Down Almost 82% From its All-time High, Is goeasy Stock Still a Buy?

I think goeasy (TSX:GSY) is a buy for investors who can stomach volatility and think in years, not weeks.

Down over 80% from all-time highs, goeasy stock is valued at a market cap of $650 million in June 2026. In the decade prior to the sell-off, the Canada-based lender had returned more than 800% to shareholders.

In this article, I explain why I believe goeasy stock can stage a comeback over the next few years.

That said, this is not a low-risk pick. goeasy is in the middle of a messy turnaround, and the next few quarters could stay ugly. If you can’t handle red ink and headline risk, this investment isn’t for you.

Why GSY stock is down 80%

goeasy is Canada’s largest non-prime consumer lender. It serves the roughly 9.5 million Canadians with weaker credit scores who can’t easily borrow from legacy banks.

The company lends through three brands: easyfinancial (its core direct-to-consumer loans), easyhome (lease-to-own furniture), and LendCare (loans made through merchant partners).

LendCare is the business vertical wrestling with multiple headwinds.

goeasy acquired LendCare in 2021 and pushed it into auto and powersports lending. In Q1 2026, net charge-offs in the LendCare portfolio soared to 26.4%.

goeasy also flagged a control weakness tied to how it applied an accounting standard at LendCare. The result? goeasy posted an adjusted net loss of $31.3 million or $1.90 per share in the quarter ended in March.

In late 2025, goeasy paid shareholders an annual dividend of $5.84 per share, up from $0.40 per share in March 2015. However, management suspended the dividend and share buybacks, resulting in an 80% decline from its peak.

Can goeasy stock recover?

On the call, goeasy’s Chief Risk Officer, Jason Appel, said the charge-offs are coming “predominantly” from 2024 and from some early 2025 loans.

goeasy has slashed LendCare originations by more than 80% and is winding down the loan book. As those loans roll off, the losses should shrink.

Management expects net charge-offs to average in the mid-teens for the full year, with improvement as 2026 progresses.

The core business is healthy.

• The direct-to-consumer easyfinancial business is performing as expected. Though charge-offs in this vertical ticked higher in Q1, CEO Patrick Ens called the credit performance “strong and stable.”
• That core franchise now makes up 58.7% of the total portfolio, up from 45% a year ago.
• Even with the loss, goeasy reported operating cash flow of $560 million, before new loan funding in Q1, up from $410 million a year earlier.
• It also repaid a US$65-million note maturity out of its own pocket, and quarter-end liquidity stood at $1.1 billion.

Appel pegged the Canadian non-prime credit market (excluding mortgages) at roughly $240 billion. Canadian community banks are retreating from this market, which should act as a long-term tailwind for goeasy.

Management expects the loan book to shrink in the first half of 2026, then return to growth in the second half. Ens singled out the secured home-equity loan business, about $590 million today, as one that could grow to three or four times its current size.

So, is goeasy stock a buy?

Analysts tracking GSY stock forecast a loss per share of $3.35 in 2026, compared with earnings of $3.03 per share in 2025. However, it could end 2028 with earnings of $8 per share.

The thesis is simple. The market is pricing goeasy like the whole company is broken, when the damage is concentrated in one shrinking division.

The core lending engine still works, still throws off cash, and has a massive runway.

The risks are real: liquidity is tight until two bank facilities free up, the accounting fix is a work in progress, and the macro picture in Canada remains soft.

Investors should expect the sell-off in the Canadian stock to continue if interest rates rise over the next 12 months.

The post Down Almost 82% From its All-time High, Is goeasy Stock Still a Buy? appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada.

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Fool contributor Aditya Raghunath has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.