COHEN & STEERS, INC.

CNSdata completeness 88%17 fiscal years on file

Data notes: no data for concept 'totalDebt'; no data for concept 'interestExpense'

The thesis, from the filings

COHEN & STEERS, INC. earns about 129% on invested capital, far above its ~9% cost of capital, but has diluted owners by 5% over 5 years — a real edge showing up in the numbers. The estimate methods put fair value between $24.63 and $30.81 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$583.8M1$566.9M2$489.6M3$517.4M3$556.1M3
Net income$211.4M4$171M5$129M6$151.3M6$153.2M6
Operating cash flow$242.9M7$61.7M8$172M9$96.7M9−$120.4M9
Capital expenditure$2.7M10$4.22M11$57M12$11.7M12$5.98M12
Free cash flow (derived)$240.2M7$57.5M8$115M9$85M9−$126.4M9
Total debt
Cash & equivalents$184.4M13$247.4M14$187.4M15$183M15$145.5M15
Diluted shares49.1M49.3M49.6M50.9M51.5M

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
$109.06
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$29.74
Free cash flow it threw off
−$24.54
Debt you’d be carrying

10 shares is a claim on $109.06 of net worth that earned you $29.74 and generated −$24.54 of cash last year.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
129% avg · 5y
FY21 319%FY22 166%FY23 70%FY24 50%FY25 39%

It earned about 129% 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
+5% shares · 5y

Share count is up 5% over 5 years — owners have been diluted. Worth asking what they got for it.

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 $24.63 and $30.81 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
$24.63
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$85M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$26.4
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$85M
Earnings Power Value
$30.81
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$153.2M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$27
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 $26.4
The three cases
Bear0.0%$26.4
Base0.0%$26.4
Bull5.0%$32.11

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 0001284812-24-000139 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerIncludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001284812-25-000087 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerIncludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001284812-26-000011 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerIncludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001284812-24-000139 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001284812-25-000087 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001284812-26-000011 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001284812-24-000139 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001284812-25-000087 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001284812-26-000011 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001284812-24-000139 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001284812-25-000087 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001284812-26-000011 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001284812-24-000139 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001284812-25-000087 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001284812-26-000011 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)