CATHAY GENERAL BANCORP

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

CATHAY GENERAL BANCORP earns about 24% on invested capital, far above its ~9% cost of capital, and has bought back 12% of its shares over 5 years — the marks of a durable business run for its owners. The estimate methods put fair value between $47.02 and $86.45 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$39.1M1$42.2M2$43.9M3$52.3M3$53.8M3
Net income$298.3M4$360.6M5$354.1M6$286M6$315.1M6
Operating cash flow$334.3M7$467.4M8$384.7M9$329.2M9$368.6M9
Capital expenditure$3.73M10$3.39M11$3.4M12$3.64M12$4.91M12
Free cash flow (derived)$330.6M7$464M8$381.3M9$325.5M9$363.7M9
Total debt$119.1M13$119.1M14$119.1M15$119.1M16$119.1M16
Cash & equivalents
Diluted shares78.6M74.7M72.9M72.3M69.5M

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
$421.21
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$45.37
Free cash flow it threw off
$52.36
Debt you’d be carrying
$17.15

10 shares is a claim on $421.21 of net worth that earned you $45.37 and generated $52.36 of cash last year, against $17.15 of debt.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
24% avg · 5y
FY21 14%FY22 17%FY23 28%FY24 30%FY25 30%

It earned about 24% on invested capital, year after year, against a ~9% cost of capital — the footprint of real pricing power. Competition usually drags returns like this back down; here it hasn't.

seeing a moat in the numbers →
Management signal · capital allocation
−12% shares · 5y

Share count is down 12% 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 3 estimate methods that apply put fair value between $47.02 and $86.45 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
$86.45
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth3.2%
  • fcfBase$363.7M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$84.41
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth3.2%
  • fcfBase$363.7M
Earnings Power Value
$47.02
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$315.1M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$65.6
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 years3.2%
Discount rate (WACC)8.93%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $84.41
The three cases
Bear0.0%$73.1
Base3.2%$84.41
Bull8.2%$104.76

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

Default growth 3.2%= 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 0001437749-24-005948 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerIncludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001437749-25-005749 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerIncludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001437749-26-006157 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerIncludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001437749-24-005948 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001437749-25-005749 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001437749-26-006157 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001437749-24-005948 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001437749-25-005749 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001437749-26-006157 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001437749-24-005948 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001437749-25-005749 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001437749-26-006157 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001437749-23-004952 (LongTermDebt)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001437749-24-005948 (LongTermDebt)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001437749-25-005749 (LongTermDebt)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001437749-26-006157 (LongTermDebt)