SLM Corporation

NasdaqGS:SLM Stock Report

Market Cap: US$5.4b

SLM Valuation

Is SLM undervalued compared to its fair value, analyst forecasts and its price relative to the market?

Valuation Score

5/6

Valuation Score 5/6

  • Below Future Cash Flow Value

  • Significantly Below Future Cash Flow Value

  • Price-To-Earnings vs Peers

  • Price-To-Earnings vs Industry

  • Price-To-Earnings vs Fair Ratio

  • Analyst Forecast

Share Price vs Future Cash Flow Value

What is the Fair Price of SLM when looking at its future cash flows? For this estimate we use a Discounted Cash Flow model.

Ultimate guide to DCF valuation for stock investing

Learn how to determine fair value like the best investors in the world.

Below Future Cash Flow Value: SLM ($27.3) is trading below our estimate of future cash flow value ($39.18)

Significantly Below Future Cash Flow Value: SLM is trading below future cash flow value by more than 20%.

Key Valuation Metric

Which metric is best to use when looking at relative valuation for SLM?

Key metric: As SLM is profitable we use its Price-To-Earnings Ratio for relative valuation analysis.

The above table shows the Price to Earnings ratio for SLM. This is calculated by dividing SLM's market cap by their current earnings.
What is SLM's PE Ratio?
PE Ratio7.5x
EarningsUS$729.12m
Market CapUS$5.44b

Price to Earnings Ratio vs Peers

How does SLM's PE Ratio compare to its peers?

The above table shows the PE ratio for SLM vs its peers. Here we also display the market cap and forecasted growth for additional consideration.
CompanyForward PEEstimated GrowthMarket Cap
Peer Average14.1x
NNI Nelnet
10.9x-3.84%US$4.7b
CACC Credit Acceptance
12x10.89%US$5.4b
FCFS FirstCash Holdings
24.3x16.66%US$8.0b
OMF OneMain Holdings
9.2x13.44%US$7.2b
SLM SLM
7.5x-7.27%US$5.4b

Price-To-Earnings vs Peers: SLM is good value based on its Price-To-Earnings Ratio (7.5x) compared to the peer average (40.7x).

Historical Price to Earnings Ratio

Historical Price to Earnings Ratio compares a stock's price to its earnings over time. Higher ratios indicate that investors are willing to pay more for the stock.

Fetching historical data

Price to Earnings Ratio vs Industry

How does SLM's PE Ratio compare vs other companies in the US Consumer Finance Industry?

6 CompaniesPrice / EarningsEstimated GrowthMarket Cap
LX LexinFintech Holdings
1.8x9.05%US$472.82m
JFIN Jiayin Group
1.4xn/aUS$337.83m
YRD Yiren Digital
1.8xn/aUS$330.07m
XYF X Financial
0.9xn/aUS$222.02m
SLM 7.5xIndustry Avg. 8.3xNo. of Companies6PE0816243240+
6 CompaniesEstimated GrowthMarket Cap
No more companies

Price-To-Earnings vs Industry: SLM is good value based on its Price-To-Earnings Ratio (7.5x) compared to the US Consumer Finance industry average (8.3x).

Price to Earnings Ratio vs Fair Ratio

What is SLM's PE Ratio compared to its Fair PE Ratio? This is the expected PE Ratio taking into account the company's forecast earnings growth, profit margins and other risk factors.

SLM PE Ratio vs Fair Ratio.
Fair Ratio
Current PE Ratio7.5x
Fair PE Ratio13.1x

Price-To-Earnings vs Fair Ratio: SLM is good value based on its Price-To-Earnings Ratio (7.5x) compared to the estimated Fair Price-To-Earnings Ratio (13.1x).

Analyst Price Targets

What is the analyst 12-month forecast and do we have any statistical confidence in the consensus price target?

