Stocks · Industrials · Rental & Leasing Services
Willis Lease Finance Corporation WLFC
$42.84 -6.20% Close, Oct 5, 2026 · NASDAQ · Market cap $965.7M
Next earnings report: Nov 3, 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
- The diluted share count fell 65.0% in a year, mainly through buybacks.
- Operating margin widened to 26.5% from 17.7% a year earlier.
- The shares trade at 19.5× trailing earnings, lower than 93% of the company's own readings over the past five years.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Industrials sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 6, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Top 27%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Top 39%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRTop 7%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 7%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalBottom 41%
- Gross marginTop 5%
- Operating marginTop 4%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Top 15%
- Accruals (lower is better)Top 42%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 9%
- Interest coverBottom 37%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 18%
- Free-cash-flow yieldBottom 13%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 19%
- Sales / enterprise valueBottom 24%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Top 13%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 39%
- 6-month returnBottom 12%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 36%
- Distance from 52-week highBottom 22%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Bottom 16%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 49%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 45%
- Upside to consensus price targetTop 19%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Bottom 46%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 50%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Bottom 33%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 9%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 25.6% | 16.8% | ↓ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | 12.6% | 17.7% | ↑ |
| Gross margin | 71.5% | 59.8% | ↓ |
| Operating margin | 17.7% | 26.5% | ↑ |
| FCF margin | -60.1% | -14.6% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 16.8% | 25.6% | ↓ | Top 27% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | 17.7% | 12.6% | ↑ | Top 39% |
| Gross margin | 59.8% | 71.5% | ↓ | Top 5% |
| Operating margin | 26.5% | 17.7% | ↑ | Top 4% |
| Net margin | 12.0% | 18.8% | ↓ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | -14.6% | -60.1% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 3.8% | — | Bottom 41% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 29.4% | — | Top 7% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 2.97×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -4.9%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 6.2%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -6.9 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 7.41×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 1.6×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 1.74%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 3.25%
- Shareholder yield
- 4.99%
- Share count change, 1 year
- -65.0%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -27.6%
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 4, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 2
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 4 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +5.2%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -2.2%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 3 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $75.50
- Target vs current price
- +76.2%
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 4, 2026 | +45.6% | -2.8% | -22.1% | -25.5% | — |
| May 5, 2026 | +32.7% | +17.0% | +10.4% | -10.9% | +11.1% |
| Mar 10, 2026 | -54.9% | -2.5% | -6.0% | +1.8% | -3.2% |
| Nov 4, 2025 | -2.7% | -5.9% | -3.6% | -4.5% | +44.5% |
| Aug 5, 2025 | +227.9% | +7.8% | +8.6% | +5.0% | -5.7% |
| May 6, 2025 | -49.7% | -14.2% | -9.4% | -11.5% | -9.4% |
| Mar 10, 2025 | +49.2% | -17.0% | -3.9% | -26.0% | -24.5% |
| Nov 4, 2024 | — | -0.2% | +9.3% | +14.9% | +5.3% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 4, 2026 | $1.31 | $0.90 | +45.6% | $194.0M |
| May 5, 2026 | $1.34 | $1.01 | +32.7% | $194.3M |
| Mar 10, 2026 | $0.51 | $1.13 | -54.9% | $193.6M |
| Nov 4, 2025 | $1.08 | $1.11 | -2.7% | $183.4M |
| Aug 5, 2025 | $2.81 | $0.86 | +227.9% | $195.5M |
| May 6, 2025 | $0.74 | $1.47 | -49.7% | $157.7M |
| Mar 10, 2025 | $0.94 | $0.63 | +49.2% | $152.8M |
| Nov 4, 2024 | $1.12 | — | — | $136.7M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 19.5× | 27.6× | 7th | Top 18% |
| P/E (forward) | 6.9× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 10.5× | — | — | Top 19% |
| EV / Sales | 4.30× | — | — | Bottom 24% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | -11.53% | — | — | Bottom 13% |
| Earnings yield | 5.14% | — | — | Top 18% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 19.4× – 41.8× since Mar 31, 2023. 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
- -6.3%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- +17.7%
- Change in P/E multiple
- +20.8%
Most of the move came from a change in the valuation multiple.
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
- 0
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -11.4%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +1.8%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -25.0%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -29.9%
- RSI (14)
- 19.8
- Relative volume
- 2.93×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 45.7%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 69th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 1.31
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.39
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -46.4%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -50.3%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 7, 2024 | Nov 24, 2025 | -50.3% | 261 days | 111 days (May 6, 2026) |
| Jul 6, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 | -46.4% | 64 days | Not yet recovered |
| Jan 9, 2023 | May 30, 2023 | -41.0% | 97 days | 239 days (May 10, 2024) |
| Dec 4, 2020 | Jan 27, 2021 | -33.8% | 35 days | 34 days (Mar 17, 2021) |
| May 11, 2021 | May 18, 2022 | -33.7% | 258 days | 129 days (Nov 21, 2022) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $965.7M
- P/E (TTM)
- 19.5
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $2.20
- Revenue (TTM)
- $762.0M
- Dividend yield
- 3.11%
- 52-week range
- $38.00 – $81.54
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $274.2M | $311.9M | $418.6M | $569.2M | $675.8M |
| Gross profit | $168.8M | $202.8M | $291.3M | $429.4M | $444.1M |
| Operating income | $8.3M | $9.9M | $64.2M | $144.4M | $218.0M |
| Net income | $3.4M | $5.4M | $43.8M | $108.6M | $113.8M |
| EPS (diluted) | $0.00 | $0.04 | $0.69 | $1.70 | $1.71 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $146.2M | $152.8M | $157.7M | $195.5M | $180.0M | $193.6M | $194.3M | $194.0M |
| Net income | $24.1M | $21.1M | $16.9M | $60.4M | $24.3M | $12.2M | $25.1M | $30.2M |
| EPS (diluted) | $0.37 | $0.31 | $0.25 | $0.94 | $0.36 | $0.17 | $0.36 | $1.31 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $90.7M | $144.4M | $229.7M | $284.4M | $283.2M |
| Capital expenditure | -$207.9M | -$293.0M | -$168.8M | -$830.5M | -$524.6M |
| Free cash flow | -$117.3M | -$148.6M | $61.0M | -$546.1M | -$241.3M |
| Dividends paid | $0 | $0 | $0 | -$10.7M | -$8.7M |
| Net share buybacks | -$15.1M | -$8.9M | -$5.8M | -$8.2M | -$3.5M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $10.7M
- Total assets
- $3.65B
- Total liabilities
- $2.88B
- Total debt
- $2.32B
- Net debt
- $2.31B
- Shareholders’ equity
- $772.1M
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 4, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 11, 2026 | $0.13 | Aug 21, 2026 |
| May 11, 2026 | $0.40 | May 22, 2026 |
| Feb 11, 2026 | $0.40 | Feb 20, 2026 |
| Nov 17, 2025 | $0.40 | Nov 26, 2025 |
| Aug 12, 2025 | $0.25 | Aug 21, 2025 |
| May 12, 2025 | $0.25 | May 22, 2025 |
| Feb 12, 2025 | $0.25 | Feb 21, 2025 |
| Nov 12, 2024 | $0.25 | Nov 21, 2024 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 1,935,420
- Days to cover
- 11.36
- Change vs previous report
- +0.2%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Jul 21, 2026
- 3-for-1