MeritValue

i3 Verticals, Inc.

IIIVdata completeness 100%10 fiscal years on file
The thesis, from the filings

i3 Verticals, Inc. earns about -3% on invested capital, below its ~9% cost of capital, but has diluted owners by 8% over 5 years — no moat visible in the numbers. The estimate methods put fair value between $14.69 and $15.73 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$224.1M1$187.8M2$189.7M3$191.2M3$213.2M3
Net income−$4.46M4−$17.1M5−$811,0006$113.3M6$17.9M6
Operating cash flow$44.5M7$43.8M8$37.2M9$48.4M9$5.69M9
Capital expenditure$1.94M10$2.27M11$4.2M12$2.96M12$1.94M12
Free cash flow (derived)$42.6M7$41.5M8$33M9$45.4M9$3.75M9
Total debt$401.2M13$574M14$776M15$52.4M16$016
Cash & equivalents$3.64M17$3.49M17$3.11M18$86.5M19$66.7M19
Diluted shares31.7M22.2M33.2M33.9M34.2M

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
$113.96
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$5.23
Free cash flow it threw off
$1.1
Debt you’d be carrying
$0

10 shares is a claim on $113.96 of net worth that earned you $5.23 and generated $1.1 of cash last year, against $0 of debt.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
-3% avg · 5y
FY21 -2%FY22 -5%FY23 -4%FY24 -5%FY25 2%

It earned about -3% 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
+8% shares · 5y

Share count is up 8% over 5 years — owners have been diluted. Worth asking what they got for it. Total debt has fallen 100% — 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 2 estimate methods that apply put fair value between $14.69 and $15.73 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
$14.69
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$33M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$15.73
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$33M
Earnings Power Value
not applicable
normalized (5y-median) earnings non-positive — EPV undefined
Graham Number
$13.59
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 $15.73
The three cases
Bear0.0%$15.73
Base0.0%$15.73
Bull5.0%$19.06

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 2021-09-30 · accession 0001728688-23-000048 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-09-30 · accession 0001728688-24-000102 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-09-30 · accession 0001728688-25-000122 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-09-30 · accession 0001728688-23-000048 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-09-30 · accession 0001728688-24-000102 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-09-30 · accession 0001728688-25-000122 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-09-30 · accession 0001728688-23-000048 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-09-30 · accession 0001728688-24-000102 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-09-30 · accession 0001728688-25-000122 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-09-30 · accession 0001728688-23-000048 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-09-30 · accession 0001728688-24-000102 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-09-30 · accession 0001728688-25-000122 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2021-09-30 · accession 0001728688-22-000061 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2022-09-30 · accession 0001728688-23-000048 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2023-09-30 · accession 0001728688-24-000102 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2024-09-30 · accession 0001728688-25-000122 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  17. 10-K · period ending 2021-09-30 · accession 0001728688-23-000048 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  18. 10-K · period ending 2023-09-30 · accession 0001728688-24-000102 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  19. 10-K · period ending 2024-09-30 · accession 0001728688-25-000122 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)