Shares of ACV Auctions (ACVA) jumped more than 40% after the close Thursday after Copart (CPRT) said it would buy the digital wholesale marketplace for about $1.9 billion.
Under the deal, Copart will pay $10.50 in cash for every ACV share, implying a premium of about 45% from the stock’s closing price on Thursday.
ACVA finished regular trading at about $7.22, then surged after hours to touch nearly $11. CPRT shares traded 9% higher after hours after closing the regular session down 4% ahead of its fiscal 2026 earnings announcement.
Copart said it will use cash it already has for the takeover and does not need extra financing. The purchase is set up as a tender offer and is expected to close by the end of 2026, if regulators approve. ACV is slated to keep operating as a separate unit under its current leaders upon closing of the transaction.
In August, Bloomberg reported that ACV was weighing a sale or partnership amid takeover interest. Stephens subsequently raised its rating and said a bid could reach $10.50 a share or more, naming Copart among the most likely buyers, alongside Cox Auto and RB Global.
Copart, which sells damaged and totaled cars at online auctions, is far larger than ACV, with a market value near $29 billion and yards worldwide. ACV, based in Buffalo, New York, runs an online marketplace where dealers buy and sell used cars to one another. In 2025, it sold about 829,000 vehicles and handled $10.4 billion of marketplace sales.
On an adjusted basis, ACV’s core profit in 2025 more than doubled to $59 million from $28 million, and adjusted net income rose to $30 million from $11 million. In the second quarter of 2026, it still posted an $8 million unadjusted loss, but adjusted core profit climbed to $21 million from $19 million. For full-year 2026, ACV has guided to an unadjusted loss of $44 million to $49 million and adjusted core profit of $73 million to $77 million.
Copart, meanwhile, remains highly profitable. In the fiscal year ended July 31, it posted $4.7 billion in revenue, up 0.4% from $4.65 billion a year earlier, and $1.48 billion in net income, down 4.4% from $1.55 billion. Diluted earnings per share fell to $1.55 from $1.59. In the fourth quarter, revenue rose 2.4% to $1.2 billion, but net income dropped 17.4% to $327 million, or $0.35 a share, from $396 million, or $0.41 a share, a year earlier.
Copart said ACV’s dealer platform and data tools would widen its reach beyond salvage into everyday used-car wholesale. It expects cost and sales benefits, with little effect on earnings in the first full year and a lift starting in fiscal 2028.
On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around ACVA stock jumped from ‘neutral’ to ‘bearish’ over the past 24 hours, while sentiment around CPRT rose from ‘bearish’ to ‘bullish.’
A Stocktwits user opined that ACVA has “horrible financials.”
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Another user opined that Copart needs a “new channel for growth.”
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While ACVA stock has fallen 10% year-to-date, CPRT has lost 21%.
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