C & F FINANCIAL CORP

CFFIdata completeness 100%17 fiscal years on file
The thesis, from the filings

C & F FINANCIAL CORP earns about 37% on invested capital, far above its ~9% cost of capital, and has bought back 10% of its shares over 5 years — the marks of a durable business run for its owners. The estimate methods put fair value between $85.89 and $165.13 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$135.2M1$122.7M2$127.3M3$127.3M3$140.8M3
Net income$28.7M4$29.2M5$23.6M6$19.8M6$26.8M6
Operating cash flow$157.4M7$90.6M8$38.8M9$36.8M9$24.5M9
Capital expenditure$4.79M10$3.39M11$1.46M12$3.49M12$2.33M12
Free cash flow (derived)$152.6M7$87.2M8$37.4M9$33.3M9$22.2M9
Total debt$34.7M13$36.6M14$58.2M15$29M16$20M16
Cash & equivalents$267.7M17$26.7M18$75.2M18$65.6M18$79.1M18
Diluted shares3.6M3.5M3.4M3.3M3.2M

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
$808.49
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$82.89
Free cash flow it threw off
$68.45
Debt you’d be carrying
$61.78

10 shares is a claim on $808.49 of net worth that earned you $82.89 and generated $68.45 of cash last year, against $61.78 of debt.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
37% avg · 5y
FY21 FY22 17%FY23 23%FY24 53%FY25 56%

It earned about 37% 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
−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 fallen 42% — 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 $85.89 and $165.13 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
$154.08
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$33.3M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$165.13
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$33.3M
Earnings Power Value
$85.89
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$26.8M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$122.8
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 $165.13
The three cases
Bear0.0%$165.13
Base0.0%$165.13
Bull5.0%$200.68

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 0000913341-24-000009 (Revenues)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000913341-25-000016 (Revenues)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000913341-26-000010 (Revenues)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000913341-24-000009 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000913341-25-000016 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000913341-26-000010 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000913341-24-000009 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000913341-25-000016 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000913341-26-000010 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000913341-24-000009 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000913341-25-000016 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000913341-26-000010 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000913341-23-000012 (ShortTermBorrowings)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000913341-24-000009 (ShortTermBorrowings)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000913341-25-000016 (ShortTermBorrowings)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0000913341-26-000010 (ShortTermBorrowings)
  17. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000913341-25-000016 (CashCashEquivalentsRestrictedCashAndRestrictedCashEquivalents)
  18. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000913341-26-000010 (CashCashEquivalentsRestrictedCashAndRestrictedCashEquivalents)