MeritValue

ACUITY INC. (DE)

AYIdata completeness 100%17 fiscal years on file

Data notes: no data for concept 'investmentsAtFairValue'; no data for concept 'netInvestmentIncome'; no data for concept 'realEstateImpairment'

The thesis, from the filings

ACUITY INC. (DE) earns about 16% on invested capital, comfortably above its ~9% cost of capital, and has bought back 13% of its shares over 5 years — the marks of a durable business run for its owners. The estimate methods put fair value between $124.6 and $591.22 a share.Whether it’s worth owning at today’s price is the last question — and yours to answer, below.

i. The business — what you’d actually own
FigureFY 2021FY 2022FY 2023FY 2024FY 2025
Revenue$3.46B1$4.01B2$3.95B3$3.84B3$4.35B3
Net income$306.3M4$384M5$346M6$422.6M6$396.6M6
Operating cash flow$408.7M7$316.3M8$578.1M9$619.2M9$601.4M9
Capital expenditure$43.8M10$56.5M11$66.7M12$64M12$68.4M12
Free cash flow (derived)$364.9M7$259.8M8$511.4M9$555.2M9$533M9
Total debt$988.6M13$513M14$495.6M15$496.2M16$896.8M16
Cash & equivalents$491.3M17$223.2M18$397.9M19$845.8M20$422.5M20
Diluted shares36.6M34.6M32.2M31.4M31.6M

Superscripts are receipts. Each links to the SEC filing the number came from (full list at the bottom).

ii. Your slice — ownership made literal
If you owned
shares
Net assets behind them
$861.19
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$125.34
Free cash flow it threw off
$168.45
Debt you’d be carrying
$283.43

10 shares is a claim on $861.19 of net worth that earned you $125.34 and generated $168.45 of cash last year, against $283.43 of debt.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
16% avg · 5y
FY21 13%FY22 18%FY23 17%FY24 21%FY25 12%

It earned about 16% on invested capital against a ~9% cost of capital — comfortably above the cost of funding, a moderate advantage.

seeing a moat in the numbers →
Management signal · capital allocation
−13% shares · 5y

Share count is down 13% over 5 years — management has been buying back stock, quietly handing owners a bigger slice. Total debt has held roughly steady.

reading capital allocation →

Signals, not verdicts — read from the filings above. Numbers don’t prove a moat; they show its footprint. You decide.

iv. What it’s worth — engine v0.5.0

The 3 estimate methods that apply put fair value between $124.6 and $591.22 a share. They rest on different assumptions, so where they diverge is the story; the Graham Number is a stricter floor, not a target.

DCF · Growth Exit 10Y
$591.22
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth13.5%
  • fcfBase$533M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$403.57
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth13.5%
  • fcfBase$533M
Earnings Power Value
$124.6
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$384M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$155.82
assumptions (1)
  • grahamMultiplier2250.0%

Different models answer different questions — which to trust when →

v. The price question — last, on purpose
Is today’s price fair?
See live price ↗
Type a price. The ledger answers.
Or set your own belief
FCF growth, next 5 years13.5%
Discount rate (WACC)9.02%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $403.57
The three cases
Bear0.0%$222.51
Base13.5%$403.57
Bull18.5%$495.11

Bear/base/bull growth = 0% / filed history / history + 5pp. Type a price to see the return each case implies.

Default growth 13.5%= this company’s own filed history (median-to-median FCF CAGR, clamped 0–20%). Your adjustments are recorded anonymously. They become the “what do owners actually believe” dataset.

Sources — the receipts
  1. 10-K · period ending 2021-08-31 · accession 0001144215-23-000090 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-08-31 · accession 0001144215-24-000085 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-08-31 · accession 0001144215-25-000082 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-08-31 · accession 0001144215-23-000090 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-08-31 · accession 0001144215-24-000085 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-08-31 · accession 0001144215-25-000082 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-08-31 · accession 0001144215-23-000090 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-08-31 · accession 0001144215-24-000085 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-08-31 · accession 0001144215-25-000082 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-08-31 · accession 0001144215-23-000090 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-08-31 · accession 0001144215-24-000085 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-08-31 · accession 0001144215-25-000082 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2021-08-31 · accession 0001144215-22-000097 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2022-08-31 · accession 0001144215-23-000090 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2023-08-31 · accession 0001144215-24-000085 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2024-08-31 · accession 0001144215-25-000082 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  17. 10-K · period ending 2021-08-31 · accession 0001144215-22-000097 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  18. 10-K · period ending 2022-08-31 · accession 0001144215-23-000090 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  19. 10-K · period ending 2023-08-31 · accession 0001144215-24-000085 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  20. 10-K · period ending 2024-08-31 · accession 0001144215-25-000082 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)