MeritValue

Cytek Biosciences, Inc.

CTKBdata completeness 88%6 fiscal years on file

Data notes: no data for concept 'totalDebt'

The thesis, from the filings

Cytek Biosciences, Inc. earns about -1% on invested capital, below its ~9% cost of capital, but has diluted owners by 57% over 5 years — no moat visible in the numbers. The estimate methods put fair value between $0.87 and $1.01 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$128M1$164M2$193M3$200.5M3$201.5M3
Net income$3.03M4$2.48M5−$12.1M6−$6.02M6−$66.5M6
Operating cash flow$4.63M7−$12.2M8$5.28M9$25.4M9−$4.69M9
Capital expenditure$4.36M10$9.75M11$4.65M12$3.53M12$4.08M12
Free cash flow (derived)$266,0007−$22M8$633,0009$21.9M9−$8.77M9
Total debt—————
Cash & equivalents$364.6M13$296.6M14$167.3M15$98.7M16$90.9M16
Diluted shares81.5M138.6M135.3M130.6M127.7M

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
$26.75
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
−$5.21
Free cash flow it threw off
−$0.69
Debt you’d be carrying
—

10 shares is a claim on $26.75 of net worth that earned you −$5.21 and generated −$0.69 of cash last year.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
-1% avg · 5y
FY21 10%FY22 3%FY23 -5%FY24 -2%FY25 -9%

It earned about -1% 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
+57% shares · 5y

Share count is up 57% 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 2 estimate methods that apply put fair value between $0.87 and $1.01 a share. They rest on different assumptions, so where they diverge is the story.

DCF · Growth Exit 10Y
$1.01
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$633,000
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$0.87
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$633,000
Earnings Power Value
not applicable
normalized (5y-median) earnings non-positive — EPV undefined
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 $0.87
The three cases
Bear0.0%$0.78
Base20.0%$0.87
Bull20.0%$0.87

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 0001628280-24-010933 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001628280-25-008780 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001628280-26-012352 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001628280-24-010933 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001628280-25-008780 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001628280-26-012352 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001628280-24-010933 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001628280-25-008780 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001628280-26-012352 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001628280-24-010933 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001628280-25-008780 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001628280-26-012352 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000950170-23-005610 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001628280-24-010933 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001628280-25-008780 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001628280-26-012352 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)