NATIONAL HEALTH INVESTORS INC

NHIdata completeness 88%18 fiscal years on file
The thesis, from the filings

NATIONAL HEALTH INVESTORS INC earns about 9% on equity, below its ~9% cost of capital, but has diluted owners by 3% over 5 years — no moat visible in the numbers. The estimate methods put fair value between $14.41 and $29.88 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$01$35.8M2$48.8M3$54.4M3$80.1M3
Net income$111.8M4$66.4M5$135.7M6$138M6$142.2M6
Operating cash flow$210.9M7$185.3M8$184.5M9$207.8M9$236.6M9
Capital expenditure$50.3M10$11M11$49.6M12$157.9M12$294M12
Free cash flow (derived)$160.5M7$174.3M8$134.9M9$49.8M9−$57.5M9
Total debt
Cash & equivalents$37.4M13$19.3M14$22.3M15$24.3M15$19.6M15
Diluted shares45.7M44.8M43.4M44.1M47.1M

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
$323.38
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$30.22
Free cash flow it threw off
−$12.21
Debt you’d be carrying

10 shares is a claim on $323.38 of net worth that earned you $30.22 and generated −$12.21 of cash last year.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on equity
9% avg · 5y
FY21 7%FY22 5%FY23 11%FY24 10%FY25 9%

It earned about 9% 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
+3% shares · 5y

Share count is up 3% 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 $14.41 and $29.88 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
$14.41
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$49.8M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$15.55
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$49.8M
Earnings Power Value
$29.88
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$135.7M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$46.88
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 $15.55
The three cases
Bear0.0%$15.55
Base0.0%$15.55
Bull5.0%$19.21

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 0000877860-24-000010 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000877860-25-000027 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000877860-26-000053 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000877860-24-000010 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000877860-25-000027 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000877860-26-000053 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000877860-24-000010 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000877860-25-000027 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000877860-26-000053 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000877860-24-000010 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000877860-25-000027 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000877860-26-000053 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000877860-24-000010 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000877860-25-000027 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000877860-26-000053 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)