SLM Corporation earns a 31% return on equity with 45% net margins and trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 6.5 times — a high-quality credit services business at deep value — but a confirmed price downtrend, 14% short interest, and single-product private education loan concentration are meaningful headwinds.
Thesis pillars
- High Quality At Deep Value→Stable
- Private Student Loan Concentration→Stable
- Death Cross Downtrend→Stable
- +1 more pillar — see the Why tab for full reasoning
SLM Corporation (SLM) Stock Analysis
Financial Services · Credit Services
Sell if holding. Analyst target reached at $24.31 — A.R:R 0.4:1 is below the 1.5:1 minimum. Reward from here is too thin for a buy — the engine flags exit. Additional concerns: Concentration risk — Loan Portfolio: Private Education Loans.
SLM Corporation (Sallie Mae) originates and services Private Education Loans through Sallie Mae Bank, an industrial bank regulated by the Utah Department of Financial Institutions, the FDIC, and the CFPB. The company originated $7.4 billion in Private Education Loans in 2025,... Read more
Sell if holding. Analyst target reached at $24.31 — A.R:R 0.4:1 is below the 1.5:1 minimum. Reward from here is too thin for a buy — the engine flags exit. Additional concerns: Concentration risk — Loan Portfolio: Private Education Loans. Chart setup: No clear chart pattern; technical signals are mixed. Score 5.7/10, moderate confidence.
Passes 4/8 gates (clean insider activity, earnings proximity 89d clear, semi cycle peak clear, materials cycle peak clear). Fails on weak momentum and favorable risk/reward ratio and death cross (50MA < 200MA). Suitability: aggressive.
About SLM Corporation
About SLM Corporation
Sallie Mae Bank held $29.7 billion in total assets at December 31, 2025, with $20.4 billion concentrated in Private Education Loans (held for investment) and $21.5 billion in total deposits; the Bank is regulated by the Utah Department of Financial Institutions, the FDIC, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. SLM Corporation, the Bank's parent, originated $7.4 billion of Private Education Loans in 2025 — a 6% increase over 2024 — serving more families than any other private student loan lender in the United States.
SLM generates net interest income from Private Education Loans priced against its cost of online deposit funding. The flagship Smart Option Student Loan offers three in-school repayment variants; more than half of 2025 originations used interest-only or fixed-payment in-school options, which carry lower rates and reduce total borrower cost. Approximately 92.8% of 2025 originations were cosigned, with average FICO scores of 755 at origination, supporting a net charge-off rate of 2.15% of average loans in repayment in 2025. ABS securitizations totaling $4.9 billion — 24% of the held-for-investment portfolio — supplement deposit funding and provide match-funding extension. The passage of H.R.1 in July 2025 caps federal Grad PLUS loan programs effective July 1, 2026, expected to shift graduate borrowers toward Private Education Loans, though the company notes this may also attract competition from Citizens Financial Group, PNC Bank, SoFi Technologies, and College Ave.
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Sallie Mae Bank's deposit base is primarily concentrated in online deposit products — high-yield savings accounts, money market accounts, and certificates of deposit — exposing funding costs to rate competition from FinTechs and, beginning in 2025, from stablecoin issuers operating under the GENIUS Act. The 10-K notes that paid search marketing by bank competitors and algorithmic changes at deposit information aggregators may reduce the Bank's ability to attract new depositors at competitive cost. With Private Education Loan delinquencies at 4.0% of loans in repayment at December 31, 2025, any credit quality deterioration in an elevated interest rate environment could weigh on both net interest margin and the Bank's ability to distribute capital to the parent.
See also: Financial Services · Credit Services
From SLM Corporation's most recent 10-K filing, extracted June 11, 2026.
Recent developments
updated 2026-07-26Recent Developments — SLM Corporation
Latest news
- NEWS Sallie Mae (SLM) Q2 Earnings: What To Expect - Yahoo Finance — Yahoo Finance neutral
- NEWS Sallie Mae (SLM) Q2 Earnings: What To Expect - TradingView — TradingView neutral
- NEWS Sallie Mae (SLM) Q2 Earnings: What To Expect - FinancialContent — FinancialContent neutral
- NEWS SLM (SLMBP) Business Update | Q4 2025: Better Than Expected - Expert Entry Points - Cổng thông tin điện tử tỉnh Lào Cai — Cổng thông tin điện tử tỉnh Lào Cai positive
- NEWS SLM (SLMBP) Business Update | Q4 2025: Better Than Expected - Market Buzz Alerts - Cổng thông tin điện tử tỉnh Lào Cai — Cổng thông tin điện tử tỉnh Lào Cai positive
Generated 2026-07-26T09:23:02Z.
Upcoming dated catalysts
Thesis
Key Metrics
Quality Signals
Options Flow
Concentration Risks(10-K Item 1A)
- HIGHloan_portfolioPrivate Education Loans10-K Item 1A: 'approximately 71 percent of our total assets, and 83 percent of our total assets excluding cash and cash equivalents, were comprised of Private Education Loans'
- MEDIUMloan_portfolioonline deposit products10-K Item 1A: 'Our deposit funding base is primarily concentrated in online deposit products, including high-yield savings accounts, money market accounts, and certificates of deposit'
Material Events(8-K, last 90d)
- 2026-04-27Item 5.02LOWOn April 22, 2026, Board appointed existing CFO Peter M. Graham as Co-President and Chief Financial Officer, and existing COO Kerri A. Palmer as Co-President and Head of Financial Services, effective immediately. Both retained their prior executive roles; no reason cited for restructuring.SEC filing →
Model-generated analysis — not investment advice. Not a registered investment advisor. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
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Rating Breakdown
2 floor-breakers
Growth below the gate floor. Component breakdown shows what dragged the score down.static
Price action weak — below key moving averages, no momentum carry. Needs a base before trend-continuation setups apply.static
Price Targets
Position Sizing
Risk Alerts
Earnings
Verdict History
Frequently Asked Questions
Sell if holding. Analyst target reached at $24.31 — A.R:R 0.4:1 is below the 1.5:1 minimum. Reward from here is too thin for a buy — the engine flags exit. Additional concerns: Concentration risk — Loan Portfolio: Private Education Loans. Chart setup: No clear chart pattern; technical signals are mixed. Prior stop was $22.67. Score 5.7/10, moderate confidence.
Take-profit target: $24.99 (+2.9% upside). Prior stop was $22.67. Stop-loss: $22.67.
Concentration risk — Loan Portfolio: Private Education Loans; Analyst target reached - limited upside remaining; Leverage penalty (D/E 2.4): -1.5.
SLM Corporation trades at a P/E of 6.7 (forward 7.2). TrendMatrix value score: 8.0/10. Verdict: Sell.
15 analysts cover SLM with a consensus score of 3.8/5. Average price target: $29.
What does SLM Corporation do?SLM Corporation (Sallie Mae) originates and services Private Education Loans through Sallie Mae Bank, an industrial...
SLM Corporation (Sallie Mae) originates and services Private Education Loans through Sallie Mae Bank, an industrial bank regulated by the Utah Department of Financial Institutions, the FDIC, and the CFPB. The company originated $7.4 billion in Private Education Loans in 2025, with $20.3 billion outstanding, funded primarily through $21.5 billion in online deposits and $4.9 billion in ABS structures.