Copart: A Quality Compounder Trading Near Its Low as Leadership Turns Over

Copart (CPRT) lands in the sweet spot today: our projected annual return (PAR) for the stock stands at 14.9%, comfortably inside the 13.7%-18.7% band that sits five to ten points above the current market median return (MIPAR) of 8.7%. We watch that band for one reason: it flags stocks priced to deliver returns well above the typical name we follow, without drifting into the most speculative territory.

What makes today interesting is the gap between that return potential and where the stock sits in its own range. CPRT closed at $28.33, just 1.9% above its 52-week low of $27.81 and 43.5% below its 52-week high of $50.11. Because PAR moves inversely to price, this pullback is a meaningful part of why the return projection looks as attractive as it does.

The quality picture remains rare air. Copart carries a quality percentile of 96.9, meaning it ranks ahead of roughly 97% of the companies we track, built on a financial strength score of 70 (out of 100, a solid balance sheet reading) and EPS stability of 87.4 (out of 100, a track record of dependable earnings growth). Add those two components to the quality percentile and you get a core score of 254 out of 300, comfortably above the 225 threshold we associate with a potential core holding candidate. Our growth forecast for the company sits at 8.3% annually.

Why now, specifically: Copart is in the middle of a leadership handoff, with Executive Chairman Jay Adair returning to the CEO seat and outlining plans to push growth, M&A, and AI initiatives, and the company separately announced Jane Pocock's promotion to President effective August 1, 2026. The next earnings report is scheduled for September 3, 2026.

Put together, Copart today reads as a high-quality, historically dependable business trading closer to its 52-week low than its high, with a leadership transition actively in play. Whether that combination represents a durable opportunity or simply noise ahead of the next earnings report is exactly the kind of question worth studying further, alongside your own risk tolerance and time horizon.