MeritValue

NetApp, Inc.

NTAPdata completeness 100%18 fiscal years on file
The thesis, from the filings

NetApp, Inc. earns about 32% on invested capital, far above its ~9% cost of capital, and has bought back 12% of its shares over 5 years — the marks of a durable business run for its owners. The estimate methods put fair value between $61.15 and $317.65 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 2022FY 2023FY 2024FY 2025FY 2026
Revenue$6.32B1$6.36B2$6.27B3$6.57B3$6.93B3
Net income$937M4$1.27B5$986M6$1.19B6$1.28B6
Operating cash flow$1.21B7$1.11B8$1.69B9$1.51B9$2.07B9
Capital expenditure$226M10$239M11$155M12$168M12$198M12
Free cash flow (derived)$985M7$868M8$1.53B9$1.34B9$1.87B9
Total debt$5.27B13$4.78B14$4.78B15$6.47B16$4.97B16
Cash & equivalents$4.11B17$2.32B18$1.9B19$2.74B20$2.07B20
Diluted shares229.0M220.0M213.0M209.0M201.0M

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
$67.21
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$63.48
Free cash flow it threw off
$92.99
Debt you’d be carrying
$247.46

10 shares is a claim on $67.21 of net worth that earned you $63.48 and generated $92.99 of cash last year, against $247.46 of debt.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
32% avg · 5y
FY22 50%FY23 31%FY24 26%FY25 25%FY26 30%

It earned about 32% 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
−12% shares · 5y

Share count is down 12% 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 $61.15 and $317.65 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
$317.65
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth15.8%
  • fcfBase$1.53B
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$196.25
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth15.8%
  • fcfBase$1.53B
Earnings Power Value
$61.15
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$1.19B
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$30.99
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 years15.8%
Discount rate (WACC)8.93%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $196.25
The three cases
Bear0.0%$94.31
Base15.8%$196.25
Bull20.0%$233.73

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

Default growth 15.8%= 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 2022-04-29 · accession 0000950170-24-071327 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2023-04-28 · accession 0000950170-25-083705 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2024-04-26 · accession 0001193125-26-259683 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2022-04-29 · accession 0000950170-24-071327 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2023-04-28 · accession 0000950170-25-083705 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2024-04-26 · accession 0001193125-26-259683 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2022-04-29 · accession 0000950170-24-071327 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2023-04-28 · accession 0000950170-25-083705 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2024-04-26 · accession 0001193125-26-259683 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2022-04-29 · accession 0000950170-24-071327 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2023-04-28 · accession 0000950170-25-083705 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2024-04-26 · accession 0001193125-26-259683 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2022-04-29 · accession 0000950170-23-027948 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2023-04-28 · accession 0000950170-24-071327 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2024-04-26 · accession 0000950170-25-083705 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2025-04-25 · accession 0001193125-26-259683 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  17. 10-K · period ending 2022-04-29 · accession 0000950170-23-027948 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  18. 10-K · period ending 2023-04-28 · accession 0000950170-24-071327 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  19. 10-K · period ending 2024-04-26 · accession 0000950170-25-083705 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  20. 10-K · period ending 2025-04-25 · accession 0001193125-26-259683 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)