DLH Holdings Corp.

DLHCdata completeness 100%16 fiscal years on file
The thesis, from the filings

DLH Holdings Corp. earns about 7% on invested capital, below its ~9% cost of capital, but has diluted owners by 6% over 5 years — no moat visible in the numbers. The estimate methods put fair value between $5.3 and $38.79 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$246.1M1$395.2M2$375.9M3$395.9M4$344.5M4
Net income$10.1M5$23.3M6$1.46M7$7.4M8$1.36M8
Operating cash flow$45.7M9$1.24M10$31M11$27.4M12$23.2M12
Capital expenditure$103,00013$872,00014$625,00015$836,00016$241,00016
Free cash flow (derived)$45.6M9$371,00010$30.4M11$26.5M12$23M12
Total debt$91.4M17$40.8M18$344.7M19$298.7M20$256.1M20
Cash & equivalents$24.1M21$228,00022$215,00023$342,00024$125,00024
Diluted shares13.6M14.2M14.4M14.4M14.5M

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
$78.13
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$0.94
Free cash flow it threw off
$15.89
Debt you’d be carrying
$177.11

10 shares is a claim on $78.13 of net worth that earned you $0.94 and generated $15.89 of cash last year, against $177.11 of debt.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
7% avg · 5y
FY21 9%FY22 18%FY23 3%FY24 2%FY25 0%

It earned about 7% 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
+6% shares · 5y

Share count is up 6% over 5 years — owners have been diluted. Worth asking what they got for it. Total debt has risen 180% 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 $5.3 and $38.79 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
$38.79
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth11.2%
  • fcfBase$26.5M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$24.47
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth11.2%
  • fcfBase$26.5M
Earnings Power Value
$5.3
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$7.4M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$3.98
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 years11.2%
Discount rate (WACC)8.93%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $24.47
The three cases
Bear0.0%$8.52
Base11.2%$24.47
Bull16.2%$33.86

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

Default growth 11.2%= 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 0000785557-22-000046 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerIncludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-09-30 · accession 0000785557-23-000089 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerIncludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-09-30 · accession 0000785557-24-000067 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerIncludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2024-09-30 · accession 0000785557-25-000159 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerIncludingAssessedTax)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2021-09-30 · accession 0000785557-22-000046 (ProfitLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2022-09-30 · accession 0000785557-23-000089 (ProfitLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2023-09-30 · accession 0000785557-24-000067 (ProfitLoss)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2024-09-30 · accession 0000785557-25-000159 (ProfitLoss)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2021-09-30 · accession 0000785557-22-000046 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2022-09-30 · accession 0000785557-23-000089 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2023-09-30 · accession 0000785557-24-000067 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2024-09-30 · accession 0000785557-25-000159 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2021-09-30 · accession 0000785557-22-000046 (PaymentsToAcquireProductiveAssets)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2022-09-30 · accession 0000785557-23-000089 (PaymentsToAcquireProductiveAssets)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2023-09-30 · accession 0000785557-24-000067 (PaymentsToAcquireProductiveAssets)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2024-09-30 · accession 0000785557-25-000159 (PaymentsToAcquireProductiveAssets)
  17. 10-K · period ending 2021-09-30 · accession 0000785557-22-000046 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  18. 10-K · period ending 2022-09-30 · accession 0000785557-23-000089 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  19. 10-K · period ending 2023-09-30 · accession 0000785557-24-000067 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  20. 10-K · period ending 2024-09-30 · accession 0000785557-25-000159 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  21. 10-K · period ending 2021-09-30 · accession 0000785557-22-000046 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  22. 10-K · period ending 2022-09-30 · accession 0000785557-23-000089 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  23. 10-K · period ending 2023-09-30 · accession 0000785557-24-000067 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  24. 10-K · period ending 2024-09-30 · accession 0000785557-25-000159 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)