Hilltop Holdings Inc.

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

Hilltop Holdings Inc. earns about 59% on invested capital, far above its ~9% cost of capital, and has bought back 23% of its shares over 5 years — the marks of a durable business run for its owners. The estimate methods put fair value between $18.71 and $69.97 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$530M1$591.1M2$838.4M3$836.4M3$784.1M3
Net income$374.5M4$113.1M5$109.6M6$113.2M6$165.6M6
Operating cash flow$765.6M7$1.19B8$443M9$273.9M9−$38.7M9
Capital expenditure$24.8M10$9.8M11$8.49M12$7.13M12$16.8M12
Free cash flow (derived)$740.9M7$1.18B8$434.5M9$266.8M9−$55.5M9
Total debt$859.4M13$970.1M14$900M15$834M16$676.9M16
Cash & equivalents$3.05B17$1.65B18$1.92B18$2.37B18$1.25B18
Diluted shares81.2M70.6M65.0M65.0M62.7M

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
$345.79
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$26.41
Free cash flow it threw off
−$8.86
Debt you’d be carrying
$107.94

10 shares is a claim on $345.79 of net worth that earned you $26.41 and generated −$8.86 of cash last year, against $107.94 of debt.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
59% avg · 5y
FY21 139%FY22 16%FY23 37%FY24 70%FY25 32%

It earned about 59% 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
−23% shares · 5y

Share count is down 23% over 5 years — management has been buying back stock, quietly handing owners a bigger slice. Total debt has fallen 21% — 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 $18.71 and $69.97 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
$65.4
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$266.8M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$69.97
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$266.8M
Earnings Power Value
$18.71
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$113.2M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$45.32
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 $69.97
The three cases
Bear0.0%$69.97
Base0.0%$69.97
Bull5.0%$84.69

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 2021-12-31 · accession 0001558370-24-001160 (InterestAndDividendIncomeOperating)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001558370-25-001023 (InterestAndDividendIncomeOperating)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001104659-26-015264 (InterestAndDividendIncomeOperating)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001558370-24-001160 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001558370-25-001023 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001104659-26-015264 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001558370-24-001160 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001558370-25-001023 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001104659-26-015264 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001558370-24-001160 (PaymentsToAcquireProductiveAssets)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001558370-25-001023 (PaymentsToAcquireProductiveAssets)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001104659-26-015264 (PaymentsToAcquireProductiveAssets)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001558370-23-001524 (ShortTermBorrowings)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001558370-24-001160 (ShortTermBorrowings)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001558370-25-001023 (ShortTermBorrowings)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001104659-26-015264 (ShortTermBorrowings)
  17. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001558370-25-001023 (CashCashEquivalentsRestrictedCashAndRestrictedCashEquivalents)
  18. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001104659-26-015264 (CashCashEquivalentsRestrictedCashAndRestrictedCashEquivalents)