ACV Auctions Surges Nearly 44% After Hours as Copart to Acquire for $10.50 Per Share

ACV Auctions Inc. shares surged 43.78% to $10.38 in Thursday's after-hours trading, after Texas-based online vehicle auction and remarketing services provider Copart Inc. announced a definitive agreement to acquire the company for $10.50 per share in cash.

Premium Pricing Fuels Investor Enthusiasm

The all-cash deal values ACV's equity at approximately $1.9 billion. The $10.50 per share offer represents a premium of about 45% over ACV's unaffected closing price on August 10. The offer also reflects a 41% premium over the 30-day volume-weighted average price as of September 9.

Copart will launch a tender offer for all outstanding ACV shares. The transaction is subject to a majority of shares being tendered, expiration of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, and other customary closing conditions.

The deal carries no financing condition. Copart said it will fund the acquisition with cash on hand while maintaining ample balance sheet flexibility for further organic and inorganic investments.

Copart also reported mixed fiscal fourth-quarter results on Thursday, with earnings per share of 35 cents missing the consensus estimate of 38 cents, while revenue of $1.15 billion beat expectations of $1.14 billion.

Executives Position Deal as Industry Consolidation

Copart CEO Jay Adair said the acquisition will create an "industry-leading end-to-end vehicle remarketing platform."

ACV CEO George Chamoun said joining Copart will help "accelerate innovation at global scale."

According to ACV, both companies' boards have unanimously approved the merger, which is expected to close by the end of 2026. Upon completion, ACV will operate as an independent subsidiary of Copart under its existing leadership team.

Transaction Metrics and Technical Analysis

ACV Auctions has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, with a 52-week high of $10.60 and a 52-week low of $4.07. The company has approximately 169.81 million shares outstanding.

ACVA's relative strength index stands at 49.10.

On Thursday, ACVA experienced an extremely active trading session with volume of 19.62 million shares, compared to an average daily volume of 4.26 million shares. This represents approximately 4.6 times the stock's average volume.

The mid-cap digital marketplace for wholesale vehicle transactions has declined 30.11% over the past 12 months.

ACVA currently trades at approximately 48.2% of its 52-week range.

Price action: During regular trading, the stock fell 2.04% to close at $7.22.

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