Copart Inc

Copart Inc. has agreed to acquire ACV Auctions Inc. in an all-cash deal valuing the car auction marketplace at $1.9 billion, or $10.50 per share. The offer price represents a 45 percent premium over ACV's closing price of $7.22 on Thursday, September 10, prior to the announcement, and ACVA shares surged 49 percent week-on-week on the news. Copart said the takeover would create an industry-leading, fully complete remarketing platform spanning dealer trade-ins, wholesale marketing, salvage disposition, and international resale, supported by artificial intelligence tools for valuation and inspection. Following the announcement, Needham & Company downgraded ACVA to hold from buy and removed its $9 price target, calling Copart's offer fair and noting a competing bid is unlikely given the limited number of players in the auto wholesale market. The deal followed ACV's wider second-quarter net loss of $8.2 million, up 12.3 percent from $7.3 million a year earlier, though total revenues rose 10.4 percent to $213.9 million. The tender offer is subject to the successful acquisition of a majority stake in ACVA or expiration of the waiting period, with the transaction expected to close by the end of the year.

GE Aerospace said Tuesday it agreed to acquire Consolidated Precision Products for $11.75 billion, expanding its control over the supply of specialized castings used in commercial aircraft engines, military equipment and industrial gas turbines. The deal headlines a busy week of M&A across sectors. Copart agreed to acquire ACV Auctions for $10.50 a share in cash, an implied equity value of about $1.9 billion, while Analog Devices will acquire Alif Semiconductor in an all-cash transaction for $1.35 billion. Bending Spoons agreed to acquire collaborative-workspace company Miro at an enterprise value of $1.355 billion in an all-cash deal expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026. Tamarack Valley Energy agreed to acquire Headwater Exploration in an all-stock deal valued at C$10B, about US$7.25B, creating the largest publicly traded oil producer focused on Alberta's Clearwater formation, and EverBank Financial agreed to acquire Pacific Northwest bank WaFd in a $3.9B reverse merger creating a regional bank with about $75B in assets. Meta Platforms purchased Swedish AI startup Stilla.ai, Apple acquired Sonera Magnetics in a deal disclosed by the European Commission, Grab Holdings is said to be in talks for a majority stake in Atome Financial, and ARC Group Acquisition I agreed to acquire Malaysian licensed financing company Firstborn Top Capital.

Five of the six key S&P 500 companies that reported earnings this week beat consensus EPS estimates and expanded profits year over year, while all six grew revenue year over year. Oracle rose nearly 7% after hours on a Q1 beat, with adjusted EPS of $1.92 versus $1.75 consensus on $19.35B in revenue, up 30% year over year, and guided to at least $90B in FY27 revenue and adjusted EPS of $8.10. Copart reported mixed fiscal Q4 results, with revenue up 2.7% to $1.15B but GAAP EPS of $0.35 missing by $0.03, and agreed to acquire ACV Auctions for $10.50 per share in cash, sending CPRT up 10% and ACVA up 43% in extended trading. Casey's General Stores fell 14.2% despite a Q1 beat, with revenue up 24.5% to $5.69B and GAAP EPS of $7.37, while CooperCompanies slipped 14.7% after cutting FY26 revenue guidance to $4.229B–$4.252B and non-GAAP EPS to $4.51–$4.55, ending its strategic review by retaining CooperSurgical and expanding its buyback authorization to $3B. Adobe fell 2.7% after hours despite Q3 adjusted EPS of $6.13 on $6.76B in revenue and raised FY26 targets, as its Q4 revenue midpoint of $6.825B slightly missed the $6.84B consensus, and Kroger fell 2.8% premarket despite a Q2 beat with revenue of $34.6B and adjusted EPS of $1.09, after lowering its full-year identical sales growth outlook to 0.2%–0.8%.

Copart has agreed to acquire ACV, one of the largest primarily digital automotive marketplaces in the country, in an all-cash transaction funded from cash on hand with no financing conditions. ACV sells more than 800 thousand vehicles each year and transacted approximately $10 billion of gross merchandise value in 2025 across more than 22 thousand active buyers, while Copart brings more than 275 locations, over 4 million vehicles sold a year, and approximately 1 million members across more than 185 countries. The deal is structured as a tender offer, has been unanimously approved by both boards, is subject to customary conditions including regulatory review, and is expected to close by the end of the calendar year, with ACV operating as an independent subsidiary led by its existing team. Copart expects the transaction to be breakeven in the current year and accretive in the first full year, which will be fiscal 2028. For its fourth quarter, Copart reported consolidated revenue of $1.2 billion, up 2.4% year over year, with global gross profit of $481 million and net income attributable to Copart of $327.4 million, or $0.35 per diluted common share, down 17.4%. Global sold units declined 2.9% in the quarter, with domestic units down 5.7% and international units up 10%, while global insurance units fell 4.2% as domestic insurance dropped 7.5% and international insurance rose 11.2%.

