OPLN

OPENLANE (formerly KAR) runs the leading digital marketplace for wholesale used vehicles in the U.S., Canada and Europe, facilitating ~1.5M annual transactions on $28.8B of GMV in 2025 — a genuine platform business with network effects rather than a capex-heavy auction operator. The fundamentals are healing: revenue grew from $1.45B (FY2021) to $1.93B (FY2025), net income recovered from a -$154M loss in FY2023 to $178M in FY2025 (+61.7% YoY), and operating cash flow jumped 33.8% to $392M against just $55M of capex. Net margin (9.2%), ROE (14.3%) and the $45.6M buyback (up 52%) suggest management is converting the operating recovery into shareholder value.

The MD&A flags the most important forward catalyst in plain English: 'New lease originations have remained healthy for the last several quarters. As these leases begin maturing in 2026 and beyond, we expect a higher volume of off-lease vehicles available to the wholesale used vehicle industry, with much of that volume expected to flow through OPENLANE first as we support the majority of commercial sellers with off-lease vehicle inventory in North America.' This is a multi-year supply tailwind for a business whose throughput collapsed when 2020-2023 chip shortages starved the wholesale channel — exactly the cyclical setup where revenue and operating leverage compound.