TIVP042: COPART (CPRT): THE 100-BAGGER JUNK YARD

W/ DANIEL MAHNCKE & SHAWN O’MALLEY

TIVP042: COPART (CPRT): THE 100-BAGGER JUNK YARD W/ DANIEL MAHNCKE & SHAWN O’MALLEY

19 October 2025

Daniel Mahncke and Shawn O’Malley dive into Copart, the salvage auction company that’s quietly become one of the best-performing stocks of the last three decades. From a single junkyard in California in the 1980s, Copart has grown into a global online marketplace that sells more than three million vehicles a year. With sellers ranging from major insurers and rental fleets to car dealers and finance companies, and buyers spanning over 190 countries, Copart has built a platform that turns totaled cars into a surprisingly durable business.

To frame the economics of the industry, Daniel and Shawn also unpack the dynamics of Copart’s duopoly with Insurance Auto Auctions, or IAA, and explain why land ownership, technology, and trust with insurers have created one of the strongest moats in the market.

The central question is how Copart can continue compounding from here. Can it successfully expand internationally and convince insurers overseas to adopt the U.S. auction model? Will new verticals like powersports and heavy equipment become meaningful growth drivers? And how will the rise of EVs and AVs reshape the business? There’s a lot to unpack in asking whether a business that looks boring on the surface might just be one of the most extraordinary compounding machines in the market.

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IN THIS EPISODE, YOU’LL LEARN:

  • How was Copart founded and what’s so special about the culture?
  • How does the competitive landscape look?
  • What are Copart’s competitive advantages?
  • What risks does Copart face through AVs and EVs?
  • What makes Copart’s management best in class.
  • What are the growth drivers and future business opportunities?
  • Whether Copart is attractively valued at its current levels.
  • Whether Shawn & Daniel add CPRT to The Intrinsic Value Portfolio.
  • And much, much more!

TRANSCRIPT

Disclaimer: The transcript that follows has been generated using artificial intelligence. We strive to be as accurate as possible, but minor errors and slightly off timestamps may be present due to platform differences.

[00:00:00] Daniel Mahncke: COVID has been one of the best performing stocks over the last few decades, returning a 21% CAGR since its IPO in 1994, and I would say there’s still plenty of room to grow.

[00:00:11] Shawn O’Malley: The stock is consistently trading at a premium, but it’s currently down over 20% from its all-time highs, which could maybe give us a good opportunity to take a closer look at this thing.

[00:00:20] Daniel Mahncke: I guess the market is just uncertain about some short-term headwinds, and especially about how AVs will impact Copart in the long run, but I believe those fears are mostly overblown, and I think you will see just how wide Copart’s moat is into today’s episode.

[00:00:40] Intro: You are listening to The Intrinsic Value Podcast by The Investor’s Podcast Network. Since 2014 with over 180 million downloads, we’ve learned directly from the world’s best investors. Now we are applying those lessons to analyze businesses and investment opportunities every week, helping you uncover intrinsic value. And now here are your hosts, Shawn O’Malley and Daniel Mahncke.

[00:01:12] Shawn O’Malley: Today we will talk about a company that at first glance as one of the most boring and unattractive business models out there. I think it’s safe to say that, but we all know that old investing adage that the most boring industries and businesses can often come with the best returns or lease. That’s a lesson I learned from Peter Lynch and it’s no different today that the company we’re covering in this episode is actually one of the best performing stocks of the last 30 years, despite being pretty boring.

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