Oracle shares surged 6.3% in premarket trading after the software and cloud computing company reported fiscal first-quarter 2027 results that beat Wall Street expectations across several key measures. Revenue rose 30% year over year to $19.35 billion, topping the $19.13 billion consensus, while adjusted earnings per share of $1.92 comfortably exceeded expectations in the $1.73 to $1.75 range. The strongest part of the report was Oracle's cloud infrastructure business, where revenue jumped 121% from a year earlier to $7.4 billion, and the company said GPU utilization stood at 97.9%. Oracle also secured about $30 billion in new AI-related contracts during the quarter and raised its fiscal 2027 revenue guidance to above $90 billion. Separately, ACV Auctions shares soared 43.6% in premarket trading after Copart announced a definitive agreement to acquire the online automotive marketplace in an all-cash deal valued at approximately $1.9 billion, with Copart launching a tender offer for all outstanding ACV Auctions shares at $10.50 in cash. Copart shares gained 6.2% premarket after reporting fiscal fourth-quarter revenue of $1.15 billion, narrowly beating the $1.14 billion consensus, though earnings per share of $0.35 fell below the $0.39 analyst estimate. Adobe shares fell 2.8% before the open after its fourth-quarter revenue guidance midpoint came in just below analyst expectations, even as fiscal third-quarter revenue of $6.76 billion and non-GAAP earnings per share of $6.13 each beat consensus by about 1%; longtime CEO Shantanu Narayen said Anil Chakravarthy will become President and CEO on Dec. 1, 2026, with Narayen moving to Executive Chair. Chewy slipped 1.9% after JPMorgan downgraded the online pet retailer to Neutral from Overweight and cut its price target to $24 from $29, while Frequency Electronics jumped 30.5% on record fiscal first-quarter 2027 results and Alliance Entertainment Holding surged 69.1% on fiscal 2026 results that beat expectations.

Copart agreed to acquire digital dealer auction platform ACV Auctions for $10.50 per share in cash, implying an equity value of about $1.9B, sending ACVA shares up 44% while Copart rose 7%. The offer represents a roughly 45% premium to ACV's unaffected August 10 close and 41% to its 30-day volume-weighted average price through September 9, and the deal, unanimously approved by both boards, is expected to close by the end of calendar 2026 subject to antitrust clearance. Oracle shares surged 7% after the IT giant reported FQ1 results and guidance that topped Wall Street estimates, with revenue up 30% Y/Y, cloud revenue rising 62% to $11.6B, infrastructure revenue jumping 121% to $7.4B, and remaining performance obligations climbing $209B to $664B, including more than $30B in new AI cloud contracts. Zumiez plunged 16% after the retailer reported a wider Q2 loss and weaker-than-expected sales, with GAAP EPS of -$0.17 missing by $0.03, revenue falling 2.5% Y/Y to $208.96M, and comparable sales declining 2.1%. Adobe fell 3% even though the Photoshop maker's FQ3 adjusted EPS of $6.13 beat by $0.05 and revenue rose 13% Y/Y to $6.76B, as its FQ4 revenue guidance of $6.8B-$6.85B came in slightly below the $6.84B consensus at the midpoint.

SVN Capital Fund expressed confidence in Copart's new leadership in its Q2 2026 investor letter. The fund noted that CEO Jeff Liaw stepped down on June 29, and founding member Jay Adair has returned as sole CEO for at least the next decade. Adair addressed concerns about losing insurance volume to IAA, attributing the loss to a single account and stating the franchise is intact. Copart holds $4.2 billion in cash and no debt after $1.6 billion of buybacks. The stock closed at $31.70 per share on August 17, 2026, with a market capitalization of $29.35 billion.

StockStory identifies SS&C Technologies as a business services stock to sell, while highlighting Copart and RB Global as stocks with exciting potential. SS&C faces declining margins and a return on invested capital of 6.8%, signaling challenges in finding attractive investments. Copart has delivered 13.4% annual revenue growth over five years and strong free cash flow, with market-beating returns on capital. RB Global achieved 26.9% annual revenue growth and 19.1% annual earnings per share growth, supported by improved operating efficiency.

StockStory named Copart as a profitable stock to buy while advising investors to avoid Himax and RTX. Copart, which operates an online auction platform for salvage vehicles, posted a trailing 12-month GAAP operating margin of 36.6% and 13.4% annual revenue growth over five years. Himax faces a 4.2% annual revenue decline over five years and a high net-debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 8×. RTX shows slowing demand with estimated sales growth of 5.9% and low returns on capital.