Forensic Analysis · Retail / Consumer Discretionary · as of Nov 9, 2026
Copart Inc (CPRT)
A forensic read on Copart Inc built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
A · High-quality, modest growth
Forensic grade
Safe
Financial health
17.3
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
2
Forensic signals
16.2%
ROE
0.4%
Revenue growth
This free snapshot doesn't read filing or proxy text, so the auditor-quality and governance checks that can lower a grade were not evaluated (auditor quality, say on pay, board independence, going concern). Those checks only ever lower a grade, so the full analysis can land below the grade above but never above it — treat it as the most favourable reading, not the settled one.
Copart Inc earns an A (High-quality, modest growth) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 17.3, placing it in the Safe zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by shareholder returns.
What the filings flag
129% of FCF
FY2026
Shareholder returns.Returned $1.6B to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2026 — 129% of free cash flow. That is $365M (29%) more than free cash flow covered, and more than operating cash flow as well. The balance sheet's own liquid holdings covered it: cash fell $873M over FY2026; total debt is not on file on the same basis at both year ends, so whether new borrowing also covered part of it cannot be read. A payout past free cash flow draws the balance sheet down in every year it continues, which isn't sustainable indefinitely. Counting the $39M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 132%.
+11.4%
FY2025→FY2026
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +11.4% relative to their own average in FY2026 — scaled by NOA itself, not by total assets, which is what the Forensic Screens card's own accrual row divides by. Accruals are building faster than is comfortable — part of profit is sitting in the balance sheet rather than turning to cash. The build is led by inventory up +30% against 0% in revenue. A cash-flow measure on the same base disagrees: reported earnings ran in line with operating cash by 2% of net operating assets, against an accruals ratio of 11.4%. The two are computed differently: the accruals ratio is the change in net operating assets over average net operating assets, while the cash-flow figure is net income less operating cash flow over that same average. Read them as two results, not one.Accruals ratio: the year-over-year change in net operating assets, relative to their own average.NOA (net operating assets): the money tied up in running the business, operating assets minus operating liabilities.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$4.67B
Revenue Growth YoY+0.4%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+4.9%
Net Margin31.8%
Free Cash Flow$1.27B
Return on Equity16.2%
The forensic grade and screens above are free — no account needed. Want the AI investment read on top — the 0–100 rating, thesis, bull-vs-bear, red flags and the 12-month scenario, written from Copart Inc's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?