MeritValue

PHOTRONICS INC

PLABdata completeness 88%17 fiscal years on file

Data notes: no data for concept 'interestExpense'

The thesis, from the filings

PHOTRONICS INC earns about 30% on invested capital, far above its ~9% cost of capital, and has bought back 3% of its shares over 5 years — the marks of a durable business run for its owners. The estimate methods put fair value between $21.7 and $138.11 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$663.8M1$824.5M2$892.1M3$866.9M3$849.3M3
Net income$55.4M4$118.8M5$125.5M6$130.7M6$136.4M6
Operating cash flow$150.8M7$275.2M8$302.2M9$261.4M9$247.8M9
Capital expenditure$109.1M10$112.3M11$131.3M12$130.9M12$188.1M12
Free cash flow (derived)$41.7M7$162.8M8$170.9M9$130.5M9$59.7M9
Total debt$111.7M13$42.3M13———
Cash & equivalents$276.7M14$319.7M15$499.3M16$598.5M16$492.3M16
Diluted shares62.0M61.2M61.8M62.4M59.9M

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
$195.86
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$22.76
Free cash flow it threw off
$9.96
Debt you’d be carrying
—

10 shares is a claim on $195.86 of net worth that earned you $22.76 and generated $9.96 of cash last year.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
30% avg · 5y
FY21 12%FY22 32%FY23 42%FY24 35%FY25 28%

It earned about 30% 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
−3% shares · 5y

Share count is down 3% over 5 years — management has been buying back stock, quietly handing owners a bigger slice. Total debt has fallen 62% — deleveraging.

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 $21.7 and $138.11 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
$138.11
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$130.5M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$79.22
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$130.5M
Earnings Power Value
$21.7
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$125.5M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$31.7
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 $79.22
The three cases
Bear0.0%$39.33
Base20.0%$79.22
Bull20.0%$79.22

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 2021-10-31 · accession 0001140361-23-059254 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-10-31 · accession 0001140361-24-049881 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-10-31 · accession 0001140361-25-045801 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-10-31 · accession 0001140361-23-059254 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-10-31 · accession 0001140361-24-049881 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-10-31 · accession 0001140361-25-045801 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-10-31 · accession 0001140361-23-059254 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-10-31 · accession 0001140361-24-049881 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-10-31 · accession 0001140361-25-045801 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-10-31 · accession 0001140361-23-059254 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-10-31 · accession 0001140361-24-049881 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-10-31 · accession 0001140361-25-045801 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2021-10-31 · accession 0001140361-22-046880 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2021-10-31 · accession 0001140361-23-059254 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2022-10-31 · accession 0001140361-24-049881 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2023-10-31 · accession 0001140361-25-045801 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)