Credit Acceptance Corporation (CACC) Stock Price & How to Invest

Credit Acceptance Corporation is a Michigan-based specialty finance company that helps franchised and independent car dealers sell vehicles to consumers with damaged or limited credit. Rather than lending directly, it advances money to dealers against consumer auto loans and then shares the collections it recovers over the life of each loan, a structure that lets dealers approve buyers who would be turned away by prime lenders while giving Credit Acceptance a claim on future cash flows. Its average loan portfolio sits around $8 billion, and finance charges on those loans are the dominant revenue line, at roughly $580-590 million a quarter through mid-2026.

The investment picture is that of a high-return but volatile lender. Credit Acceptance earns a high return on equity and funnels essentially all of its capital into share buybacks rather than dividends, which has steadily shrunk the share count and lifted per-share metrics. Net income over the four quarters to June 2026 was about $502 million, up sharply from $248 million in 2024 as loss provisions eased, and second-quarter 2026 adjusted EPS of $12.12 beat the $11.85 consensus, the fourth straight quarterly beat. The counterweight is that the business lives or dies on how much of each loan it ultimately collects, and that recovery rate, plus intense competition and long-running regulatory scrutiny, drives most of the swings in reported earnings and the stock. On the regulatory side, in September 2026 the company agreed with New York and 40 other state attorneys general to a settlement worth about $694 million in cash and debt relief, without admitting wrongdoing. As of October 16, 2026 the stock is up about 21% year to date and 15% over the past year, though it has slipped about 11% over the past three months.

The largest risk is credit performance, since the business collects only roughly two-thirds of loan value on average and small changes in the recovery rate move earnings sharply. Regulatory and legal pressure has been heavy: the CFPB and New York attorney general sued in January 2023 over loans allegedly made to borrowers likely to default, the CFPB dismissed its case in 2025, and in September 2026 the company settled with New York and 40 other states plus the District of Columbia, paying $60 million into a consumer relief fund and $15.5 million to the attorneys general (amounts it says were already accrued) and forgiving about $634 million of borrower balances, with no admission of wrongdoing. The five years of operating restrictions that come with that settlement, plus any future rulemaking, could raise costs or constrain the model. Competition from Santander Consumer, Westlake, Exeter, Consumer Portfolio Services, and banks moving into non-prime can compress spreads and share. A weakening consumer, rising unemployment, or falling used-car values would all pressure collections at once. Leverage is high (about $6.3 billion of debt), and leadership turnover and the stock's thin float add execution and volatility risk on top of the underlying credit cycle.

3 analysts publish price targets on CACC, averaging $596.67 against a $540.98 price as of October 2026, or +10.3%. The published targets run from $590.00 to $600.00, a narrow spread, and the ratings split 0 buy, 3 hold, 0 sell. Over the last six months there have been 3 raises and 1 cut among the published actions. A price target is what an analyst published on a date, not a prediction, and sell-side ratings skew positive across the whole market.

Read the full CACC forecast and price target for the target table, the recent rating actions by firm, and how the consensus has shifted.

We give no verdict on Credit Acceptance Corporation. Both cases are real, which is why the question is contested at all, so here is the strongest version of each.

The case for buying. Buyback-driven per-share growth. Credit Acceptance pays no dividend and instead retires large blocks of stock against a share count of roughly 10.5 million. The most optimistic published target, $600.00, assumes this works close to its best case.

The case against. The largest risk is credit performance, since the business collects only roughly two-thirds of loan value on average and small changes in the recovery rate move earnings sharply. The most pessimistic target, $590.00, is roughly what CACC is worth if this bites instead.

Read the full bull and bear case on CACC, including what would have to change to break either one. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

No. Credit Acceptance Corporation (CACC) has not split its stock in the last 10 years. That is a statement about the window we check rather than about the company’s entire history, so an older split is possible. It also matters less than it once did: fractional shares mean a high price per share no longer keeps smaller investors out, which removed most of the practical reason to split.

A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see Credit Acceptance Corporation's investor relations page or your broker.

• Revenue (TTM): ~$2.33B; Q2 2026 revenue ~$587M
• Net income (TTM): ~$502M; Q2 2026 ~$136M
• Q2 2026 adjusted EPS: $12.12 vs $11.85 consensus
• Margins (TTM): ~53% operating, ~39% net
• Market cap: ~$5.7B (shares ~$548)
• P/E: ~12x trailing, ~10x forward
• Debt: ~$6.3B, mostly securitization funding

Credit Acceptance trades near 12 times trailing and 10 times forward earnings and about 3.6 times book value, a modest multiple for a lender earning a high return on equity, which reflects how cyclical and legally exposed subprime auto credit is. The September 2026 settlement required no new charge, so it changes the forward terms more than the past numbers. Third-quarter results are expected around October 29, 2026, with consensus EPS of about $12.34 on about $596 million of revenue.

Other names that sit close to CACC: same theme, named as a direct competitor, or held beside it in the same funds. Each entry says which. Worth a look if you are thinking about diversification within a thesis rather than concentration on one ticker.

There are three common ways to get CACC exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) directly at any major broker. Hold an ETF that includes it, which spreads the position across many companies. Or build it into a focused thematic portfolio, so CACC sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.

Walnut takes the portfolio route. Describe a thesis where CACC fits (for example “AI infrastructure” or “dividend-growth large-caps”) and the AI proposes 5 to 6 constituents with target weights. You review the plan and fund it through your own broker when you're ready.

New to this? Start with how to invest in stocks, see how to analyze a stock with AI, or compare the best AI stock analyzers.

CACC is a profitable, buyback-heavy subprime auto lender whose returns depend on its loan-loss discipline holding up under regulatory and competitive pressure; the September 2026 multistate settlement removes one long-standing legal overhang but adds five years of tighter terms on new loans.

Whether CACC is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, what would have to go right, and the risks in is CACC a buy or a sell?, and where the stock could go from here in the CACC stock forecast.

For income investors, whether CACC pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does CACC pay a dividend? And to weigh CACC against a peer, read the full side-by-side comparisons: CACC vs WLK and CACC vs CPSS.