The above table shows the analyst SLM forecast and predictions for the stock price in 12 month’s time.
DateShare PriceAverage 1Y Price TargetDispersionHighLow1Y Actual priceAnalysts
CurrentUS$27.30
US$31.73
+16.22%
14.10%US$40.00US$23.00n/a11
Feb ’27US$27.15
US$31.73
+16.86%
14.10%US$40.00US$23.00n/a11
Jan ’27US$27.06
US$31.82
+17.58%
12.27%US$37.00US$23.00n/a11
Dec ’26US$29.76
US$34.73
+16.69%
9.91%US$42.00US$29.00n/a11
Nov ’26US$26.85
US$34.73
+29.34%
9.91%US$42.00US$29.00n/a11
Oct ’26US$27.40
US$38.18
+39.35%
8.99%US$44.00US$31.00n/a11
Sep ’26US$31.28
US$39.00
+24.68%
6.65%US$44.00US$35.00n/a11
Aug ’26US$31.23
US$39.00
+24.88%
6.65%US$44.00US$35.00n/a11
Jul ’26US$33.36
US$34.73
+4.10%
9.28%US$40.00US$29.00n/a11
Jun ’26US$32.37
US$34.73
+7.28%
9.28%US$40.00US$29.00n/a11
May ’26US$29.99
US$33.00
+10.04%
4.66%US$35.00US$29.00n/a11
Apr ’26US$29.62
US$33.33
+12.54%
7.07%US$38.00US$30.00n/a12
Mar ’26US$30.19
US$32.58
+7.93%
6.20%US$38.00US$30.00n/a12
Feb ’26US$27.91
US$32.50
+16.45%
4.07%US$34.00US$30.00US$27.1512
Jan ’26US$27.58
US$30.17
+9.38%
7.87%US$33.00US$26.00US$27.0612
Dec ’25US$27.38
US$27.83
+1.66%
8.78%US$32.00US$24.00US$29.7612
Nov ’25US$21.70
US$26.67
+22.89%
8.00%US$32.00US$23.00US$26.8512
Oct ’25US$21.97
US$26.33
+19.86%
6.82%US$29.00US$23.00US$27.4012
Sep ’25US$22.06
US$26.45
+19.92%
7.45%US$29.00US$23.00US$31.2811
Aug ’25US$22.11
US$26.45
+19.65%
7.45%US$29.00US$23.00US$31.2311
Jul ’25US$20.71
US$24.82
+19.84%
6.15%US$28.00US$23.00US$33.3611
Jun ’25US$21.46
US$24.91
+16.07%
6.73%US$28.00US$23.00US$32.3711
May ’25US$21.25
US$24.91
+17.22%
6.73%US$28.00US$23.00US$29.9911
Apr ’25US$21.33
US$22.82
+6.98%
6.69%US$26.00US$20.00US$29.6211
Mar ’25US$20.70
US$22.58
+9.10%
4.94%US$25.00US$20.00US$30.1912
Feb ’25US$19.49
US$22.23
+14.06%
5.89%US$25.00US$20.00US$27.9113
US$31.73
Fair Value
14.0% undervalued intrinsic discount
11
Number of Analysts

Analyst Forecast: Target price is less than 20% higher than the current share price.

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Company Analysis and Financial Data Status

DataLast Updated (UTC time)
Company Analysis2026/02/08 09:27
End of Day Share Price 2026/02/06 00:00
Earnings2025/12/31
Annual Earnings2025/12/31

Data Sources

The data used in our company analysis is from S&P Global Market Intelligence LLC. The following data is used in our analysis model to generate this report. Data is normalised which can introduce a delay from the source being available.

PackageDataTimeframeExample US Source *
Company Financials10 years
  • Income statement
  • Cash flow statement
  • Balance sheet
Analyst Consensus Estimates+3 years
  • Forecast financials
  • Analyst price targets
Market Prices30 years
  • Stock prices
  • Dividends, Splits and Actions
Ownership10 years
  • Top shareholders
  • Insider trading
Management10 years
  • Leadership team
  • Board of directors
Key Developments10 years
  • Company announcements

* Example for US securities, for non-US equivalent regulatory forms and sources are used.

Unless specified all financial data is based on a yearly period but updated quarterly. This is known as Trailing Twelve Month (TTM) or Last Twelve Month (LTM) Data. Learn more.

Analysis Model and Snowflake

Details of the analysis model used to generate this report is available on our Github page, we also have guides on how to use our reports and tutorials on Youtube.

Learn about the world class team who designed and built the Simply Wall St analysis model.

Industry and Sector Metrics

Our industry and section metrics are calculated every 6 hours by Simply Wall St, details of our process are available on Github.

Analyst Sources

SLM Corporation is covered by 27 analysts. 7 of those analysts submitted the estimates of revenue or earnings used as inputs to our report. Analysts submissions are updated throughout the day.

AnalystInstitution
Bruce HartingBarclays
Terry MaBarclays
James FotheringhamBMO Capital Markets Equity Research