Karat Packaging Inc.

KRTdata completeness 100%6 fiscal years on file
The thesis, from the filings

Karat Packaging Inc. earns about 24% on invested capital, far above its ~9% cost of capital, but has diluted owners by 9% over 5 years — a real edge showing up in the numbers. The estimate methods put fair value between $15.39 and $140.28 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$364.2M1$423M2$405.7M3$422.6M4$467.7M4
Net income$20.8M5$23.6M6$32.5M7$30M8$31.5M8
Operating cash flow$8.68M9$29.5M10$53.4M11$48M12$33.8M12
Capital expenditure$4.18M13$2.66M14$2.84M15$934,00016$756,00016
Free cash flow (derived)$4.5M9$26.8M10$50.5M11$47M12$33.1M12
Total debt$1.38M17$1.17M18$1.33M18$1.18M19$12.9M19
Cash & equivalents$6.48M20$16M21$23.1M22$31.6M23$37.9M23
Diluted shares18.6M19.9M20.0M20.1M20.2M

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
$74.04
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$15.6
Free cash flow it threw off
$16.38
Debt you’d be carrying
$6.41

10 shares is a claim on $74.04 of net worth that earned you $15.6 and generated $16.38 of cash last year, against $6.41 of debt.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
24% avg · 5y
FY21 21%FY22 22%FY23 26%FY24 25%FY25 26%

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
+9% shares · 5y

Share count is up 9% over 5 years — owners have been diluted. Worth asking what they got for it. Total debt has risen 839% over the same window.

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 $15.39 and $140.28 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
$140.28
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$47M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$77.25
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$47M
Earnings Power Value
$15.39
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$30M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$16.12
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 $77.25
The three cases
Bear0.0%$34.55
Base20.0%$77.25
Bull20.0%$77.25

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 0001628280-23-008299 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001628280-24-011444 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001628280-25-012816 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001758021-26-000010 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001628280-23-008299 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001628280-24-011444 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001628280-25-012816 (NetIncomeLoss)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001758021-26-000010 (NetIncomeLoss)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001628280-23-008299 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001628280-24-011444 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001628280-25-012816 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001758021-26-000010 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001628280-23-008299 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001628280-24-011444 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001628280-25-012816 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001758021-26-000010 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  17. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001628280-23-008299 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  18. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001628280-24-011444 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  19. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001758021-26-000010 (LongTermDebtCurrent)
  20. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001628280-23-008299 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  21. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001628280-24-011444 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  22. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001628280-25-012816 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  23. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001758021-26-000010 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)