Stocks · Financial Services · Asset Management
Capital Southwest Corporation CSWC
$23.57 +0.21% Close, Oct 5, 2026 · NASDAQ · Market cap $1.46B
Next earnings report: Nov 2, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Operating margin widened to 65.6% from 51.7% a year earlier.
- The diluted share count rose 12.3% in a year.
- Revenue over the last four quarters was $229.8M, up 26.8% from a year earlier, slowing from 35.5% a quarter earlier.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Financial Services sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 6, 2026.
Growth70Positive
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Top 16%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 43%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRTop 10%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 18%
Quality58Neutral
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 25%
- Gross marginTop 10%
- Operating marginTop 3%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Bottom 5%
- Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 4%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 37%
- Interest coverTop 29%
Value39Weak
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 41%
- Free-cash-flow yieldBottom 8%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 38%
- Sales / enterprise valueBottom 14%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Top 36%
Momentum48Neutral
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 49%
- 6-month returnBottom 49%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 46%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 40%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 48%
Revisions48Neutral
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersBottom 41%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 34%
- Share of analysts rating BuyTop 19%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 10%
Stability44Weak
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 28%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsBottom 36%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Bottom 43%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 37%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 35.5% | 26.8% | ↓ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | 33.8% | 13.8% | ↓ |
| Gross margin | 68.1% | 83.6% | ↑ |
| Operating margin | 51.7% | 65.6% | ↑ |
| FCF margin | -122.6% | -77.4% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 26.8% | 35.5% | ↓ | Top 16% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | 13.8% | 33.8% | ↓ | Bottom 43% |
| Gross margin | 83.6% | 68.1% | ↑ | Top 10% |
| Operating margin | 65.6% | 51.7% | ↑ | Top 3% |
| Net margin | 48.2% | 46.1% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | -77.4% | -122.6% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 6.3% | — | Top 25% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 39.6% | — | Top 10% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- -1.60×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- 12.4%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.6%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -126.6 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 2.70×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 2.2×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 10.37%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- -12.27%
- Shareholder yield
- -1.90%
- Share count change, 1 year
- +12.3%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- +23.3%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 3, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 3
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 4 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +3.1%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -0.3%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 5 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $23.58
- Target vs current price
- +0.0%
- Analysts with a rating
- 11
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 73%
- Consensus rating
- Buy
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 3, 2026 | +3.4% | +1.5% | +6.5% | +8.0% | — |
| May 13, 2026 | +1.8% | -1.4% | -2.8% | -0.8% | +5.7% |
| Feb 2, 2026 | +9.0% | -1.2% | -1.1% | -3.9% | +0.7% |
| Nov 3, 2025 | -1.7% | +0.5% | +2.2% | +5.3% | +15.9% |
| Aug 6, 2025 | +0.0% | +0.0% | +0.8% | +1.0% | -9.8% |
| May 14, 2025 | -12.9% | -0.9% | +1.6% | +0.5% | +8.4% |
| Feb 3, 2025 | +0.0% | -1.0% | +2.0% | +2.7% | -8.8% |
