MeritValue

Azenta, Inc.

AZTAdata completeness 88%17 fiscal years on file
The thesis, from the filings

Azenta, Inc. earns about -1% on invested capital, below its ~9% cost of capital, and has bought back 38% of its shares over 5 years — no moat visible in the numbers. The estimate methods put fair value between $10.87 and $11.28 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$513.7M1$555.5M2$551.5M3$573.4M3$593.8M3
Net income$110.7M4$2.13B5−$14.6M6−$164.9M6−$55.8M6
Operating cash flow$149.9M7−$466M8$5.83M9$49.7M9$72.2M9
Capital expenditure$52.8M10$73.4M11$39.4M12$37.4M12$33.9M12
Free cash flow (derived)$97.1M7−$539.5M8−$33.6M9$12.4M9$38.3M9
Total debt$99.4M13————
Cash & equivalents$227.4M14$658.3M15$649.5M16$280M16$279.8M16
Diluted shares74.5M74.9M66.3M53.2M45.9M

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
$376.28
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
−$12.15
Free cash flow it threw off
$8.35
Debt you’d be carrying
—

10 shares is a claim on $376.28 of net worth that earned you −$12.15 and generated $8.35 of cash last year.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
-1% avg · 5y
FY21 -3%FY22 -0%FY23 -1%FY24 -1%FY25 -0%

It earned about -1% on invested capital against a ~9% cost of capital — below the cost of funding. The numbers show no moat.

seeing a moat in the numbers →
Management signal · capital allocation
−38% shares · 5y

Share count is down 38% 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 v0.1.0

The 2 estimate methods that apply put fair value between $10.87 and $11.28 a share. They rest on different assumptions, so where they diverge is the story.

DCF · Growth Exit 10Y
$11.28
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth5.0%
  • fcfBase$12.4M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$10.87
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth5.0%
  • fcfBase$12.4M
Earnings Power Value
not applicable
normalized (5y-median) earnings non-positive — EPV undefined
Graham Number
not applicable
diluted EPS missing or non-positive — Graham Number undefined

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 years5.0%
Discount rate (WACC)8.93%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $10.87
The three cases
Bear0.0%$9.94
Base5.0%$10.87
Bull10.0%$11.99

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

Default growth 5.0%= 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 2021-09-30 · accession 0001558370-23-019262 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-09-30 · accession 0001437749-24-036289 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-09-30 · accession 0001437749-25-036931 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-09-30 · accession 0001558370-23-019262 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-09-30 · accession 0001437749-24-036289 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-09-30 · accession 0001437749-25-036931 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-09-30 · accession 0001558370-23-019262 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-09-30 · accession 0001437749-24-036289 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-09-30 · accession 0001437749-25-036931 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-09-30 · accession 0001558370-23-019262 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-09-30 · accession 0001437749-24-036289 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-09-30 · accession 0001437749-25-036931 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2021-09-30 · accession 0001558370-22-018195 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2021-09-30 · accession 0001558370-23-019262 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2022-09-30 · accession 0001437749-24-036289 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2023-09-30 · accession 0001437749-25-036931 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)