Stocks · Financial Services · Financial - Credit Services
World Acceptance Corporation WRLD
$174.44 +1.64% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NASDAQ · Market cap $813.0M
High risk
Next earnings report: Oct 22, 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 13.4% in a year, mainly through buybacks.
- Operating margin narrowed to 8.6% from 17.8% a year earlier.
- Diluted EPS over the last four quarters was $8.46, down 42.9% year over year.
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 5, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 42%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 14%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 32%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 7%
- Revenue growth accelerationTop 41%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 35%
- Gross marginBottom 38%
- Operating marginBottom 19%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Top 5%
- Accruals (lower is better)Top 6%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 12%
- Interest coverTop 49%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldBottom 41%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 8%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueBottom 35%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 33%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Bottom 41%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 46%
- 6-month returnTop 14%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 41%
- Distance from 52-week highBottom 20%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 48%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersBottom 40%
- Consecutive EPS beatsBottom 43%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 7%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Bottom 15%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsBottom 29%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Bottom 20%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 12%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 3.7% | 4.2% | ↑ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | -54.9% | -42.9% | ↑ |
| Gross margin | 61.8% | 60.6% | ↓ |
| Operating margin | 17.8% | 8.6% | ↓ |
| FCF margin | 45.8% | 44.0% | ↓ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 4.2% | 3.7% | ↑ | Bottom 42% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | -42.9% | -54.9% | ↑ | Bottom 14% |
| Gross margin | 60.6% | 61.8% | ↓ | Bottom 38% |
| Operating margin | 8.6% | 17.8% | ↓ | Bottom 19% |
| Net margin | 6.6% | 14.3% | ↓ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 44.0% | 45.8% | ↓ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 3.9% | — | Top 35% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | -1.7% | — | Bottom 7% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 3.00×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -21.0%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 3.6%
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 10.62×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 1.0×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.00%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 14.53%
- Shareholder yield
- 14.53%
- Share count change, 1 year
- -13.4%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -8.0%
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 6, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 1
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 4 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +3.0%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -1.5%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 5 of 8
Analysts
- Analysts with a rating
- 10
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 10%
- Consensus rating
- Hold
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 24, 2026 | +265.5% | +13.0% | +0.0% | +1.6% | — |
| Apr 30, 2026 | -0.5% | -4.0% | -2.7% | +5.4% | +27.8% |
| Jan 27, 2026 | -132.8% | -17.6% | -13.6% | -10.1% | +4.9% |
| Oct 23, 2025 | -120.3% | -12.8% | -25.8% | -23.2% | -26.0% |
| Jul 24, 2025 | -89.8% | -9.6% | -7.9% | -4.5% | +0.9% |
| Apr 29, 2025 | +26.6% | +3.4% | -2.4% | +10.1% | +12.8% |
| Jan 28, 2025 | +99.2% | +16.3% | +7.9% | +4.3% | +0.2% |
| Oct 25, 2024 | +100.5% | -0.6% | -1.7% | +1.3% | +10.5% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 24, 2026 | $2.12 | $0.58 | +265.5% | $139.2M |
| Apr 30, 2026 | $7.70 | $7.74 | -0.5% | $177.6M |
| Jan 27, 2026 | -$0.19 | $0.58 | -132.8% | $141.3M |
| Oct 23, 2025 | -$0.38 | $1.87 | -120.3% | $134.5M |
| Jul 24, 2025 | $0.25 | $2.44 | -89.8% | $132.5M |
| Apr 29, 2025 | $8.13 | $6.42 | +26.6% | $165.3M |
| Jan 28, 2025 | $2.45 | $1.23 | +99.2% | $138.6M |
| Oct 25, 2024 | $3.99 | $1.99 | +100.5% | $131.4M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 20.6× | 15.4× | 67th | Bottom 41% |
| P/E (forward) | 13.2× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 24.2× | — | — | Bottom 35% |
| EV / Sales | 2.45× | — | — | Top 33% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 32.02% | — | — | Top 8% |
| Earnings yield | 4.85% | — | — | Bottom 41% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 8.1× – 51.2× 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
- +2.9%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- -42.9%
- Change in P/E multiple
- +107.0%
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
- 99
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -4.2%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +2.1%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -5.9%
- Distance from 200-day average
- +8.5%
- RSI (14)
- 41.9
- Relative volume
- 0.75×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 41.1%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 22th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 1.02
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.36
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -22.1%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -37.3%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 22, 2021 | Dec 19, 2022 | -77.0% | 249 days | Not yet recovered |
| Oct 25, 2021 | Oct 26, 2021 | -27.3% | 1 days | 7 days (Nov 4, 2021) |
| Jan 27, 2021 | Feb 19, 2021 | -26.9% | 16 days | 81 days (Jun 16, 2021) |
| Oct 20, 2020 | Oct 30, 2020 | -26.2% | 8 days | 17 days (Nov 24, 2020) |
| Jan 14, 2021 | Jan 25, 2021 | -23.8% | 6 days | 2 days (Jan 27, 2021) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $813.0M
- P/E (TTM)
- 20.6
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $8.46
- Revenue (TTM)
- $591.9M
- 52-week range
- $110.00 – $227.68
| FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | FY 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $585.2M | $616.5M | $573.2M | $564.8M | $585.2M |
| Gross profit | $365.6M | $306.6M | $368.0M | $395.6M | $347.1M |
| Operating income | $65.6M | $27.1M | $99.4M | $158.5M | $45.2M |
| Net income | $53.9M | $21.2M | $77.3M | $89.7M | $34.6M |
| EPS (diluted) | $8.47 | $3.60 | $13.19 | $16.30 | $6.88 |
| Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | Q3 2026 | Q4 2026 | Q1 2027 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $131.4M | $138.6M | $165.3M | $132.8M | $134.5M | $141.3M | $177.0M | $139.2M |
| Net income | $22.1M | $13.4M | $44.3M | $1.6M | -$1.9M | -$911,330 | $36.1M | $6.1M |
| EPS (diluted) | $3.99 | $2.45 | $8.13 | $0.25 | -$0.38 | -$0.19 | $7.70 | $1.33 |
| FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | FY 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $272.4M | $291.6M | $265.8M | $254.2M | $259.4M |
| Capital expenditure | -$6.1M | -$5.8M | -$5.9M | -$3.7M | -$3.9M |
| Free cash flow | $266.4M | $285.7M | $259.9M | $250.5M | $255.5M |
| Dividends paid | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Net share buybacks | -$111.1M | -$14.3M | -$36.2M | -$54.2M | -$129.7M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $10.4M
- Total assets
- $1.08B
- Total liabilities
- $716.9M
- Total debt
- $648.1M
- Net debt
- $637.7M
- Shareholders’ equity
- $362.2M
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 6, 2026).
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 416,419
- Days to cover
- 6.80
- Change vs previous report
- -9.8%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Sep 1, 1995
- 3-for-1