What Happened?
Shares of student loan servicer Navient (NASDAQ: NAVI) fell 14.1% in the afternoon session after the company reported disappointing fourth-quarter results that missed both top- and bottom-line expectations.
Navient reported a GAAP loss per share of $0.06, a stark reversal from the $0.23 profit in the same quarter last year and significantly below the analyst forecast of $0.32. Revenue for the quarter also fell short, declining 16% year-on-year to $137 million and missing the consensus estimate of $155.8 million. The company's profitability metrics highlighted further weakness. Net interest income came in at $118 million, below the $133.3 million that analysts had anticipated. This culminated in a pre-tax loss of $7 million for the quarter, a clear sign of pressure on the company's core operations, which appeared to undermine investor confidence.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
Navient’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 8 moves greater than 5% over the last year. Moves this big are rare for Navient and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.
The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 3 months ago when the stock dropped 10.9% on the news that the company reported disappointing third-quarter financial results, missing Wall Street's earnings and revenue estimates.
Navient disclosed a third-quarter GAAP loss of $0.87 per share, a significant miss compared to the analyst expectation of a $0.17 profit. This marked a shortfall of $1.04 per share. Furthermore, the company's revenue for the period came in at $161 million, slightly below the consensus forecast of $162.8 million. The failure to meet expectations on both key financial metrics indicated a weaker performance than the market had anticipated, prompting a negative reaction from investors.
Navient is down 18.5% since the beginning of the year, and at $10.41 per share, it is trading 33.2% below its 52-week high of $15.59 from July 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Navient’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $901.30.
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