operating cash, not free cash. Watch the multi-year trend.
How is the cash used?
- Returns about halfDividends + buybacks $132M ÷ Owner Earnings $255M — this fiscal year
What this means
Of $255M Owner Earnings, $132M (52%) went back to shareholders, $0 dividends, $132M buybacks. Returning most of it is the mark of a mature business with little left to reinvest at a high return; reinvesting most could mean a long runway, or empire-building. The split doesn't say which; the return earned on it (see ROIC) does. This year's proportion is 52%; across the record (2017–2026) it is 30%, the capital-allocation section below.
- Investing or harvesting? 0.67×HarvestingCapex $4M ÷ property depreciation $6M
What this means
Descriptive, not a grade. Above ~1× means investing faster than assets wear out (growth, or, sustained for years, today's earnings carrying less depreciation than tomorrow's will). Below means spending less than it's wearing out (efficiency, or a melting asset base). The ratio won't tell you which; the filings will.
Graham’s defensive tests · 1 of 3 met
Graham’s numerical criteria for the defensive investor (The Intelligent Investor, ch. 14), run on the filings. A floor of safety, not a buy signal; many fine modern businesses fail his strictest liquidity rules by design.
- Adequate size MissRevenue ≥ $2B · $585M
What this means
Big enough to weather a storm. Graham's 1972 floor was ~$100M of sales (≈ $700M today); we use a $2B revenue line as a conservative modern stand-in.
- Strong liquidity —Current ratio ≥ 2× · —
What this means
Current assets / liabilities not in the data yet.
- Earnings stability PassA profit every year (10-yr record) · no losses
What this means
Graham wanted earnings in each of the past ten years, the stability a defensive owner leans on.
- Dividend record —Uninterrupted dividends · no dividend line tagged in the data
What this means
An unbroken dividend was Graham's mark of durability. This record carries no dividends-paid line in any year — common for partnerships, whose distributions file under tags the chain doesn't read — so the criterion is withheld rather than judged on silence.
- Earnings growth NearEarnings +33% over the record · +22%
What this means
At least a third more earnings than a decade ago, averaging three years at each end. Net income (not per-share), so stock splits don't distort it, buybacks and dilution show up in the share-count line instead.
- Moderate price —P/E ≤ 15 and P/E × P/B ≤ 22.5 · decided by the price
What this means
Graham's valuation gate, the wall he kept between a sound business and a sound investment. Three-year average earnings are $14.36/share (latest year $7.42), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is $75.27/share. Enter a price in “What the price implies” just below for the P/E, P/B, and whether it clears. But this is the rule Buffett outgrew: there's no hard P/E law, and a wonderful business can deserve a far richer multiple if the thesis holds, treat it as the bargain-hunter's floor, not a verdict on the price.
Durability & moat, 2017–2026
Whether the record’s returns held, and what the capital reinvested earned.
- Profitable years 10 of 10
What this means
Never lost money over the record, the earnings stability Graham insisted on.
- Return on capital ≥ 15% 0 of 10 yrs
What this means
A moat shows up as a high return on invested capital that holds year after year, not one good vintage.
- Operating margin 23% → 15% (3-yr avg ends)
What this means
Through the cycle the operating margin slipped — about 23% early to 15% lately, median 17% — competition or costs are biting in.
- Reinvestment, incremental ROIC returns capital
What this means
The capital base barely grew: this business returns cash through dividends and buybacks rather than reinvesting. Judge it on the cash returned, not on compounding.
- Owner earnings growth +2%/yr
What this means
Owner earnings grew about 2% a year over the record.
- Worst year 2023 · 4.4% op. margin
What this means
Stayed profitable even in its hardest year, the resilience that survives recessions.
- Share count −6.0%/yr
What this means
The share count is shrinking, buybacks are quietly growing your slice of the business.
All figures as filed; the source filing is linked above.
How the cash was used, 2017–2026
Over the record, the business generated $2.5B of operating cash; how management split it reads as a balanced allocator, splitting cash between the business, owners, and the balance sheet.
- Reinvested$74M · 3%
- Buybacks$732M · 29%
- Retained (debt / cash)$1.7B · 68%
- Returned to owners$732M
30% of the owner earnings the business produced over the span, $0 as dividends and $732M as buybacks.
- Average price paid for buybacks$120.31
Across the years where the filing reports a share count, 2M shares were bought for $282M, about $120.31 each. Year to year the price paid ranged from $52.20 (2017) to $129.81 (2020), and 2020, near the top of that range, was also its heaviest buyback year ($197M).
- Net change in share count−47.8%
The diluted count fell from 9M to 5M, so the buybacks outran the stock issued to staff.