| Oct 28, 2024 | +1.5% | +0.4% | -6.4% | -9.1% | -12.7% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 3, 2026 | $0.58 | $0.56 | +3.4% | $61.0M |
| May 13, 2026 | $0.57 | $0.56 | +1.8% | $57.8M |
| Feb 2, 2026 | $0.64 | $0.59 | +9.0% | $61.4M |
| Nov 3, 2025 | $0.57 | $0.58 | -1.7% | $56.9M |
| Aug 6, 2025 | $0.59 | $0.59 | +0.0% | $55.9M |
| May 14, 2025 | $0.54 | $0.62 | -12.9% | $52.3M |
| Feb 3, 2025 | $0.63 | $0.63 | +0.0% | $52.0M |
| Oct 28, 2024 | $0.66 | $0.65 | +1.5% | $48.7M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 13.0× | 13.9× | 38th | Top 41% |
| P/E (forward) | 10.2× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 12.0× | — | — | Top 38% |
| EV / Sales | 8.21× | — | — | Bottom 14% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | -12.17% | — | — | Bottom 8% |
| Earnings yield | 7.68% | — | — | Top 41% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 9.0× – 17.8× since Jun 30, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- +6.9%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- +13.8%
- Change in P/E multiple
- -6.5%
Most of the move came from earnings growth.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✗ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✓ Price above 200-day average
- ✓ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✓ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 2
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -0.3%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +0.9%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -2.8%
- Distance from 200-day average
- +1.0%
- RSI (14)
- 46.1
- Relative volume
- 1.26×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 16.6%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 6th percentile · Low for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.76
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.52
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -7.8%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -33.9%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 25, 2021 | Oct 7, 2022 | -41.0% | 240 days | Not yet recovered |
| Jun 8, 2021 | Jun 30, 2021 | -16.7% | 16 days | 78 days (Oct 20, 2021) |
| Sep 28, 2020 | Oct 29, 2020 | -11.8% | 23 days | 3 days (Nov 3, 2020) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $1.46B
- P/E (TTM)
- 13.0
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $1.81
- Revenue (TTM)
- $229.8M
- Dividend yield
- 13.58%
- 52-week range
- $19.37 – $25.75
| FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | FY 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $102.9M | $90.3M | $152.1M | $163.8M | $245.9M |
| Gross profit | $83.0M | $61.5M | $109.1M | $108.9M | $232.0M |
| Operating income | $46.8M | $40.1M | $84.6M | $79.4M | $189.1M |
| Net income | $42.8M | $33.1M | $83.4M | $70.5M | $113.0M |
| EPS (diluted) | $1.87 | $1.10 | $2.05 | $1.47 | $1.90 |
| Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | Q3 2026 | Q4 2026 | Q1 2027 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $40.2M | $41.3M | $46.0M | $53.7M | $52.4M | $61.9M | $54.0M | $61.4M |
| Net income | $22.7M | $16.3M | $17.6M | $27.0M | $25.6M | $32.9M | $27.5M | $24.7M |
| EPS (diluted) | $0.48 | $0.30 | $0.33 | $0.48 | $0.44 | $0.54 | $0.44 | $0.39 |
| FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | FY 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | -$182.7M | -$227.1M | -$188.5M | -$217.3M | -$193.5M |
| Capital expenditure | -$2.0M | -$281,000 | -$13,000 | -$1.7M | -$286,000 |
| Free cash flow | -$184.7M | -$227.4M | -$188.5M | -$218.9M | -$193.5M |
| Dividends paid | -$40.3M | -$71.1M | -$98.2M | -$125.3M | -$147.2M |
| Net share buybacks | -$1.4M | -$1.0M | $181.5M | $178.5M | $157.8M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $58.5M
- Total assets
- $2.32B
- Total liabilities
- $1.26B
- Total debt
- $483.9M
- Net debt
- $425.4M
- Shareholders’ equity
- $1.06B
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 3, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Dec 15, 2026 | $0.25 | Dec 31, 2026 |
| Nov 13, 2026 | $0.19 | Nov 30, 2026 |
| Oct 15, 2026 | $0.19 | Oct 30, 2026 |
| Sep 15, 2026 | $0.25 | Sep 30, 2026 |
| Aug 14, 2026 | $0.19 | Aug 31, 2026 |
| Jul 15, 2026 | $0.19 | Jul 31, 2026 |
| Jun 15, 2026 | $0.25 | Jun 30, 2026 |
| May 15, 2026 | $0.19 | May 29, 2026 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 4,007,000
- Days to cover
- 5.89
- Change vs previous report
- -1.9%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Oct 1, 2015
- 681-for-250
- Aug 16, 2013
- 4-for-1
- Sep 11, 1987
- 2-for-1
- Sep 2, 1981
- 2-for-1
- Jun 21, 1976
- 2-for-1