Willis Lease Finance
WLFC on Nasdaq. Willis Lease Finance leases commercial aircraft and engines to airlines and other operators. Market value $906m.
Price checks use the past 12 months to June 2026. Some use the latest annual report instead, as marked. Quality checks use five annual reports, the latest for the year to December 2025.
Should I look at this?
Not a fit for our list right now
Why it could be worth it
See Industrials stocks that passed both tests
This is not advice. Check the numbers below.
For every $100 of what the whole company costs, it produced $27.83 of spare cash last year. A savings account pays about $4.
You pay 26.8 years of operating profit for the business. The average large US company costs around 18.
Each dollar kept in the business earns 2 cents a year. Above 10 is good.
Quality score: 52 of 100. Price score: 72 of 100. Our list needs 70 on quality and 60 on price.
$42.85 a share, 13% above its 1-year low
Over the past year the price has ranged from $38.00 to $81.54.
Dividend: 1.0% a year
Paid every year for 2 years
Prices from Tuesday’s close (6 October).
Five years of cash, in billions
| Revenue | |||||
| Revenue | $274m | $312m | $419m | $569m | $730m |
| Operating margin | |||||
| Operating margin | 3.0% | 3.2% | 15.3% | 25.4% | 14.3% |
| Debt to equity | |||||
| Debt to equity | 4.76 | 4.56 | 4.11 | 4.12 | 4.08 |
| Shares outstanding | |||||
| Shares outstanding | 0.01bn | 0.01bn | 0.01bn | 0.01bn | 0.02bn |
Health checks
- Free cash flow positive1 of 1 years
- Accounting looks honest (Beneish)Not enough data
- Financial strength (Piotroski)Not enough data
- Profit backed by cash (accruals)Yes
- Debt4.08× equity
- Revenue growth, five yearsStrong, 20.4% a year
- Buying back its own sharesNo, 247% more shares since 2021
The quarter to June 2026
How the business did, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Sales: $194 million last quarter, down 1% on a year ago.
- Profit: $30 million, down 50% on a year ago.
- It keeps 16 cents of each $1 of sales as operating profit, down from 18 cents a year earlier.
- 5% more shares than a year ago. Each share owns a bit less of the company.
- Debt is $2.3 billion more than cash, down from $2.8 billion a year ago.
- Sales grew on a year ago in 3 of the last 4 quarters.
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $146m |
| December 2024 | $153m |
| March 2025 | $158m |
| June 2025 | $196m |
| September 2025 | $183m |
| December 2025 | $194m |
| March 2026 | $194m |
| June 2026 | $194m |
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $24m |
| December 2024 | $21m |
| March 2025 | $17m |
| June 2025 | $60m |
| September 2025 | $24m |
| December 2025 | $12m |
| March 2026 | $25m |
| June 2026 | $30m |
From the company's quarterly reports to the SEC.
Dates
- Next results (estimated)
- n/a
- Last annual report (10-K)
- 10 March 2026
- Next quarterly (estimated, 10-Q)
- 3 November 2026
Who owns it
2 long-term investors we follow own it, up from 1 last quarter. 176 funds in all.
| Fund | Value | Share of that fund | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| LSV Asset ManagementJosef Lakonishok | $23m | <0.1% | Added |
| First Pacific Advisors (FPA)Steven Romick | $3m | <0.1% | New |
Largest holders overall
- M3F$151mCut
- Dimensional Fund Advisors LP$125mAdded
- BlackRock$69mAdded
- Renaissance Technologies$45m
- TWO Sigma Investments, LP$44mAdded
- Vanguard Capital Management$30mAdded
- Four Tree Island Advisory$25mAdded
- RBF Capital$25m
- LSV Asset Management$23mAdded
- Geode Capital Management$21mAdded
From 13F filings for the quarter ended 30 June 2026.
Big holders and activists
2 investors own more than 5%.
- WILLIS CHARLES F IVInsider or founderat least 43.2%−1.6 pts(filed with 2 related holders)Since 1 April 2026
- M3 Funds, LLCPassive investorat least 9.9%+1.0 pts(filed with 4 related holders)Since 31 December 2025
| Holder | Stake | Since | |
|---|---|---|---|
WILLIS CHARLES F IV Insider or founder | at least 43.2%−1.6 pts (filed with 2 related holders) | 1 April 2026 | |
M3 Funds, LLC Passive investor | at least 9.9%+1.0 pts (filed with 4 related holders) | 31 December 2025 |
From Schedule 13D and 13G filings: anyone owning more than 5% must file one.
