CASS INFORMATION SYSTEMS INC

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

CASS INFORMATION SYSTEMS INC earns about 13% on equity, comfortably above its ~9% cost of capital, and has bought back 6% of its shares over 5 years — the marks of a durable business run for its owners. The estimate methods put fair value between $23.14 and $61.44 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$108.7M1$121.7M2$106.1M3$109.9M3$108M3
Net income$28.6M4$34.9M5$30.1M6$19.2M6$35.1M6
Operating cash flow$34.5M7$51.6M8$36.9M9$38.9M9$37.4M9
Capital expenditure$4.37M10$5.87M11$11.9M12$8.51M12$5.66M12
Free cash flow (derived)$30.2M7$45.7M8$25M9$30.4M9$31.8M9
Total debt
Cash & equivalents$514.9M13$200.9M14$372.5M14$349.7M14$392.3M14
Diluted shares14.3M13.8M13.8M13.8M13.5M

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
$180.49
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$26.08
Free cash flow it threw off
$23.6
Debt you’d be carrying

10 shares is a claim on $180.49 of net worth that earned you $26.08 and generated $23.6 of cash last year.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on equity
13% avg · 5y
FY21 12%FY22 17%FY23 13%FY24 8%FY25 14%

It earned about 13% on equity 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
−6% shares · 5y

Share count is down 6% over 5 years — management has been buying back stock, quietly handing owners a bigger slice.

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 3 estimate methods that apply put fair value between $23.14 and $61.44 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
$59
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$30.4M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$61.44
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$30.4M
Earnings Power Value
$23.14
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$30.1M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$32.56
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)8.93%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $61.44
The three cases
Bear0.0%$61.44
Base0.0%$61.44
Bull5.0%$69.26

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 0000708781-24-000023 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000708781-25-000018 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000708781-26-000010 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000708781-24-000023 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000708781-25-000018 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000708781-26-000010 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000708781-24-000023 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000708781-25-000018 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000708781-26-000010 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000708781-24-000023 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000708781-25-000018 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000708781-26-000010 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000708781-25-000018 (CashCashEquivalentsRestrictedCashAndRestrictedCashEquivalents)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000708781-26-000010 (CashCashEquivalentsRestrictedCashAndRestrictedCashEquivalents)