MeritValue

KULICKE & SOFFA INDUSTRIES INC

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

KULICKE & SOFFA INDUSTRIES INC earns about 24% on invested capital, far above its ~9% cost of capital, and has bought back 16% of its shares over 5 years — the marks of a durable business run for its owners. The estimate methods put fair value between $11.13 and $29.94 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$1.52B1$1.5B2$742.5M3$706.2M3$654.1M3
Net income$367.2M4$433.5M5$57.1M6−$69M6$213,0006
Operating cash flow$300M7$390.2M8$173.4M9$31M9$113.6M9
Capital expenditure$22.8M10$23M11$44.4M12$16.1M12$17.2M12
Free cash flow (derived)$277.3M7$367.2M8$129M9$14.9M9$96.4M9
Total debt—————
Cash & equivalents$362.8M13$555.5M14$529.4M15$227.1M16$215.7M16
Diluted shares63.5M61.2M57.5M55.6M53.2M

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
$154.44
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$0.04
Free cash flow it threw off
$18.12
Debt you’d be carrying
—

10 shares is a claim on $154.44 of net worth that earned you $0.04 and generated $18.12 of cash last year.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
24% avg · 5y
FY21 50%FY22 68%FY23 9%FY24 -6%FY25 2%

It earned about 24% 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
−16% shares · 5y

Share count is down 16% 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 $11.13 and $29.94 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
$27.99
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$96.4M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$29.94
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$96.4M
Earnings Power Value
$11.13
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$57.1M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$1.18
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 $29.94
The three cases
Bear0.0%$29.94
Base0.0%$29.94
Bull5.0%$36.2

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 2021-10-02 · accession 0000056978-23-000172 (Revenues)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-10-01 · accession 0000056978-24-000148 (Revenues)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-09-30 · accession 0000056978-25-000081 (Revenues)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-10-02 · accession 0000056978-23-000172 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-10-01 · accession 0000056978-24-000148 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-09-30 · accession 0000056978-25-000081 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-10-02 · accession 0000056978-23-000172 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-10-01 · accession 0000056978-24-000148 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-09-30 · accession 0000056978-25-000081 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-10-02 · accession 0000056978-23-000172 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-10-01 · accession 0000056978-24-000148 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-09-30 · accession 0000056978-25-000081 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K/A · period ending 2021-10-02 · accession 0000056978-23-000103 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2022-10-01 · accession 0000056978-23-000172 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2023-09-30 · accession 0000056978-24-000148 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2024-09-28 · accession 0000056978-25-000081 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)