World Acceptance Corporation Common Stock (WRLD) fair value
Financial Services · Credit Services · NASDAQ · United States
$167.04-1.54%
Market cap $791MNext earnings 2026-10-23Updated Oct 19, 2026
Our verdict
Trades 17% below our fair value
Price
$167.04
Model fair valueConfidence: good
$202
Model range
$108 to $308
Fair value $202
Price $167
3 models fit World Acceptance Corporation Common Stock and they disagree: 0 of 3 land within 15% of the average.
Two or more of our models back this value.
Discount(i)Silver61
Valued as a mature, profitable company: Discounted cash flow, P/E comparison, Graham number, and Dividend discount.
ACCE opinionWorld Acceptance Corporation Common Stock (WRLD)
Fair value (3 models)
$202
ACCE price target
$180
Rating
Undervalued
Horizon
12 months
Fair value published on 19 Oct 2026, 18:04 CEST; previously $183 since 10 Oct 2026, 00:00 CEST.
ACCE price target published on 13 Oct 2026, 00:00 CEST.
Rating published on 19 Oct 2026, 18:04 CEST.
Price used: $167 at the close on 23 Oct 2026, 22:00 CEST.
Models: Discounted cash flow, P/E comparison, and Graham number.
Fair value: the average of the applicable valuation models (discounted cash flow, multiples, residual income, dividend discount, shareholder yield), each run on the latest financial statements and the market price shown. Opinion columns (fair value, target, rating) are shown apart from the data. Full methodology: acceinvestments.com/data/how-we-value-stocks
Conflicts of interest: The author holds no personal position in this security. General statement
Produced by ACCE Investments (acceinvestments.com)
Data
Price vs fair value
17.3% below
+21.0% to fair value
ACCE score
67
out of 100
Analysts
0% buy
1 covering
P/E
21.4x
forward 9.6x
1-year return
+7.8%
Dividend yield
0.00%
World Acceptance Corporation Common Stock in four questions
Plain answers, details below
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Overview
ACCE thesis
World Acceptance Corporation makes small-dollar installment loans, mostly to borrowers with limited access to bank credit, through a network of branch offices across the US and Mexico. The moat is operational: decades of underwriting data and a dense branch footprint that a fintech entrant struggles to replicate, reflected in a 15.3% operating margin on a 69.2% gross margin. Revenue growth of 4.8% is modest, and the stock trades at 21.7 times trailing earnings but only 9.6 times forward, a gap that points to analysts expecting a sharp earnings rebound rather than a steady run-rate. The return on equity of 9.9% is thin for a lender, so the question for a deeper look is whether that forecast recovery is credible and whether credit losses are behaving. At an 803M market cap with no index membership, the name sits below the radar of most large passive flows, which is worth a look if the earnings step-up holds.
⚠ Investor warnings · 3 flagsAI-assisted·How I use AI
high
Heavy short interest
Short interest is listed at 103.8%, which exceeds 100% of shares outstanding and signals either a data error or an extreme, unusual short position that should be verified before sizing any trade.
moderate
Leverage elevated
Debt/Equity of 1.88 is high for a lender relying on funding markets, and rising rates or tighter credit would squeeze spreads and cover.
moderate
Revenue growth slow
Revenue grew 4.8% year on year and 2.1% over five years, so the 343.3% earnings jump is largely a base effect rather than durable expansion.
AI research notes
AI-assisted·How I use AIWritten Oct 18, 2026 · figures from 2026-06-30 · prices to Oct 23, 2026
Why it could do well
Free cash flow over the last twelve months reached $255M, a yield of 31.8% at the current price.
The forward P/E of 9.6x sits below the sector median forward P/E of 11.9x.
Diluted share count fell 8.7% last fiscal year, so each share now represents a larger slice of the business.
Why it could disappoint
Return on invested capital is only 2.8%, well short of the cost of capital that a lender of this kind must earn.
Debt to equity of 1.88 and subprime credit exposure leave the balance sheet highly sensitive to loan losses.
Revenue grew 4.8% year over year, but the five-year average is just 2.1% a year, so the recent pickup may not last.
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Valuation
INVESTOR
Where WRLD's valuation models land
Price
$167.04
Model fair value
$202
Model range
$108 to $308
Fair value $202
Price $167
The price sits inside the model range.
Model
Fair value
Upside
Discounted cash flow
Dividend discount
Graham number
P/E comparison
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Quality
INVESTOR
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