SLM Corp. (SLM), commonly known as Sallie Mae, said Wednesday after the markets closed that it swung to a fourth quarter profit. The profit, reflects a significant decline in total interest expense and, gains from sale of loans and securities.
Reston, Virginia-based Sallie Mae's fourth quarter net income attributable to shareholders was $258.12 million or $0.52 per share compared to net loss attributable to shareholders of $243.33 million or $0.52 per share for the same period last year. Net income attributable to the company was $309.13 million compared to net loss attributable to the company of $216.02 million a year earlier.
The largest U.S. student loan provider Sallie Mae's net income from continuing operations for the quarter was $407.85 million compared to net loss from continuing operations of $191.19 million last year and net loss from discontinued operations widened to $98.56 million from $24.30 million for the same period a year-ago.
On an core earnings basis, net income attributable to the company rose to $248.78 million or $0.41 per share, compared to $65.01 million $0.08 per share for the year-ago quarter. The recent fourth quarter, including a $165.31 million of private education loan loss adjustments, core earnings exclude $60.35 million of total core earnings adjustments.
On average, nine analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.44 per share for the fourth quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Net interest income for the fourth quarter increased to $598.79 million from $210.56 million a year earlier. Including provisions for loan losses, net interest income for the fourth quarter was $329.34 million compared with net interest expense or loss of $41.86 million for the same period last year. Analysts had expected the company to report income of $636.50 million for the fourth quarter.
The increase in net interest income for the fourth quarter reflects a significant decline in total interest expense to $515.76 million from $1.53 billion for the same period last year. This decline offsets the decrease in fourth quarter total interest income to $1.11 billion from $1.74 billion a year earlier.
In the sequentially preceding third quarter, the company's GAAP net income was $159.1 million compared to a GAAP net loss of $158.5 million for the year-ago third quarter. GAAP net income attributable to common shareholders for the third quarter was $116.5 million or $0.25 per share, compared to a GAAP net loss attributable to common shareholders of $186.0 million or $0.40 per share in the third quarter of last year.
Core earnings for the third quarter rose to $163.9 million or $0.26 per share from $117.0 million or $0.19 per share in the prior year quarter.
For the fourth quarter under review total other income rose for the fourth quarter was $628.36 million compared with total other loss of $4.98 million last year. The recent quarter other income reflects a rise in servicing and securitization revenues and, gains of $271.08 million from sale of loans and securities.
Core operating expenses for the quarter rose to $293 million from $260 million in the year-ago quarter.
During the fourth quarter, the company said that it sold $17.6 billion of federal loans originated under U.S. Department of Education's loan participation program and received $271 million.
While federal student loan originations in the fourth quarter was up 14% year-over-year to $4.5 billion, private education loan originations were down due to $381 million due to tightened underwriting and the effect of increased federal student loan limits.
The company said that managed private education loan charge-offs declined to $298 million in the fourth quarter from $443 million in the previous quarter. Managed delinquencies as a percentage of private education loans in repayment decreased during the quarter to 12.1%, from 12.6% in the previous quarter, the company said.
Fourth quarter core provision for private education loan losses was $327 million, down from $413 million in the third quarter.
Amongst others in the industry, The Student Loan Corp. (STU) yesterday, January 19 reported a rise in its fourth quarter profit to to $38.1 million or $1.90 per share from $12.3 million or $0.62 per share for the year-ago period. Net interest income increased by 59% to $74.6 million from $46.94 million in the prior-year.
For the full year, Sallie Mae's net income attributable to shareholders was $178.30 million or $0.38 per share compared to net loss attributable to shareholders of $323.83 million or $0.69 per share for the same period last year. Net income attributable to the company was $324.14 million compared to net loss attributable to the company of $212.63 million last year.
On an core earnings basis, net income attributable to the company for the full year rose to $597.05 million or $0.97 per share, compared to $525.95 million $0.89 per share for the year-ago.
Net interest income for the full year rose to $1.72 billion from $1.36 billion for the same period last year. Including provisions for loan losses, net interest income came down to $603.77 million from $644.57 million for the same period last year.
Wednesday, SLM closed at $11.97, up $0.44 or 3.82%, on a volume of 13.69 million shares on the NYSE. In the past 52 weeks, the stock trended in a broad range of $3.11 - $12.43, with a three-month average volume of 4.12 million shares.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.