CPRT

Business profile & competitive position

Copart, Inc. operates in the Industrials sector under the Specialty Business Services industry, but its core business is best described as a global online vehicle-auction and vehicle-remarketing platform. The company sells vehicles primarily over the internet through its Virtual Bidding Third Generation (VB3) platform, acting mostly as an agent for sellers—particularly insurance companies, which supplied 81% of vehicles processed in fiscal 2025. Geographic footprint spans the U.S., U.K., Germany, Brazil, Canada, U.A.E., Spain, Finland, Oman, the Republic of Ireland, and Bahrain. Buyers include licensed dismantlers, rebuilders, repair licensees, used-vehicle dealers, exporters, and, in some markets, the general public. In the U.K., Germany, and Spain, Copart also acts as a principal, purchasing vehicles and reselling them for its own account.

The numbers point toward a scale-driven, capital-light moat. Fiscal-2025 revenue reached $4.6 billion with operating income of $1.7 billion, implying an operating margin of roughly 37%. Reported net margin is 31.8% and ROE is 15.9%. Those figures are consistent with a platform business that benefits from network effects: Copart reports approximately 1 million registered members, and for U.S. vehicles sold in fiscal 2025, 69.8% of units were bought by members registered outside the state where the vehicle was located. That cross-border, cross-state liquidity is hard for smaller regional salvage lots to replicate. The concentration on insurance-company sellers, however, means the supply side is tied to accident frequency, total-loss rates, and insurer disposition policies rather than purely discretionary used-car demand.

Financial posture

Copart currently carries a market capitalization of $27.0 billion and trades at a trailing P/E of 18.7. Against a net margin of 31.8% and ROE of 15.9%, that multiple reads as a market-implied premium for durable profitability, though it does not frame the stock as deep value. With a beta of 1.06, the shares have historically moved roughly in line with the broader market. The balance of revenue is heavily U.S.-centric: in fiscal 2025, the U.S. segment generated 83.0% of revenue versus 17.0% internationally. The company is not balance-sheet-heavy in the data provided, and the $1.7 billion in operating income on $4.6 billion in revenue reveals a business that converts sales into cash at an above-average rate. Investors evaluating the name often weigh that margin structure against the 18.7x P/E: high returns on equity support the multiple, but any slowdown in unit throughput or pricing could compress both earnings and the multiple simultaneously.

Strategic priorities & outlook

Copart’s own most recent SEC 10-K filing outlines four operational priorities. First, the company intends to acquire and develop additional vehicle-storage facilities in key markets, including foreign markets. Second, it will pursue global, national, and regional vehicle-seller supply agreements to deepen its relationship with insurers and other consignors. Third, it plans to expand service offerings to vehicle sellers and members, including real-time data access and salvage-management tools. Fourth, it aims to expand the application of VB3 into new markets and implement Copart’s pricing, auction procedures, and cost efficiencies at acquired facilities.

Those priorities were already in motion during fiscal 2025: Copart opened one new facility in the U.K., two in Spain, and three in the U.S. The closing of those facilities, plus the integration playbook—VB3, pricing, procedures, and cost efficiencies—is the mechanism by which Copart tends to earn returns on expansion capital. The recent October 16, 2026, announcement that Copart completed the acquisition of ACV also fits the facility, technology, and seller-network expansion theme.

Macro & geopolitical exposure

Because Copart sits in vehicle remarketing, its macro sensitivities differ from a traditional industrial manufacturer. Top-line growth is tied to insurance-claims volume, which in turn reflects miles driven, accident severity, vehicle-repair costs, and total-loss thresholds. Used-vehicle pricing matters too: when salvage and used-car values rise, auction proceeds and fees typically rise with them; the reverse is true when prices fall. Currency exposure is real even though the U.S. is 83.0% of revenue, because 17.0% of revenue is international and denominated in pounds, euros, Brazilian reais, Canadian dollars, and Gulf currencies. Trade policy can affect the flow of damaged vehicles, parts, and exported whole units, particularly tariffs on automotive parts or restrictions on used-vehicle exports to Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. Regulatory changes around salvage titles, environmental handling of damaged vehicles, and emissions standards can also alter the economics of repairing versus totaling a vehicle. Finally, higher interest rates or weaker consumer credit can dampen demand from rebuilders and exporters, even if claim volumes are steady.

Recent developments

The most recent news flow includes four items of note. On October 26, 2026, Seeking Alpha published Copart: My Highest Conviction Position Trading At A Discount. On October 19, 2026, Zacks ran Copart, Inc. (CPRT) Stock Slides as Market Rises: Facts to Know Before You Trade, the same day Defense World reported that Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC purchased 21,777 shares of Copart, Inc. ($CPRT). Four days earlier, on October 16, 2026, BusinessWire announced that Copart Completes Acquisition of ACV. The clustering of M&A closure and institutional-buying headlines in mid-to-late October 2026 sets the narrative heading into the next earnings release on November 19, 2026, after the close.

Earnings behavior & post-earnings drift

Over the past eight reported quarters, Copart has beaten the market’s real expectation 5 times, for a beat rate of 71%, with an average earnings surprise of 2%. Despite the reasonable beat rate, the average 5-day price move in the five trading days after earnings has been -3.65%, classified as a downward post-earnings drift.

The last four quarters show how this pattern has played out. On September 10, 2026, Copart reported $0.35 versus an estimate of $0.3832, an 8.7% miss; the stock fell 2.6% the next day and 3.54% over the following five days. On May 21, 2026, it reported $0.43 versus $0.4063, a 5.8% beat; the stock still fell 1.77% the next day and 4.74% over the following five days. On February 19, 2026, Copart delivered $0.36 versus $0.3925, an 8.3% miss, and the stock fell 3.11% the next day and 1.33% over the following five days. On November 20, 2025, it reported $0.41 versus $0.3897, a 5.2% beat; the stock dipped 0.71% the next day and 4.97% over the following five days.

That sequence suggests that, irrespective of whether Copart beats or misses in a given quarter, the stock has tended to retrace or sell off during the days that follow release. The next scheduled event is November 19, 2026, after the close, with a current unofficial consensus EPS estimate of $0.3972. Heading into that report, the stock price is $29.15, RSI is 57.2, and the 50-day EMA sits just below at $28.89.

For a deeper dive, including how sell-side and institutional models are currently positioned around the November 19, 2026 report and the ACV integration, readers should review the full institutional verdict on Copart.