MeritValue

FRANKLIN COVEY CO

FCdata completeness 88%16 fiscal years on file
The thesis, from the filings

FRANKLIN COVEY CO earns about 46% on invested capital, far above its ~9% cost of capital, and has bought back 8% of its shares over 5 years — the marks of a durable business run for its owners. The estimate methods put fair value between $14.12 and $36.6 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$224.2M1$262.8M2$280.5M3$287.2M3$267.1M3
Net income$13.6M4$18.4M5$17.8M6$23.4M6$3.07M6
Operating cash flow$46.2M7$52.3M8$35.7M9$60.3M9$29M9
Capital expenditure$1.6M10$3.18M11$4.52M12$3.69M12$8.25M12
Free cash flow (derived)$44.6M7$49.1M8$31.2M9$56.6M9$20.7M9
Total debt$18.8M13————
Cash & equivalents$47.4M14$60.5M15$38.2M16$48.7M17$31.7M17
Diluted shares14.1M14.6M14.3M13.5M13.1M

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
$51.26
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$2.35
Free cash flow it threw off
$15.88
Debt you’d be carrying
—

10 shares is a claim on $51.26 of net worth that earned you $2.35 and generated $15.88 of cash last year.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
46% avg · 5y
FY21 16%FY22 89%FY23 47%FY24 70%FY25 10%

It earned about 46% on invested capital, year after year, against a ~9% cost of capital — the footprint of real pricing power. Competition usually drags returns like this back down; here it hasn't.

seeing a moat in the numbers →
Management signal · capital allocation
−8% shares · 5y

Share count is down 8% over 5 years — management has been buying back stock, quietly handing owners a bigger slice. Total debt has held roughly steady.

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 $14.12 and $36.6 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
$34.03
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$31.2M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$36.6
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$31.2M
Earnings Power Value
$14.12
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$17.8M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$5.26
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 years0.0%
Discount rate (WACC)8.93%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $36.6
The three cases
Bear0.0%$36.6
Base0.0%$36.6
Bull5.0%$44.88

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

Default growth 0.0%= 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 2021-08-31 · accession 0000886206-23-000059 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-08-31 · accession 0000886206-24-000060 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-08-31 · accession 0000886206-25-000085 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-08-31 · accession 0000886206-23-000059 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-08-31 · accession 0000886206-24-000060 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-08-31 · accession 0000886206-25-000085 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-08-31 · accession 0000886206-23-000059 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-08-31 · accession 0000886206-24-000060 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-08-31 · accession 0000886206-25-000085 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-08-31 · accession 0000886206-23-000059 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-08-31 · accession 0000886206-24-000060 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-08-31 · accession 0000886206-25-000085 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2021-08-31 · accession 0000886206-21-000040 (LongTermDebt)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2021-08-31 · accession 0000886206-22-000028 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2022-08-31 · accession 0000886206-23-000059 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2023-08-31 · accession 0000886206-24-000060 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  17. 10-K · period ending 2024-08-31 · accession 0000886206-25-000085 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)