What insiders did
In the last 12 months, 1 insider bought $4,302 of shares on the open market. 5 sold $22m, $16m of it under preset trading plans.
- Flaherty Scott B.EVP, CFOSold
- Date
- 15 September 2026
- Shares
- 8,326
- Price
- $53.56
- Value
- $445,941
- Flaherty Scott B.EVP, CFOSold
- Date
- 14 September 2026
- Shares
- 18,695
- Price
- $54.57
- Value
- $1m
- Flaherty Scott B.EVP, CFOSold
- Date
- 11 September 2026
- Shares
- 2,979
- Price
- $56.18
- Value
- $167,360
- Willis Austin ChandlerPresident and CEO, DirectorSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 1 September 2026
- Shares
- 15,000
- Price
- $53.90
- Value
- $808,565
- WILLIS CHARLES F IVExecutive Chairman, DirectorSold
- Date
- 31 August 2026
- Shares
- 400
- Price
- $52.95
- Value
- $21,180
- WILLIS CHARLES F IVExecutive Chairman, DirectorSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 26 August 2026
- Shares
- 15,600
- Price
- $55.11
- Value
- $859,777
- WILLIS CHARLES F IVExecutive Chairman, DirectorSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 25 August 2026
- Shares
- 11,400
- Price
- $54.51
- Value
- $621,444
- WILLIS CHARLES F IVExecutive Chairman, DirectorSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 24 August 2026
- Shares
- 16,700
- Price
- $55.12
- Value
- $920,431
- WILLIS CHARLES F IVExecutive Chairman, DirectorSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 21 August 2026
- Shares
- 13,500
- Price
- $54.47
- Value
- $735,339
- WILLIS CHARLES F IVExecutive Chairman, DirectorSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 20 August 2026
- Shares
- 16,300
- Price
- $53.98
- Value
- $879,908
| Date | Who | Did | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 September 2026 | Flaherty Scott B. EVP, CFO | Sold | 8,326 | $53.56 | $445,941 |
| 14 September 2026 | Flaherty Scott B. EVP, CFO | Sold | 18,695 | $54.57 | $1m |
| 11 September 2026 | Flaherty Scott B. EVP, CFO | Sold | 2,979 | $56.18 | $167,360 |
| 1 September 2026 | Willis Austin Chandler President and CEO, Director | Sold under a preset trading plan | 15,000 | $53.90 | $808,565 |
| 31 August 2026 | WILLIS CHARLES F IV Executive Chairman, Director | Sold | 400 | $52.95 | $21,180 |
| 26 August 2026 | WILLIS CHARLES F IV Executive Chairman, Director | Sold under a preset trading plan | 15,600 | $55.11 | $859,777 |
| 25 August 2026 | WILLIS CHARLES F IV Executive Chairman, Director | Sold under a preset trading plan | 11,400 | $54.51 | $621,444 |
| 24 August 2026 | WILLIS CHARLES F IV Executive Chairman, Director | Sold under a preset trading plan | 16,700 | $55.12 | $920,431 |
| 21 August 2026 | WILLIS CHARLES F IV Executive Chairman, Director | Sold under a preset trading plan | 13,500 | $54.47 | $735,339 |
| 20 August 2026 | WILLIS CHARLES F IV Executive Chairman, Director | Sold under a preset trading plan | 16,300 | $53.98 | $879,908 |
From Form 4 filings: insiders must report trades in their own company's shares within two days.
What could go wrong
- It carries a lot of debt: 4.1× its equity.
- It isn't cheap on profits: 26.8× operating profit.
Whether the price already reflects the risks is what the deep dive is for.
The deep dive
Everything above is arithmetic on public filings. The deep dive reads the last ten years of annual reports, the proxy statements, and the earnings calls, then argues the case the way Buffett, Klarman, and Hohn would, and checks every claim against the source.
- What the business is worth, as a range, and the margin of safety at today’s price
- Prices to start buying, buy, and buy hard
- The three things that would make this a mistake
- Every number footnoted to the filing it came from
Your first deep dive is free.
Not advice. Numbers on this page come from SEC filings and are updated each night; prices are updated again after the US market closes. The five-year figures are rounded.