CluenexSallie Mae SLM
Sallie Mae scores excellent on business quality (7.6 of 10). Here is why, in plain words, and what our sealed record shows.
Why it matters
- What Sallie Mae does
SLM Corp provides private student loans, financing higher education for students and families who need funding beyond federal limits. Their revenue comes from the interest and fees generated across their loan portfolio.
- What it does best
SLM dominates private student lending with an ROE of 30.3%, ranking in the top quartile of its sector at 87th percentile. This performance stems from deep university partnerships and proprietary origination channels that smaller lenders cannot easily replicate.
- The main risk
Rising funding costs threaten margins as competition for consumer deposits intensifies, with CD rates reaching up to 4.4% APY. If deposit costs outpace loan yields, net interest income compression will directly squeeze profitability.
Quality, check by check
Scored against its own industry, from company filings.
Net margin stands at a strong 36.8%, driven by efficient loan servicing operations and high-yielding assets. The business achieves exceptional profitability as its portfolio scales.
A regulatory and brand-driven moat locks in student borrowers through multi-year university partnerships. Its 87th percentile ROE highlights an efficiency that protects returns from new entrants.
Revenue grew at 7.4% to reach $1.96B, showing a modest recovery compared to historical fluctuations but remaining largely range-bound over recent annual periods.
Total debt sits at $5.8B with a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.4, while free cash flow remains negative at -$325M. The balance sheet is getting softer as leverage stays elevated.
Insiders
Executives and directors, from SEC Form 4 filings we read ourselves. Open market trades only; grants, option exercises and pre-planned sales left out.
No open market buys or unplanned sales by executives or directors.
Our sealed record on SLM
Verdicts appear here 30 days after we publish them; members see today's. Each one is in the nightly ledger, fingerprinted the night it was made.
The first sealed verdicts appear here on Oct 11, 2026.
Questions
Sallie Mae scores excellent on the Cluenex quality check (7.6 of 10), measured against its own industry. Profitability is strong, moat strong, growth slow and financial health strong.
In the last 90 days of SEC Form 4 filings: No open market buys or unplanned sales by executives or directors.
Oct 28, 2026, after the close.
See SLM today
- Today's verdict on SLM, and why
- Fair value with cautious, base and optimistic cases
- The exact price that would change the verdict
- Which stocks each signal names, the night it fires
Cite this page: Cluenex, “Sallie Mae (SLM)”, https://cluenex.com/stocks/slm/, data as of Oct 10, 2026.