- Dividend record—
No dividend line was reported in the filing data over the span; the record here neither confirms nor rules out a payout.
Buybacks are gross of stock issued to staff; the share-count line above is the net of that, the figure that decides whether owners gained. The average price paid blends a year of purchases (and any accelerated repurchase), so it is close, not exact. The record of where the cash went and on what terms.
Management, ownership & pay
read the proxy →From the proxy: how much of the business the people running it own, and how they are paid, beside what the business earned for its owners in the same years.
| Fiscal year | Chief executive | Pay, as filed | “Actually paid” | Owner earnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Mr. Prashad | $938k | $11.9M | $220M |
| 2022 | Mr. Prashad | $934k | $9.9M | $266M |
| 2023 | Mr. Prashad | $957k | −$12.8M | $286M |
| 2024 | Mr. Prashad | $966k | $7.3M | $260M |
| 2025 | Mr. Prashad | $2.3M | −$6.8M | $250M |
Both pay figures are the company’s own, from the pay-versus-performance table its proxy statement files. “As filed” is the Summary Compensation Table total: salary, bonus, and equity awards at their value on the day of grant. “Actually paid” is the SEC’s prescribed recalculation, which re-marks those equity awards to what they became as they vested; it can swing far above or below the filed figure in either direction, and negative years occur. Owner earnings are the whole business's, from the record above, for the same fiscal years.
- Insider ownership38%
The stake all directors and executive officers hold together, per the 2026 proxy: skin in the game, the first thing Munger reads.
What an owner would ask, FY2026
read the 10-K →- Which reported numbers are a judgment call?Management names Income taxes, Credit & receivables as critical estimates
each rests partly on management's judgment; the filing's note sets out the assumptionsverify →
The questions the record and the charts do not answer on their own; each carries the figure and the place to look.
Peers, Consumer Finance
The same industry, side by side on owner economics. Each column names the period it is read over, and a median resting on fewer than three years carries that count beside it; the group median at the foot is the line to read each figure against.
| Company | Revenuelatest FY, USD | Gross marginmedian over the record | Op. marginmedian over the record | ROICmedian over the record | Owner earn. marginmedian over the record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AFRMAffirm Holdings | $3.2B | — | -44.1% | -13% | -16% |
| ENVAEnova International Inc. | $3.2B | 58% | 21.6% | 10% | 56% |
| CACCCredit Acceptance Corporation | $2.3B | — | 45.7% | 10% | 54% |
| ATLCAtlanticus Holdings Corporation | $2.0B | 91% | 22.9% | 10% | 30%4y |
| RMRegional Management Corp. | $646M | — | 21.6% | 6% | 43% |
| JCAPJefferson Capital Inc. | $613M | — | 50.8% | 13% | — |
| WRLDWorld Acceptance Corporation | $585M | — | 16.9% | 8% | 44% |
| LPROOpen Lending Corporation | $93M | 77%3y | 53.2% | 45%3y | 50% |
| Group median | — | — | 22.3% | 10% | 44% |
The price
What a price has to assume.
What the price implies
reverse-DCFType today's close and see the owner-earnings growth you'd have to believe to justify it, beside what World Acceptance Corporation has delivered.
Through the cycle, World Acceptance Corporation earns about $258M on its 44.1% median owner-earnings margin. This year’s 43.7% margin runs in line with that. Normalize, below, values the price on that through-cycle figure rather than the latest year.
—
9.0% = the 4.65% 10-year Treasury (Aug 19, 2026) + 4.35 points of equity premium. The rate you require is yours to set.
Enter a price above to run it.
A dated snapshot of the price you typed, the assumptions you set, and what the page showed for them. A snapshot is never edited after it is saved. Your notebook is yours alone — the commitment states what is stored and what we will never do.
Graham capped the multiple at 15×; Buffett and Munger let that rule go: a wonderful business can deserve 50× if the thesis holds. The gate marks the bargain-hunter's floor.
Prefilled with the 10-year Treasury (4.65%, as of Aug 19, 2026). Edit it for today’s exact figure, or a AAA corporate yield.
Graham measured a stock against the bond you could own instead, the heart of his margin of safety. Enter a price above to weigh the owner-earnings yield against this bond.
Owner earnings $261M on 5M shares outstanding, per the 10-Q cover, as of 2026-07-31; net debt $562M. The base is the latest year by default; Normalize values it on the through-cycle median owner-earnings margin (to avoid paying on a peak year). Net of stock comp treats option pay as the expense it is. The dials set the multiple a growth belief justifies; the price, and every dollar on this page, is yours.
Manual order: ← WRBY its page in the Manual WS →
Industry order: ← TROO the Consumer Finance chapter