QualityDipStocks / Finance · Consumer finance
SLM SLM
Outside our quality screen, so we don’t track its dips. It’s 42% below its 52-week high.
Outside our quality screen, 5% under its Market Value. No fair value estimate for now: our model doesn’t fit it reliably.
Worth knowing
- Lowest close since Dec 2023
- Share count down 10% in 2 years
From the data on this page, as of the last close. How we pick these
- Fair value est.
- n/a
- Market Value
- $18.75price −5%
- Off 52-wk high
- −42%
- Risk vs market
- Market-likebeta 1.02
5 bullish · 3 bearish See why
Repriced or dip?
Repricing: business changed
The price is 42% below its 52-week high (Dec 8), but the business held up: shares outstanding fewer shares, each owns more, earnings per share +3.9%.
Some numbers held up (shares outstanding fewer shares, each owns more, earnings per share +3.9%), others slipped (revenue −6.7%, revenue growth rate −7.7 pts). The price is 42% below its 52-week high.
The price is 42% below its 52-week high, and the business changed too: revenue −6.7%, revenue growth rate −7.7 pts.
Within 10% of its 52-week high, so there is no dip to judge yet.
The evidence 7 numbers, high vs now
- Revenue, last 12 months$1.9B → $1.8B (−6.7%)changed
- Revenue growth rate+1.0% → −6.7% a year (−7.7 pts)changed
- Earnings per share, 12 months$2.88 → $3.00 (+3.9%)held up
- Shares outstanding−12.4% (fewer shares, each owns more)held up
- Stock vs its sector (Finance)stock −42%, sector median +11% since Dec 8changed
- Price fall vs business numbersprice −42%, revenue/EPS/FCF median −1% (shown, not scored)
- Valuation multipleP/E 10.7× at the high → 6.0× now (shown, not scored)
Business numbers as reported at the high (12 months to Sep 30, 2025) vs the latest filing (12 months to Sep 30, 2026). Each measure is scored from −1 (business changed) to +1 (business intact) and weighted: revenue, earnings per share, free cash flow, operating margin, revenue growth rate, share count, net cash and the move vs its sector. 60 or more reads as a dip, 40 or less as a repricing. Analyst estimates are not in our data, so they are not used. How to read it
Data-based read, not advice.
Priced in
How much growth the market assumed at the 52-week high, the low and today (a reverse DCF).
52-wk high: P/E 10.7×; 52-wk low: P/E 5.9×; now: P/E 6.0×.
| High | Low | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $30.85Dec 8 | $17.72Oct 28 | $17.88 |
| P/E | 10.7× | 5.9× | 6.0× |
What this means: a lower P/E than at the high means you pay less for each dollar of profit than buyers did then.
How it’s computed
Banks, insurers and lenders: cash flow includes deposits and loans, so a cash-flow model doesn't fit; we show P/E at each point instead. P/E = that day's close × diluted shares / 12-month net income, using only the filings that were public on that day.
Valuation
What we estimate it's worth, and how it ranks on value vs every stock we cover.
Fair value estimate
Estimate unreliable for SLM: returns on book are very high (31% a year, above the 30% our model allows), which means most of the value sits in a fee or brand business that book value doesn't capture. We’d rather show nothing than a made-up number.
Risk vs market
How risk vs market is measured
One year of daily returns (Oct 31 to Nov 2, 252 sessions). Beta = how much SLM moved for each 1% move in the S&P 500 (SPY); 1.0 moves with the market. Volatility is the yearly standard deviation of daily returns. Past behavior, not a forecast.
Moves about in line with the market, and its own price swings are 3.2× the S&P 500’s.
- Beta vs S&P 500
- 1.02
- Volatility
- 41% vs 13% SPY
- Correlation SPY
- 0.32
- Correlation QQQ
- 0.21
Valuation details
MV $18.75
Fundamentals
The business itself: sales, profits, cash and debt, from SEC filings.
Bull vs bear
Rule-based from the data on this page, strongest first. Not advice.
Top bullish points 5 of 5
ValuationP/E of 6.0× vs a 13.6× median for the 291 Finance companies we cover.
