MeritValue

LIFETIME BRANDS, INC

LCUTdata completeness 100%17 fiscal years on file
The thesis, from the filings

LIFETIME BRANDS, INC earns about 4% on invested capital, below its ~9% cost of capital, with a roughly flat share count — no moat visible in the numbers. The estimate methods put fair value between $3.69 and $4.5 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$862.9M1$727.7M2$686.7M3$683M3$647.9M3
Net income$20.8M4−$6.17M5−$8.41M6−$15.2M6−$26.9M6
Operating cash flow$37M7$24.3M8$56.4M9$18.6M9$7.61M9
Capital expenditure$3.99M10$2.98M11$2.8M12$2.23M12$4.35M12
Free cash flow (derived)$33M7$21.3M8$53.6M9$16.3M9$3.25M9
Total debt——$150M13$147.4M14$140M14
Cash & equivalents$28M15$23.6M16$16.2M17$2.93M18$4.27M18
Diluted shares22.0M21.6M21.2M21.5M21.7M

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
$93.2
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
−$12.41
Free cash flow it threw off
$1.5
Debt you’d be carrying
$64.51

10 shares is a claim on $93.2 of net worth that earned you −$12.41 and generated $1.5 of cash last year, against $64.51 of debt.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
4% avg · 5y
FY21 12%FY22 6%FY23 4%FY24 3%FY25 -7%

It earned about 4% 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
−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 2 estimate methods that apply put fair value between $3.69 and $4.5 a share. They rest on different assumptions, so where they diverge is the story.

DCF · Growth Exit 10Y
$3.69
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$16.3M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$4.5
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$16.3M
Earnings Power Value
not applicable
normalized (5y-median) earnings non-positive — EPV undefined
Graham Number
not applicable
diluted EPS missing or non-positive — Graham Number undefined

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 $4.5
The three cases
Bear0.0%$4.5
Base0.0%$4.5
Bull5.0%$7.11

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 2021-12-31 · accession 0001628280-24-010568 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001628280-25-012650 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000874396-26-000008 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001628280-24-010568 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001628280-25-012650 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000874396-26-000008 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001628280-24-010568 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001628280-25-012650 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000874396-26-000008 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001628280-24-010568 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001628280-25-012650 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000874396-26-000008 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001628280-24-010568 (LongTermDebt)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0000874396-26-000008 (LongTermDebtCurrent)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001628280-23-007371 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001628280-24-010568 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  17. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001628280-25-012650 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  18. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0000874396-26-000008 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)