MeritValue

LEGALZOOM.COM, INC.

LZdata completeness 88%7 fiscal years on file
The thesis, from the filings

LEGALZOOM.COM, INC. earns about -8% on equity, below its ~9% cost of capital, but has diluted owners by 14% over 5 years — no moat visible in the numbers. The estimate methods put fair value between $0.78 and $33.37 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$575.1M1$620M2$660.7M3$681.9M3$756M3
Net income−$108.7M4−$48.7M5$14M6$30M6$15.4M6
Operating cash flow$54.2M7$73.8M8$124.3M9$135.6M9$178.2M9
Capital expenditure$11.7M10$22.1M11$31.6M12$35.7M12$30.3M12
Free cash flow (derived)$42.4M7$51.7M8$92.7M9$99.9M9$147.9M9
Total debt$013————
Cash & equivalents$239.3M14$189.1M15$225.7M16$142.1M16$203.1M16
Diluted shares161.4M195.8M194.4M182.9M184.7M

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
$9.31
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$0.84
Free cash flow it threw off
$8.01
Debt you’d be carrying
—

10 shares is a claim on $9.31 of net worth that earned you $0.84 and generated $8.01 of cash last year.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on equity
-8% avg · 5y
FY21 -55%FY22 -34%FY23 8%FY24 32%FY25 9%

It earned about -8% on equity 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
+14% shares · 5y

Share count is up 14% 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 $0.78 and $33.37 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
$33.37
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$99.9M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$18.74
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$99.9M
Earnings Power Value
$0.78
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$14M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$1.29
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 $18.74
The three cases
Bear0.0%$8.83
Base20.0%$18.74
Bull20.0%$18.74

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 0001286139-24-000031 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001286139-25-000044 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001286139-26-000012 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001286139-24-000031 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001286139-25-000044 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001286139-26-000012 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001286139-24-000031 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001286139-25-000044 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001286139-26-000012 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001286139-24-000031 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001286139-25-000044 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001286139-26-000012 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001286139-22-000048 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001286139-23-000036 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001286139-24-000031 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001286139-26-000012 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)