MeritValue

FRANKLIN ELECTRIC CO INC

FELEdata completeness 100%18 fiscal years on file
The thesis, from the filings

FRANKLIN ELECTRIC CO INC earns about 16% on invested capital, comfortably above its ~9% cost of capital, and has bought back 3% of its shares over 5 years — the marks of a durable business run for its owners. The estimate methods put fair value between $41.07 and $289.44 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$1.66B1$2.04B2$2.07B3$2.02B3$2.13B3
Net income$153.9M4$187.3M5$193.3M6$180.3M6$147.1M6
Operating cash flow$129.8M7$101.7M8$315.7M9$261.4M9$238.9M9
Capital expenditure$30.1M10$41.9M11$41.4M12$41.7M12$45.3M12
Free cash flow (derived)$99.6M7$59.8M8$274.3M9$219.7M9$193.5M9
Total debt$98M13$126.8M14$12.4M15$117.8M16$31.8M16
Cash & equivalents$40.5M17$45.8M18$85M19$220.5M20$99.7M20
Diluted shares47.0M47.0M46.9M46.5M45.5M

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
$290.68
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$32.33
Free cash flow it threw off
$42.54
Debt you’d be carrying
$6.99

10 shares is a claim on $290.68 of net worth that earned you $32.33 and generated $42.54 of cash last year, against $6.99 of debt.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
16% avg · 5y
FY21 16%FY22 17%FY23 18%FY24 16%FY25 12%

It earned about 16% 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
−3% shares · 5y

Share count is down 3% over 5 years — management has been buying back stock, quietly handing owners a bigger slice. Total debt has fallen 68% — 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 3 estimate methods that apply put fair value between $41.07 and $289.44 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
$289.44
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$219.7M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$158.9
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$219.7M
Earnings Power Value
$41.07
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$180.3M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$45.89
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 $158.9
The three cases
Bear0.0%$70.47
Base20.0%$158.9
Bull20.0%$158.9

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 0000038725-24-000038 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000038725-25-000026 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000038725-26-000009 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000038725-24-000038 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000038725-25-000026 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000038725-26-000009 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000038725-24-000038 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000038725-25-000026 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000038725-26-000009 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000038725-24-000038 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000038725-25-000026 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000038725-26-000009 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000038725-23-000035 (DebtCurrent)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000038725-24-000038 (DebtCurrent)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000038725-25-000026 (DebtCurrent)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0000038725-26-000009 (DebtCurrent)
  17. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000038725-23-000035 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  18. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000038725-24-000038 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  19. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000038725-25-000026 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  20. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0000038725-26-000009 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)