MeritValue

DAILY JOURNAL CORP

DJCOdata completeness 88%17 fiscal years on file
The thesis, from the filings

DAILY JOURNAL CORP earns about 14% on invested capital, comfortably above its ~9% cost of capital, with a roughly flat share count — a real edge showing up in the numbers. The estimate methods put fair value between $330.32 and $591.86 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$49.9M1$54M2$67.7M3$69.9M4$87.7M4
Net income$112.9M5−$21.5M6$21.5M6$78.1M7$112.1M7
Operating cash flow$3.29M8−$5.26M9$15.1M10−$89,00011$13.3M11
Capital expenditure$29,00012$36,00013$86,00014$49,00015$8,00015
Free cash flow (derived)$3.26M8−$5.3M9$15M10−$138,00011$13.3M11
Total debt—————
Cash & equivalents$12.6M16$13.4M17$20.8M18$13M18$20.6M18
Diluted shares1.4M1.4M1.4M1.4M1.4M

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
$2,838.91
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$814.06
Free cash flow it threw off
$96.73
Debt you’d be carrying
—

10 shares is a claim on $2,838.91 of net worth that earned you $814.06 and generated $96.73 of cash last year.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
14% avg · 5y
FY21 47%FY22 -49%FY23 12%FY24 29%FY25 30%

It earned about 14% on invested capital against a ~9% cost of capital — comfortably above the cost of funding, a moderate advantage.

seeing a moat in the numbers →
Management signal · capital allocation
−0% shares · 5y

Share count is roughly flat over 5 years — little dilution, little buyback.

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 $330.32 and $591.86 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
$591.86
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$13.3M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$330.32
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$13.3M
Earnings Power Value
$587.63
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$78.1M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$721.12
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 years20.0%
Discount rate (WACC)8.93%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $330.32
The three cases
Bear0.0%$153.14
Base20.0%$330.32
Bull20.0%$330.32

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 2021-09-30 · accession 0001437749-22-029285 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerIncludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-09-30 · accession 0001437749-23-035452 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerIncludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-09-30 · accession 0001437749-24-038552 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerIncludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2024-09-30 · accession 0001437749-25-038836 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerIncludingAssessedTax)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2021-09-30 · accession 0001437749-22-029285 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2022-09-30 · accession 0001437749-24-038552 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2024-09-30 · accession 0001437749-25-038836 (NetIncomeLoss)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2021-09-30 · accession 0001437749-22-029285 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2022-09-30 · accession 0001437749-23-035452 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2023-09-30 · accession 0001437749-24-038552 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2024-09-30 · accession 0001437749-25-038836 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2021-09-30 · accession 0001437749-22-029285 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2022-09-30 · accession 0001437749-23-035452 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2023-09-30 · accession 0001437749-24-038552 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2024-09-30 · accession 0001437749-25-038836 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2021-09-30 · accession 0001437749-22-029285 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  17. 10-K · period ending 2022-09-30 · accession 0001437749-24-038552 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  18. 10-K · period ending 2023-09-30 · accession 0001437749-25-038836 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)