MeritValue

CAPITAL SOUTHWEST CORP

CSWCdata completeness 88%10 fiscal years on file
The thesis, from the filings

CAPITAL SOUTHWEST CORP earns about 9% on equity, but has diluted owners by 188% over 5 years — worth asking whether the growth reaches owners. The cash-flow models don't apply cleanly here — the ledger says why below. 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 2022FY 2023FY 2024FY 2025FY 2026
Revenue—————
Net income$42.8M1$33.1M2$83.4M3$70.5M3$113M3
Operating cash flow−$182.7M4−$227.1M5−$188.5M6−$217.3M6−$193.5M6
Capital expenditure$2M7$281,0008$13,0009$1.67M9$286,0009
Free cash flow (derived)−$184.7M4,7−$227.4M5,8−$188.5M6,9−$218.9M6,9−$193.8M6,9
Total debt$528.6M10$637.6M11$770.9M12$956.1M13$1.13B13
Cash & equivalents$11.4M14$21.6M15$32.3M16$43.2M16$29M16
Diluted shares22.8M30.0M40.7M51.2M65.8M

Superscripts are receipts. Each links to the SEC filing the number came from (full list at the bottom). A derived or summed figure cites every filing line it was built from.

ii. Your slice — ownership made literal
If you owned
shares
Net assets behind them
$153.58
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$17.16
Free cash flow it threw off
−$29.44
Debt you’d be carrying
$171.84

10 shares is a claim on $153.58 of net worth that earned you $17.16 and generated −$29.44 of cash last year, against $171.84 of debt.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on equity
9% avg · 5y
FY22 10%FY23 6%FY24 11%FY25 8%FY26 11%

It earned an average 9% on equity over 5 years. Compare that to what it costs to fund the business.

seeing a moat in the numbers →
Management signal · capital allocation
+188% shares · 5y

Share count is up 188% over 5 years — owners have been diluted. Worth asking what they got for it. Total debt has risen 114% 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 v0.6.0
DCF · Growth Exit 10Y
not applicable
3y-median FCF non-positive — growth-exit DCF not applicable (see EPV)
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
not applicable
3y-median FCF non-positive — growth-exit DCF not applicable (see EPV)
Earnings Power Value
not applicable
business development company / RIC — reported earnings are dominated by unrealised marks on private holdings, and a RIC must distribute ~90% of income so it cannot retain earnings to compound. Capitalising them would be meaningless, not merely imprecise. Price/NAV is the applicable lens.
Graham Number
not applicable
business development company / RIC — reported earnings are dominated by unrealised marks on private holdings, and a RIC must distribute ~90% of income so it cannot retain earnings to compound. Capitalising them would be meaningless, not merely imprecise. Price/NAV is the applicable lens.

Different models answer different questions — which to trust when →

Beyond this page

This page is free, and so is every other company on MeritValue.

In your AI assistant

Connect the MeritValue MCP server to Claude or another MCP client, ask about CAPITAL SOUTHWEST CORP, and get these exact figures with their filing receipts — not an improvised DCF.

Get a free key →
Screen by model

Pull the companies with a published value under any model (up to 500 a request, filtered by data completeness) into your own sheet or agent. Screening is what Analyst adds, at $9/month.

See pricing →
On iPhone

Follow CSWC and keep your own price beside the value. The same engine, with the same receipts.

MeritValue on the App Store →
Sources — the receipts
  1. 10-K filed 2024-05-21 · period ending 2022-03-31 · accession 0000017313-24-000022 (NetIncomeLoss)
  2. 10-K filed 2025-05-20 · period ending 2023-03-31 · accession 0000017313-25-000042 (NetIncomeLoss)
  3. 10-K filed 2026-05-19 · periods ending 2024-03-31, 2025-03-31, 2026-03-31 · accession 0000017313-26-000035 (NetIncomeLoss)
  4. 10-K filed 2024-05-21 · period ending 2022-03-31 · accession 0000017313-24-000022 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  5. 10-K filed 2025-05-20 · period ending 2023-03-31 · accession 0000017313-25-000042 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  6. 10-K filed 2026-05-19 · periods ending 2024-03-31, 2025-03-31, 2026-03-31 · accession 0000017313-26-000035 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  7. 10-K filed 2024-05-21 · period ending 2022-03-31 · accession 0000017313-24-000022 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  8. 10-K filed 2025-05-20 · period ending 2023-03-31 · accession 0000017313-25-000042 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  9. 10-K filed 2026-05-19 · periods ending 2024-03-31, 2025-03-31, 2026-03-31 · accession 0000017313-26-000035 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  10. 10-K filed 2023-05-23 · period ending 2022-03-31 · accession 0000017313-23-000025 (LongTermDebt)
  11. 10-K filed 2024-05-21 · period ending 2023-03-31 · accession 0000017313-24-000022 (LongTermDebt)
  12. 10-K filed 2025-05-20 · period ending 2024-03-31 · accession 0000017313-25-000042 (LongTermDebt)
  13. 10-K filed 2026-05-19 · periods ending 2025-03-31, 2026-03-31 · accession 0000017313-26-000035 (LongTermDebt)
  14. 10-K filed 2023-05-23 · period ending 2022-03-31 · accession 0000017313-23-000025 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  15. 10-K filed 2025-05-20 · period ending 2023-03-31 · accession 0000017313-25-000042 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  16. 10-K filed 2026-05-19 · periods ending 2024-03-31, 2025-03-31, 2026-03-31 · accession 0000017313-26-000035 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)