MeritValue

CRH PUBLIC LTD CO

CRHdata completeness 100%8 fiscal years on file
The thesis, from the filings

CRH PUBLIC LTD CO earns about 8% on invested capital, below its ~9% cost of capital, and has bought back 14% of its shares over 5 years — no moat visible in the numbers. The estimate methods put fair value between $32.97 and $53.45 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$29.2B1$32.7B2$34.9B3$35.6B3$37.4B3
Net income$2.63B4$3.86B5$3.18B6$3.49B6$3.75B6
Operating cash flow$3.98B7$3.8B8$5.02B9$4.99B9$5.63B9
Capital expenditure$1.55B10$1.52B11$1.82B12$2.58B12$2.71B12
Free cash flow (derived)$2.43B7$2.28B8$3.2B9$2.41B9$2.91B9
Total debt$10.5B13$30.3B14$25B15$30.8B16$36.4B16
Cash & equivalents$5.78B17$5.94B18$6.34B19$3.72B19$4.1B19
Diluted shares786.8M764.1M729.2M689.5M677.0M

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
$354.56
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$55.44
Free cash flow it threw off
$43.01
Debt you’d be carrying
$537.09

10 shares is a claim on $354.56 of net worth that earned you $55.44 and generated $43.01 of cash last year, against $537.09 of debt.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
8% avg · 5y
FY21 10%FY22 6%FY23 9%FY24 7%FY25 7%

It earned about 8% 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
−14% shares · 5y

Share count is down 14% over 5 years — management has been buying back stock, quietly handing owners a bigger slice. Total debt has risen 247% over the same window.

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 $32.97 and $53.45 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
$43.65
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth6.3%
  • fcfBase$2.91B
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$32.97
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth6.3%
  • fcfBase$2.91B
Earnings Power Value
$53.45
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$3.49B
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$66.3
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 years6.3%
Discount rate (WACC)8.93%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $32.97
The three cases
Bear0.0%$13.8
Base6.3%$32.97
Bull11.3%$51.59

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

Default growth 6.3%= 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 0001628280-24-007773 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001628280-25-008179 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001628280-26-009043 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001628280-24-007773 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001628280-25-008179 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001628280-26-009043 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001628280-24-007773 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001628280-25-008179 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001628280-26-009043 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001628280-24-007773 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001628280-25-008179 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001628280-26-009043 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 20-F · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001628280-23-007435 (Borrowings)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001628280-24-007773 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001628280-25-008179 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001628280-26-009043 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  17. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001628280-24-007773 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  18. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001628280-25-008179 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  19. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001628280-26-009043 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)