MeritValue

FIRST US BANCSHARES, INC.

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

FIRST US BANCSHARES, INC. earns about 29% on invested capital, far above its ~9% cost of capital, and has bought back 11% of its shares over 5 years — the marks of a durable business run for its owners. The estimate methods put fair value between $11.85 and $32.34 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$39.9M1$1.15M2$1.2M3$1.23M4$1.14M4
Net income$4.45M5$6.86M6$8.49M7$8.17M8$5.99M8
Operating cash flow$9.83M9$12.5M10$13.1M11$7.76M12$12.3M12
Capital expenditure$822,00013$1.26M14$1.46M15$2.1M16$3.24M16
Free cash flow (derived)$9M9$11.3M10$11.6M11$5.66M12$9.08M12
Total debt$20.7M17$30.8M18$20.8M19$20.9M20$10.9M20
Cash & equivalents$61.2M21$30.2M22$50.3M23$47.2M24$73.5M24
Diluted shares6.7M6.5M6.4M6.1M6.0M

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
$175.99
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$9.98
Free cash flow it threw off
$15.13
Debt you’d be carrying
$18.23

10 shares is a claim on $175.99 of net worth that earned you $9.98 and generated $15.13 of cash last year, against $18.23 of debt.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
29% avg · 5y
FY21 14%FY22 12%FY23 33%FY24 35%FY25 52%

It earned about 29% 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
−11% shares · 5y

Share count is down 11% over 5 years — management has been buying back stock, quietly handing owners a bigger slice. Total debt has fallen 47% — 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 $11.85 and $32.34 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
$30.87
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth0.3%
  • fcfBase$9.08M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$32.34
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth0.3%
  • fcfBase$9.08M
Earnings Power Value
$11.85
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$6.86M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$19.9
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 years0.3%
Discount rate (WACC)8.93%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $32.34
The three cases
Bear0.0%$32.05
Base0.3%$32.34
Bull5.3%$37.63

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

Default growth 0.3%= 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 0000950170-23-007191 (InterestAndDividendIncomeOperating)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000950170-24-031518 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerIncludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000950170-25-039251 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerIncludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001193125-26-103635 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerIncludingAssessedTax)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000950170-23-007191 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000950170-24-031518 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000950170-25-039251 (NetIncomeLoss)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001193125-26-103635 (NetIncomeLoss)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000950170-23-007191 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000950170-24-031518 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000950170-25-039251 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001193125-26-103635 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000950170-23-007191 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000950170-24-031518 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000950170-25-039251 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001193125-26-103635 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  17. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000950170-23-007191 (LongTermDebt)
  18. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000950170-24-031518 (LongTermDebt)
  19. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000950170-25-039251 (LongTermDebt)
  20. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001193125-26-103635 (LongTermDebt)
  21. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000950170-23-007191 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  22. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000950170-24-031518 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  23. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000950170-25-039251 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  24. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001193125-26-103635 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)