World Acceptance Corporation (WRLD)
🔔 Watch stock
World Acceptance lends small sums through 1,009 branches to Americans hardly anyone else will lend to — at an average annual rate of 51.4 percent (March 31, 2026). The result: $259 million of operating cash flow in fiscal 2026 against a market value of only about $640 million — rank 11 in our FCF/market-cap scanner (as of July 18, 2026). We read the annual reports (10-K) for fiscal 2025 and 2026 and the quarterly reports (10-Q) and found things no ratio shows: a sentence stating that a 36 percent rate cap would "almost certainly eliminate" the business, a 61 percent profit collapse, a CEO who left in April 2026, a bank that had to loosen its loan covenants, and an anchor shareholder holding 46.3 percent. Not investment advice — just the math on what a money machine is worth when one sentence from Washington could erase its blueprint.
Appears in These Scanners
This stock currently matches 11 of our scanner strategies — each hit links to the scanner.
Only genuine hits from verified scanners count; pure ranking metrics (P/E, P/S, and similar, which just sort the whole universe) don't count as a hit. View all scanners
Basics
Performance
Valuation
Profitability
Balance Sheet & Safety
Growth
Quality & Screener
AI Rating
NeutralGeprüft am 18.07.2026 gegen die Geschäftsberichte (10-K) für die Geschäftsjahre 2026 (eingereicht 04.06.2026) und 2025 (22.05.2025) sowie die vier jüngsten Quartalsberichte (10-Q): In den ausgewerteten SEC-Filings von World Acceptance findet sich kein wesentlicher KI-Bezug. Die einzige Erwähnung von „artificial intelligence“ steht im Cybersecurity-Risikoteil des 10-K GJ 2026 und beschreibt KI ausschließlich als Werkzeug externer Angreifer („Artificial intelligence (‚AI') tools may increase threat actors' ability to detect or exploit vulnerabilities, to develop ransomware or other malware, to launch cyberattacks…“) — eine generische Bedrohungs-Floskel ohne konkreten Bezug zum eigenen Geschäftsmodell (Filial-Ratenkredite, Kreditversicherungen, Steuererklärungs-Service). Die vier 10-Q und der 10-K GJ 2025 enthalten null Treffer für „artificial intelligence“, „machine learning“ oder „AI“. Weder KI-Umsatzquelle (nicht „verkauft“) noch dokumentierter operativer KI-Einsatz etwa im Underwriting (nicht „nutzt“) noch ein konkretes, geschäftsmodellspezifisches KI-Risiko (nicht „bedroht“) — nach Kriterienkatalog dokumentierter Negativ-Befund: „neutral“.
View the full file — quotes, sources, reviewed filings
Filings Reviewed: 10-K 2026-06-04 · 10-K 2025-05-22 · 10-Q 2026-02-09 · 10-Q 2025-11-06 · 10-Q 2025-08-06 · 10-Q 2025-02-06
Rated on July 18, 2026 · How the Rating Is Built
Quarterly Figures
| Quarter | EPS (Earnings Per Share) | EPS YoY (%) | Sales ($M) | Sales YoY (%) | Net Margin (%) | OCF ($M) | FCF ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024: Q4 | 2.45 | -13.80 | 139 | 0.60 | 9.70 | 61 | 60 |
| 2025: Q1 | 8.13 | 33.40 | 165 | 3.80 | 26.80 | 91 | 90 |
| 2025: Q2 | 0.25 | -85.80 | 133 | 2.30 | 1.00 | 58 | 57 |
| 2025: Q3 | -0.38 | -109.50 | 135 | 2.30 | -1.40 | 49 | 48 |
| 2025: Q4 | -0.18 | -107.40 | 141 | 1.90 | -0.60 | 58 | 57 |
| 2026: Q1 | 7.70 | -5.30 | 178 | 7.40 | 20.60 | 95 | 94 |
- EPS (Earnings Per Share):
- Quarterly profit divided by the total share count — how much of the profit works out to a single share.
- YoY (Year over Year):
- Change versus the same quarter a year ago — this is how you compare without seasonal distortion (e.g. the holiday shopping season).
- Sales:
- All revenue for the quarter, before any costs are deducted — the top line of the income statement.
- Net Margin:
- What percentage of sales is left over as profit in the end. Negative means the company is posting a loss.
- OCF (Operating Cash Flow):
- The cash that actually flows into the till from the core business during the quarter — harder to dress up than book profit.
- FCF (Free Cash Flow):
- Operating cash flow minus capital expenditures — the money that's genuinely free to use, say for paying down debt, buybacks, or dividends.
