MeritValue

IMAX CORP

IMAXdata completeness 88%17 fiscal years on file
The thesis, from the filings

IMAX CORP earns about 13% on invested capital, comfortably above its ~9% cost of capital, and has bought back 6% of its shares over 5 years — the marks of a durable business run for its owners. The estimate methods put fair value between $4.73 and $69.73 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$254.9M1$300.8M2$374.8M3$352.2M3$410.2M3
Net income−$22.3M4−$22.8M5$25.3M6$26.1M6$34.9M6
Operating cash flow$6.07M7$17.3M8$58.6M9$70.8M9$127.1M9
Capital expenditure$3.59M10$8.42M11$6.49M12$8.43M12$8.17M12
Free cash flow (derived)$2.48M7$8.9M8$52.1M9$62.4M9$118.9M9
Total debt$2.47M13————
Cash & equivalents$189.7M14$97.4M15$76.2M16$100.6M17$151.2M17
Diluted shares59.1M56.7M55.1M53.9M55.5M

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
$60.83
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$6.28
Free cash flow it threw off
$21.41
Debt you’d be carrying
—

10 shares is a claim on $60.83 of net worth that earned you $6.28 and generated $21.41 of cash last year.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
13% avg · 5y
FY21 5%FY22 -2%FY23 19%FY24 16%FY25 24%

It earned about 13% on invested capital 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
−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 $4.73 and $69.73 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
$69.73
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$62.4M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$39.35
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$62.4M
Earnings Power Value
$4.73
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$25.3M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$9.29
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 years20.0%
Discount rate (WACC)8.93%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $39.35
The three cases
Bear0.0%$18.78
Base20.0%$39.35
Bull20.0%$39.35

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 2021-12-31 · accession 0000950170-24-021327 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000921582-25-000008 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001628280-26-011770 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000950170-24-021327 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000921582-25-000008 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001628280-26-011770 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000950170-24-021327 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000921582-25-000008 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001628280-26-011770 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000950170-24-021327 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000921582-25-000008 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001628280-26-011770 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001564590-22-006399 (LongTermDebt)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000950170-23-003801 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000950170-24-021327 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000921582-25-000008 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  17. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001628280-26-011770 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)