MeritValue

Definitive Healthcare Corp.

DHdata completeness 100%6 fiscal years on file
The thesis, from the filings

Definitive Healthcare Corp. earns about -19% on invested capital, below its ~9% cost of capital, but has diluted owners by 16% over 5 years — no moat visible in the numbers. The estimate methods put fair value between $10.11 and $19.8 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$166.2M1$222.7M2$251.4M3$252.2M3$241.5M3
Net income−$17.8M4−$7.22M5−$202.4M6−$413.1M6−$138.9M6
Operating cash flow$25.2M7$35.6M8$41.2M9$58.2M9$53.8M9
Capital expenditure$6.73M10$8.33M11$2.98M12$12.3M12$16.7M12
Free cash flow (derived)$18.5M7$27.3M8$38.2M9$45.9M9$37.1M9
Total debt$544M13$530.8M14$514.1M15$487.2M16$331.1M16
Cash & equivalents$387.5M17$146.9M18$131M19$105.4M20$163.6M20
Diluted shares91.9M101.1M112.8M116.6M106.7M

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
$35.54
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
−$13.03
Free cash flow it threw off
$3.47
Debt you’d be carrying
$31.04

10 shares is a claim on $35.54 of net worth that earned you −$13.03 and generated $3.47 of cash last year, against $31.04 of debt.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
-19% avg · 5y
FY21 -2%FY22 -1%FY23 -15%FY24 -49%FY25 -29%

It earned about -19% 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
+16% shares · 5y

Share count is up 16% over 5 years — owners have been diluted. Worth asking what they got for it. Total debt has fallen 39% — 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 2 estimate methods that apply put fair value between $10.11 and $19.8 a share. They rest on different assumptions, so where they diverge is the story.

DCF · Growth Exit 10Y
$19.8
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$38.2M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$10.11
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$38.2M
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 $10.11
The three cases
Bear0.0%$3.55
Base20.0%$10.11
Bull20.0%$10.11

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 0000950170-24-022134 (Revenues)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000950170-25-029086 (Revenues)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001193125-26-076782 (Revenues)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000950170-24-022134 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000950170-25-029086 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001193125-26-076782 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000950170-24-022134 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000950170-25-029086 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001193125-26-076782 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000950170-24-022134 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000950170-25-029086 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001193125-26-076782 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K/A · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000950170-23-042369 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000950170-24-022134 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000950170-25-029086 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001193125-26-076782 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  17. 10-K/A · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000950170-23-042369 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  18. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000950170-24-022134 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  19. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000950170-25-029086 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  20. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001193125-26-076782 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)