MeritValue

LABCORP HOLDINGS INC.

LHdata completeness 100%19 fiscal years on file

Data notes: no data for concept 'pretaxIncome'

The thesis, from the filings

LABCORP HOLDINGS INC. earns about 12% on equity, comfortably above its ~9% cost of capital, and has bought back 14% of its shares over 5 years — the marks of a durable business run for its owners. The estimate methods put fair value between $108.39 and $126.56 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$13.1B1$11.9B2$12.2B3$13B3$14B3
Net income$2.38B4$1.28B5$418M6$746M6$876.5M6
Operating cash flow$3.11B7$1.96B8$1.33B9$1.59B9$1.64B9
Capital expenditure$421.5M10$429.3M11$453.6M12$489.9M12$434.5M12
Free cash flow (derived)$2.69B7$1.53B8$874.1M9$1.1B9$1.21B9
Total debt$5.42B13$5.34B14$5.05B15$7.33B16$5.58B16
Cash & equivalents$1.47B17$320.6M18$536.8M19$1.52B19$532.3M19
Diluted shares97.5M91.6M87.6M84.4M83.8M

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
$1,028.62
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$104.59
Free cash flow it threw off
$143.91
Debt you’d be carrying
$666.43

10 shares is a claim on $1,028.62 of net worth that earned you $104.59 and generated $143.91 of cash last year, against $666.43 of debt.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on equity
12% avg · 5y
FY21 23%FY22 13%FY23 5%FY24 9%FY25 10%

It earned about 12% on equity 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
−14% shares · 5y

Share count is down 14% 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 $108.39 and $126.56 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
$112.49
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$1.1B
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$126.56
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$1.1B
Earnings Power Value
$108.39
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$876.5M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$155.59
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 $126.56
The three cases
Bear0.0%$126.56
Base0.0%$126.56
Bull5.0%$171.78

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 0000920148-24-000014 (Revenues)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000920148-25-000032 (Revenues)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000920148-26-000111 (Revenues)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000920148-24-000014 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000920148-25-000032 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000920148-26-000111 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000920148-24-000014 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000920148-25-000032 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000920148-26-000111 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000920148-24-000014 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000920148-25-000032 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000920148-26-000111 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000920148-23-000017 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000920148-24-000014 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000920148-25-000032 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0000920148-26-000111 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  17. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000920148-23-000017 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  18. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000920148-25-000032 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  19. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000920148-26-000111 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)