MeritValue

CROSS COUNTRY HEALTHCARE INC

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

CROSS COUNTRY HEALTHCARE INC earns about 9% on invested capital, below its ~9% cost of capital, and has bought back 13% of its shares over 5 years — no moat visible in the numbers. The estimate methods put fair value between $23.22 and $208.37 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$1.68B1$2.8B2$2.02B3$1.34B3$1.05B3
Net income$132M4$188.5M4$72.6M5−$14.6M5−$94.9M5
Operating cash flow−$85.6M6$134.1M7$248.5M8$120.1M8$48.3M8
Capital expenditure$7.17M9$8.79M10$14M11$8.71M11$8.16M11
Free cash flow (derived)−$92.8M6$125.3M7$234.5M8$111.4M8$40.1M8
Total debt$185.9M12$150.7M12———
Cash & equivalents$1.04M13$3.6M14$17.1M14$81.6M15$108.7M15
Diluted shares37.4M37.5M35.5M33.4M32.4M

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
$99.61
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
−$29.27
Free cash flow it threw off
$12.37
Debt you’d be carrying
—

10 shares is a claim on $99.61 of net worth that earned you −$29.27 and generated $12.37 of cash last year.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
9% avg · 5y
FY21 29%FY22 33%FY23 17%FY24 -4%FY25 -31%

It earned about 9% 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
−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 fallen 19% — deleveraging.

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 $23.22 and $208.37 a share. They rest on different assumptions, so where they diverge is the story.

DCF · Growth Exit 10Y
$208.37
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$111.4M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$115.43
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$111.4M
Earnings Power Value
$23.22
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$72.6M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
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 years20.0%
Discount rate (WACC)8.93%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $115.43
The three cases
Bear0.0%$52.47
Base20.0%$115.43
Bull20.0%$115.43

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

Default growth 20.0%= 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 0001628280-24-006454 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001628280-25-010519 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001628280-26-015791 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K/A · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001140361-25-014192 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001628280-26-015791 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001628280-24-006454 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001628280-25-010519 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001628280-26-015791 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001628280-24-006454 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001628280-25-010519 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001628280-26-015791 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001628280-23-004859 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001628280-23-004859 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001628280-25-010519 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001628280-26-015791 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)