Assessment: Opportunities & Risks
$259.4 million of operating cash flow against $3.9 million of capital expenditures and $132.4 million of share repurchases in fiscal 2026; shares outstanding fell from 9.3 million (2019) to 4.6 million (May 2026) — a capital-light business that consistently returns to its remaining shareholders (10-K FY 2026).
Net income without a trend ($21.2 to $89.2 million across eleven years, most recently −61.2 percent to $34.6 million), driven by loss provisioning (32.2 percent of revenue) and a bonus yo-yo ($22.0 million reversed in FY 2025, $39.0 million more stock compensation in FY 2026); an 18.5 percent net charge-off ratio against a 51.4 percent average APR.
The company itself writes that a national 36 percent rate cap would "almost certainly eliminate" the current business; 61.7 percent of the loan book sits above that threshold, and the CFPB holds supervisory powers (10-K FY 2026, Item 1/1A). Not an acute risk, but a permanent existential one.
CEO resignation effective April 10, 2026 with an interim successor (Matricciani, CEO 2015–2018), a COO change in February 2026; after the bond redemption, funding hangs on a secured bank facility whose fixed-charge covenant had to be lowered temporarily from 2.25 to as low as 2.10 on May 22, 2026 (10-K FY 2026, Note 19).
Stage-2 uptrend, Power Trend, 12 scanner hits, Piotroski 7 of 9 (data as of July 8, 2026) — but a thin float (Prescott ~46.3 percent, only 4.6 million shares) amplifies moves in both directions, and the insider tally reads 9 sales to zero purchases in twelve months.
World Acceptance is the cheapness trap in its purest form, served as an exam question: a genuine cash machine with a radical buyback policy at 3.6 times a free cash flow that is systematically flattered for lenders — set against a business model whose ending the company itself describes in one sentence, a profit zigzagging on bonuses and charge-offs, a bank covenant loosened on May 22, 2026, a vacant corner office and a 46.3 percent anchor shareholder. The low multiple is the premium for exactly these risks — not the proof they are absent. Not investment advice.
- WRLD reached the research list via rank 11 in our in-house FCF/market-cap scanner (as of July 18, 2026); the 12 hits in the in-house stock scanner (data as of July 8, 2026) provided the confluence. Scanner memberships shift daily — the stated data cut-off governs.
- Lender particularity: operating cash flow contains interest and principal collections but not newly originated loans (investing cash flow). FCF-based metrics therefore systematically overstate free liquidity; in fiscal 2026 the loan book grew by roughly $230 million net. The trailing P/E is simultaneously distorted by stock-compensation reversals (FY 2025) and catch-up expense (FY 2026).
- Valuation figures dated July 8, 2026 (about $640 million market value); analyses are evergreen, daily prices are not a buy argument. All filing quotes were verified verbatim against the SEC originals (10-K FY 2026, filed June 4, 2026).
About the Company
World Acceptance Corporation ist im Verbraucherkreditgeschäft in den USA tätig. Das Unternehmen bietet kurzfristige kleine Ratenkredite, mittelfristige größere Ratenkredite, zugehörige Kreditversicherungen sowie ergänzende Produkte und Dienstleistungen für Privatpersonen an.
| Employees | 2,907 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Greenville, SC |
| Website | loansbyworld.com |
| IPO Date | 26. Nov 1991 |
| Next Earnings | 23. Jul 2026 |
Management
| Name | Title | Birth Year |
|---|---|---|
| John L. Calmes Jr. | Executive VP, Chief Financial & Strategy Officer and Treasurer | 1980 |
| Scott McIntyre | Senior Vice President of Accounting | 1977 |
| Luke J. Umstetter | Senior VP, General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer & Secretary | 1980 |
| Alice Lindsay Caulder | Senior Vice President of Human Resources | 1976 |
| Jason E. Childers | Senior Vice President of Information Technology Strategic Solutions | 1975 |
| J. Tobin Turner | Executive VP, COO & Principal Executive Officer | 1975 |
| Victoria G. Hammond | Senior Vice President of Marketing | – |
| Jeff L. Tinney | Senior Vice President of Operations | 1963 |
| Jackie C. Willyard | Senior Vice President of Operations | 1963 |
| Rodney D. Ernest | Senior Vice President of Operations | – |
Executives per the latest required filings; titles kept in their original language. Source: fundamental data.
Chart
Interactive price chart (TradingView).
Data as of: July 20, 2026 · Source: fundamental data & SEC filings (annual and quarterly reports, 10-K/10-Q)
Note: pure fact-based analysis, not investment advice and not a solicitation to buy or sell. All figures without guarantee.