Cash returnsShare count down 11.9% in a year: $545M of buybacks over 12 months.
GrowthDiluted EPS grew 29% to $3.46 in FY2025.
ProfitabilityReturn on equity of 24% over the last 12 months.
ValuationTrades 4.6% below its Market Value of $18.75, the average price paid since the Oct 22 filing.
Top bearish points 3 of 5
GrowthSales fell 7% over the last 12 months vs the 12 months before (SEC filings).
GrowthSales grew only 2.9% a year from FY2022 to FY2025.
QualityDoesn’t pass our quality screen: no positive free cash flow; sales down vs the year-ago quarter.
All fundamentals
P/E 6.0 · ROE 24% · Sales −7%
Valuation
- P/E
- 6.0×Finance median 13.6×
- Price / FCF
- n/acash flow isn't a clean measure for a lender
- FCF yield
- n/acash flow isn't a clean measure for a lender
- EV / EBITDA
- n/anot meaningful for a lender
- Price / sales
- 1.84×
- Price / book
- 1.46×
- Market cap
- $3.3Blisted
- Enterprise value
- $7.6B
Growth
- Revenue, 12 months
- $1.8Bnet interest income + noninterest income
- Sales growth, 12 months
- −6.7%vs the 12 months before
- Sales growth, 3 yrs
- +2.9%/yrfrom FY2022
- Diluted EPS, 12 months
- $2.79
- EPS growth, last FY
- +29.1%
- Net income, 12 months
- $553M
- Net income growth
- −9%12 months vs before
Profitability
- Gross margin
- n/anot meaningful for a lender
- Operating margin
- n/anot reported in its SEC filings
- Net margin
- 30.9%
- FCF margin
- n/anot reported in its SEC filings
- Return on equity
- 24%
- Return on invested capital
- n/anot meaningful for a lender
Balance sheet
- Cash & short-term inv.
- $2.2B
- Total debt
- $6.4B
- Net cash
- n/anot meaningful for a lender
- Debt / equity
- n/adeposits/float make debt/equity not comparable for a lender
- Interest coverage
- n/anot meaningful for a lender
Cash flow & returns
- Free cash flow, 12 months
- n/anot reported in its SEC filings
- FCF growth, 12 months
- n/anot reported in its SEC filings
- Dividend yield
- 3.04%$100M paid
- Payout ratio
- 18%
- Buybacks, 12 months
- $545M16.5% of market cap
- Share count, 1 year
- −11.9%diluted shares vs a year ago
- Stock-based comp
- $47M
Trailing 12 months to Sep 30, 2026; balance sheet at Sep 30, 2026. From SLM’s SEC filings. Sparklines show up to six fiscal years. n/a means we don’t hold that number, with the reason. How each is computed.
The business
Sales −56%
- Return on equity25%
- Sales growth (latest quarter vs year-ago quarter)−56%
Chart & levels
Where the price is vs its key levels and trends.
Key levels
Every level vs today’s $17.88
- 52-wk lowlowest close, 1 year$17.72−0.9%
- PriceMon Nov 2 close$17.88you are here
- Market Valueavg paid since Oct 22$18.75+4.9%
- 52-wk highhighest close, 1 year$30.85+72.5%
Momentum & 52-week range
RSI 26 · 5 days −8.9%
Signals
Reversal signal setups, the public ledger and the next earnings date.
Setup & signals
No setup armed
No setup armed, so there’s no trigger or stop to track yet. Reversal signal rules only run on companies that pass our quality screen.
SLM is outside our quality screen
One text when a published rule fires on one of the 332 quality companies we track: the ticker, the price, the stop and a link to the numbers. Nothing else.
Voices & buzz
Who is talking about it, and how it compares with peers.
Who’s talking about it
Notable investors, executives, analysts and public figures on SLM in the last 48 hours. Headlines as published, each linked. Their words, not ours.
No notable mentions in the last 48 hours. Checked Nov 3, 1:01 PM ET.
Compare with peers
Closest in size in Consumer finance
Information only, not investment advice. Fair value estimates and talking points are rule-based model output from public data and can be wrong; stop levels are reference points, not orders. How every number is computed.