MeritValue

BIO-RAD LABORATORIES, INC.

BIOdata completeness 100%18 fiscal years on file

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

The thesis, from the filings

BIO-RAD LABORATORIES, INC. earns about -4% on invested capital, below its ~9% cost of capital, and has bought back 10% of its shares over 5 years — no moat visible in the numbers. The estimate methods put fair value between $69.74 and $80.94 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$2.92B1$2.8B2$2.67B3$2.57B3$2.58B3
Net income$4.25B4−$3.63B5−$637.3M6−$1.84B6$759.9M6
Operating cash flow$669.5M7$194.4M8$374.9M9$455.2M9$532.2M9
Capital expenditure$133.7M10$112.8M11$156.7M12$165.6M12$157.6M12
Free cash flow (derived)$535.7M7$81.6M8$218.2M9$289.6M9$374.6M9
Total debt—$1.2B13$2.41B14$2.4B15$2.4B15
Cash & equivalents$470.8M16$434.2M17$403.8M18$488.1M18$529.8M18
Diluted shares30.2M29.8M29.2M28.2M27.3M

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
$2,732.16
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$278.55
Free cash flow it threw off
$137.31
Debt you’d be carrying
$881.46

10 shares is a claim on $2,732.16 of net worth that earned you $278.55 and generated $137.31 of cash last year, against $881.46 of debt.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
-4% avg · 5y
FY21 32%FY22 -36%FY23 -6%FY24 -21%FY25 9%

It earned about -4% 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
−10% shares · 5y

Share count is down 10% over 5 years — management has been buying back stock, quietly handing owners a bigger slice. Total debt has risen 101% over the same window.

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 2 estimate methods that apply put fair value between $69.74 and $80.94 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
$69.74
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$289.6M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$80.94
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$289.6M
Earnings Power Value
not applicable
normalized (5y-median) earnings non-positive — EPV undefined
Graham Number
$413.77
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 years0.0%
Discount rate (WACC)9.02%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $80.94
The three cases
Bear0.0%$80.94
Base0.0%$80.94
Bull5.0%$117.11

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

Default growth 0.0%= 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 2021-12-31 · accession 0000012208-24-000013 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000012208-25-000007 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000012208-26-000010 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000012208-24-000013 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000012208-25-000007 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000012208-26-000010 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000012208-24-000013 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000012208-25-000007 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000012208-26-000010 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000012208-24-000013 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000012208-25-000007 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000012208-26-000010 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000012208-24-000013 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000012208-25-000007 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0000012208-26-000010 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000012208-24-000013 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  17. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000012208-25-000007 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  18. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000012208-26-000010 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)