Live Oak Bancshares, Inc.

LOBdata completeness 88%13 fiscal years on file
The thesis, from the filings

Live Oak Bancshares, Inc. earns about 90% on invested capital, far above its ~9% cost of capital, but has diluted owners by 2% over 5 years — a real edge showing up in the numbers. The estimate methods put fair value between $23.83 and $76.51 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$361.2M1$444.5M2$688.3M3$812.4M3$908.5M3
Net income$167M4$176.2M5$73.9M6$77.5M6$105.9M6
Operating cash flow−$119.7M7−$300.7M8$184.9M9$156.8M9$158.2M9
Capital expenditure$3.08M10$43.8M11$46.8M12$49.3M12$14.8M12
Free cash flow (derived)−$122.8M7−$344.5M8$138.1M9$107.5M9$143.5M9
Total debt
Cash & equivalents$203.8M13$416.6M14$582.5M14$608.8M14$864.9M14
Diluted shares45.1M44.9M45.1M45.8M46.0M

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
$271.46
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$22.99
Free cash flow it threw off
$31.16
Debt you’d be carrying

10 shares is a claim on $271.46 of net worth that earned you $22.99 and generated $31.16 of cash last year.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
90% avg · 5y
FY21 43%FY22 70%FY23 119%FY24 103%FY25 114%

It earned about 90% 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 up 2% over 5 years — owners have been diluted. Worth asking what they got for it.

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 $23.83 and $76.51 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
$76.51
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth5.0%
  • fcfBase$138.1M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$72
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth5.0%
  • fcfBase$138.1M
Earnings Power Value
$23.83
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$105.9M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$36.91
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 years5.0%
Discount rate (WACC)8.93%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $72
The three cases
Bear0.0%$61.63
Base5.0%$72
Bull10.0%$84.4

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

Default growth 5.0%= 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 0001462120-24-000014 (InterestAndDividendIncomeOperating)
  2. 10-K/A · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001462120-25-000105 (InterestAndDividendIncomeOperating)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001462120-26-000020 (InterestAndDividendIncomeOperating)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001462120-24-000014 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K/A · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001462120-25-000105 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001462120-26-000020 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001462120-24-000014 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K/A · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001462120-25-000105 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001462120-26-000020 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001462120-24-000014 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K/A · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001462120-25-000105 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001462120-26-000020 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K/A · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001462120-25-000105 (CashCashEquivalentsRestrictedCashAndRestrictedCashEquivalents)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001462120-26-000020 (CashCashEquivalentsRestrictedCashAndRestrictedCashEquivalents)