HSBC HOLDINGS PLC

HSBCdata completeness 75%11 fiscal years on file

Data notes: no data for concept 'revenue'; no data for concept 'totalDebt'; no data for concept 'interestExpense'

The thesis, from the filings

HSBC HOLDINGS PLC earns about 11% on equity, comfortably above its ~9% cost of capital, and has bought back 17% of its shares over 5 years — the marks of a durable business run for its owners. The estimate methods put fair value between $13.96 and $56.79 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
Net income$13.9B1$16B1$24.6B2$25B2$23.1B2
Operating cash flow$104.3B3$19.4B4$39.1B5$65.3B5$29.8B5
Capital expenditure$1.09B6$1.28B7$1.15B8$1.34B8$1.45B8
Free cash flow (derived)$103.2B3$18.1B4$38B5$64B5$28.3B5
Total debt
Cash & equivalents$574B9$521.7B10$490.9B10$434.9B10$432.9B10
Diluted shares20.63B20.29B19.26B17.95B17.18B

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
$115.41
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$13.47
Free cash flow it threw off
$16.49
Debt you’d be carrying

10 shares is a claim on $115.41 of net worth that earned you $13.47 and generated $16.49 of cash last year.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on equity
11% avg · 5y
FY21 7%FY22 9%FY23 13%FY24 14%FY25 12%

It earned about 11% on equity 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
−17% shares · 5y

Share count is down 17% over 5 years — management has been buying back stock, quietly handing owners a bigger slice.

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 $13.96 and $56.79 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
$54.41
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$38B
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$56.79
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$38B
Earnings Power Value
$13.96
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$23.1B
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$17.65
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 $56.79
The three cases
Bear0.0%$56.79
Base0.0%$56.79
Bull5.0%$64.43

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. 20-F · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001089113-23-000006 (ProfitLossAttributableToOwnersOfParent)
  2. 20-F · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001089113-26-000010 (ProfitLoss)
  3. 20-F · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001089113-24-000004 (CashFlowsFromUsedInOperatingActivities)
  4. 20-F · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001089113-25-000040 (CashFlowsFromUsedInOperatingActivities)
  5. 20-F · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001089113-26-000010 (CashFlowsFromUsedInOperatingActivities)
  6. 20-F · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001089113-24-000004 (PurchaseOfPropertyPlantAndEquipmentClassifiedAsInvestingActivities)
  7. 20-F · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001089113-25-000040 (PurchaseOfPropertyPlantAndEquipmentClassifiedAsInvestingActivities)
  8. 20-F · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001089113-26-000010 (PurchaseOfPropertyPlantAndEquipmentClassifiedAsInvestingActivities)
  9. 20-F · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001089113-25-000040 (CashAndCashEquivalents)
  10. 20-F · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001089113-26-000010 (CashAndCashEquivalents)