MeritValue

HELEN OF TROY LTD

HELEdata completeness 100%17 fiscal years on file
The thesis, from the filings

HELEN OF TROY LTD earns about -1% on invested capital, below its ~9% cost of capital, and has bought back 6% of its shares over 5 years — no moat visible in the numbers. The estimate methods put fair value between $64.55 and $274.75 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 2022FY 2023FY 2024FY 2025FY 2026
Revenue$2.22B1$2.07B2$2.01B3$1.91B3$1.79B3
Net income$223.8M4$143.3M5$168.6M6$123.8M6−$899M6
Operating cash flow$140.8M7$208.2M8$306.1M9$113.2M9$171.1M9
Capital expenditure$78M10$174.9M11$36.6M12$30.1M12$39.2M12
Free cash flow (derived)$62.8M7$33.4M8$269.4M9$83.1M9$131.9M9
Total debt$1.63B13$1.87B14$1.34B15$1.84B16$1.57B16
Cash & equivalents$33.4M17$29.1M18$18.5M19$18.9M20$18.9M20
Diluted shares24.4M24.1M24.0M23.1M23.0M

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
$347.01
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
−$390.83
Free cash flow it threw off
$57.35
Debt you’d be carrying
$680.96

10 shares is a claim on $347.01 of net worth that earned you −$390.83 and generated $57.35 of cash last year, against $680.96 of debt.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
-1% avg · 5y
FY22 8%FY23 5%FY24 7%FY25 4%FY26 -28%

It earned about -1% 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 down 6% 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 $64.55 and $274.75 a share. They rest on different assumptions, so where they diverge is the story.

DCF · Growth Exit 10Y
$274.75
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$131.9M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$119.7
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$131.9M
Earnings Power Value
$64.55
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$143.3M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
not applicable
diluted EPS missing or non-positive — Graham Number undefined

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 $119.7
The three cases
Bear0.0%$14.66
Base20.0%$119.7
Bull20.0%$119.7

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 2022-02-28 · accession 0000916789-24-000015 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2023-02-28 · accession 0000916789-25-000012 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2024-02-29 · accession 0000916789-26-000048 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2022-02-28 · accession 0000916789-24-000015 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2023-02-28 · accession 0000916789-25-000012 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2024-02-29 · accession 0000916789-26-000048 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2022-02-28 · accession 0000916789-24-000015 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2023-02-28 · accession 0000916789-25-000012 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2024-02-29 · accession 0000916789-26-000048 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2022-02-28 · accession 0000916789-24-000015 (PaymentsToAcquireProductiveAssets)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2023-02-28 · accession 0000916789-25-000012 (PaymentsToAcquireProductiveAssets)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2024-02-29 · accession 0000916789-26-000048 (PaymentsToAcquireProductiveAssets)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2022-02-28 · accession 0000916789-23-000017 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2023-02-28 · accession 0000916789-24-000015 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2024-02-29 · accession 0000916789-25-000012 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2025-02-28 · accession 0000916789-26-000048 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  17. 10-K · period ending 2022-02-28 · accession 0000916789-23-000017 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  18. 10-K · period ending 2023-02-28 · accession 0000916789-24-000015 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  19. 10-K · period ending 2024-02-29 · accession 0000916789-25-000012 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  20. 10-K · period ending 2025-02-28 · accession 0000916789-26-000048 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)