Key Highlights

  • CACC shares trading down 16.11% to $483.05 today.
  • Third-quarter net loss of $56.6 million, or $5.43 per diluted share, versus Net Income of $108.2 million a year earlier.
  • Adjusted Earnings Per Share rose to $13.01 from $10.28 in the year-ago quarter.
  • New Loan assignment Volume climbed 51.0% to about $1.4 billion.
  • The 2026 assignment-year collection forecast fell to 65.3% from 67.1% at the end of June.

Collection Forecast Cut Turns Third-Quarter Result to a Loss

Credit Acceptance (NASDAQ:CACC) shares are trading down 16.11% today, at $483.05, after the company reported a consolidated net loss of $56.6 million, or $5.43 per diluted share, for the quarter ended September 30. In the same quarter a year earlier, it earned $108.2 million, or $9.43 per diluted share.

The swing was tied mainly to a methodology change that lowered forecasted collection rates on loans assigned from 2022 through 2026. The company said forecasted net cash flows from its loan portfolio declined 2.5%, or $291.2 million, during the quarter.

Credit Acceptance provides auto financing programs through dealers to consumers with limited or impaired credit, and earns income from the loans it assigns and services.

The reaction reflects the gap between the headline loss and the adjusted measure the company also reports. Investors are likely weighing how much of the revision is a one-time reset versus a lasting change to expected loan performance, though the release itself does not frame it that way.

Forecast Revisions Reach the 2025 and 2026 Loan Vintages

The forecasted collection rate for the 2026 assignment year dropped to 65.3% as of September 30, from 67.1% at the end of June, a decline of 1.8 percentage points. The 2025 assignment year was cut to 64.9% from 66.9%.

Forecast changes of this kind feed directly into reported Revenue and Credit loss provisions, which explains why the GAAP result diverged so sharply from the adjusted figure. Adjusted earnings per share, a non-GAAP measure, came in at $13.01, up from $10.28 a year ago.

The release also states that the collection forecast for loans from earlier years was lowered, which means the revision reaches well beyond the most recent quarter of originations.

Record Origination Growth Meets a Thin Cash Position

Loan assignment volume rose 37.7% to 110,010 units, and dollar volume increased 51.0% to about $1.4 billion. Growth at that pace requires funding, and the company reported total Debt of about $6.72 billion, including $5.41 billion of secured financing and $1.09 billion of senior notes.

Unrestricted cash stood at just $1.3 million, down from $22.8 million at the end of 2025, alongside $516.9 million of restricted cash. Total Liquidity was reported at $1.2 billion.

Gross loans receivable were $11,960.7 million, or $8,127.2 million after a $3,833.5 million allowance for credit losses.

Buybacks Continue as Investors Weigh the Revised Collection Outlook

During the quarter, Credit Acceptance repurchased 269,150 shares, about 2.6% of shares outstanding at the start of the period, at an aggregate cost of $161.6 million. The release also noted lower stock-based compensation partly due to senior leader retirements in 2026, and higher severance expense in the quarter.

The next datapoints will be how the lower collection assumptions shape reported results in coming quarters, whether the company sustains its recent pace of loan assignments and repurchases, and how it manages funding with only modest unrestricted cash on hand.