MeritValue

KORN FERRY

KFYdata completeness 100%18 fiscal years on file
The thesis, from the filings

KORN FERRY earns about 22% on invested capital, far above its ~9% cost of capital, with a roughly flat share count — a real edge showing up in the numbers. The estimate methods put fair value between $48.55 and $110.9 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$2.64B1$2.86B2$2.8B3$2.76B3$2.94B3
Net income$326.4M4$209.5M5$169.2M6$246.1M6$277.4M6
Operating cash flow$501.7M7$343.9M8$284M9$364.4M9$414.2M9
Capital expenditure$49.4M10$70.4M11$55.1M12$62.5M12$89.9M12
Free cash flow (derived)$452.3M7$273.5M8$228.8M9$301.9M9$324.3M9
Total debt$395.5M13$396.2M14$396.9M15$397.7M16$398.6M16
Cash & equivalents$978.1M17$844M18$941M19$1.01B20$1.1B20
Diluted shares53.4M51.9M51.4M52.8M52.5M

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
$375.6
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$52.83
Free cash flow it threw off
$61.75
Debt you’d be carrying
$75.89

10 shares is a claim on $375.6 of net worth that earned you $52.83 and generated $61.75 of cash last year, against $75.89 of debt.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
22% avg · 5y
FY22 34%FY23 18%FY24 15%FY25 20%FY26 22%

It earned about 22% 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
−2% shares · 5y

Share count is roughly flat over 5 years — little dilution, little buyback. 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 $48.55 and $110.9 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
$110.9
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth3.3%
  • fcfBase$301.9M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$108.28
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth3.3%
  • fcfBase$301.9M
Earnings Power Value
$48.55
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$246.1M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$66.42
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 years3.3%
Discount rate (WACC)8.93%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $108.28
The three cases
Bear0.0%$95.39
Base3.3%$108.28
Bull8.3%$130.71

Bear/base/bull growth = 0% / filed history / history + 5pp. Type a price to see the return each case implies.

Default growth 3.3%= 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 2022-04-30 · accession 0001628280-24-030470 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2023-04-30 · accession 0001628280-25-033260 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2024-04-30 · accession 0000056679-26-000021 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2022-04-30 · accession 0001628280-24-030470 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2023-04-30 · accession 0001628280-25-033260 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2024-04-30 · accession 0000056679-26-000021 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2022-04-30 · accession 0001628280-24-030470 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2023-04-30 · accession 0001628280-25-033260 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2024-04-30 · accession 0000056679-26-000021 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2022-04-30 · accession 0001628280-24-030470 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2023-04-30 · accession 0001628280-25-033260 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2024-04-30 · accession 0000056679-26-000021 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2022-04-30 · accession 0001628280-23-023772 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2023-04-30 · accession 0001628280-24-030470 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2024-04-30 · accession 0001628280-25-033260 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2025-04-30 · accession 0000056679-26-000021 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  17. 10-K · period ending 2022-04-30 · accession 0001628280-23-023772 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  18. 10-K · period ending 2023-04-30 · accession 0001628280-24-030470 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  19. 10-K · period ending 2024-04-30 · accession 0001628280-25-033260 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  20. 10-K · period ending 2025-04-30 · accession 0000056679-26-000021 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)