Debt-to-Equity Ratio

The debt-to-equity ratio compares a company’s total debt to its shareholders’ equity, showing how much leverage it uses.

At 2.53x, SLM has $2.53 of debt for every $1 of equity. This is well above the Financial Services sector median of 0.63x, placing SLM in the 82nd percentile among peers — meaning its leverage is higher than 82% of comparable firms. The year-over-year change is not available, the quarter-over-quarter change is not available, and data for the last eight quarters is also not provided, so no trend direction can be determined. The combination of a very high debt level with no trend information suggests elevated financial risk, but without knowing whether leverage is increasing or decreasing the implications for future returns remain unclear. This metric does not contradict the overall NEUTRAL verdict — it highlights a risk factor, but the lack of trend data prevents a more decisive read on the stock.

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