Copart Brings Back Former CEO Adair as Revenue Growth Stalls
The vehicle auctioneer posted $1.2 billion in quarterly revenue, up 2.1%, as it reshuffled its leadership ranks.
Copart Inc. (CPRT), the online vehicle auctioneer, announced a sweeping leadership change alongside a quarter of modest revenue growth, as Executive Chairman Jay Adair stepped back into the chief executive role he previously held and the company promoted a new president to oversee its global operations.
Adair resumed the CEO position effective July 31, 2026, after Jeff Liaw stepped down from the role. The move reunites Adair with the company he led for years before transitioning to the board. Simultaneously, Copart elevated Jane Pocock, who had served as Managing Director of Copart UK since January 2019, to president of the company effective August 1. The board also added David J. Berger, a Senior Partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati specializing in corporate governance, M&A, and shareholder activism, as a director effective August 13.
The executive reshuffle arrived as Copart's top-line trajectory showed signs of strain. Fiscal third-quarter revenue rose 2.1% year over year to $1.2 billion, a pace that actually improved on the company's broader nine-month performance. For the fiscal year through the quarter, revenue had declined 0.2% to $3.5 billion, meaning the prior two quarters had dragged the top line into negative territory before the latest period clawed back modest growth.
Gross profit told a slightly more encouraging story. The company generated $572.6 million in gross profit during the quarter, up 3.7% from the year-earlier period, outpacing revenue growth and signaling margin expansion at the operating level. On a year-to-date basis, gross profit rose 0.8% to $1.6 billion despite the revenue decline, reinforcing the pattern of Copart extracting more profit from each dollar of sales.
That margin discipline, however, did not fully carry through to the bottom line. Net income slipped 1.0% in the quarter to $402.4 million, suggesting that higher operating or non-operating expenses absorbed the benefit of improved gross margins. For the nine-month period, net income was essentially flat at $1.2 billion, a gain of just 0.1%.
Share repurchases provided the per-share lift that net income alone could not. Fully diluted earnings per share rose 2.4% to $0.43 in the quarter, up from $0.42 a year earlier, even as net income declined. Year to date, EPS climbed 1.7% to $1.20 from $1.18, a trajectory entirely attributable to a smaller share count rather than expanding profitability.
The combination of stalled revenue, expanding gross margins, and buyback-supported earnings per share paints a picture of a company managing profitability through cost discipline and capital return while its core sales engine idles. The leadership overhaul suggests the board sought to address that dynamic directly, reinstalling a veteran CEO and elevating an international operator to the president's role as Copart navigates a period of muted demand for its salvage and used-vehicle auction services.
Berger's appointment to the board adds a director with deep experience in shareholder activism and corporate transactions, a profile that could prove relevant as the company evaluates its strategic direction under renewed leadership.