MeritValue

QUINSTREET, INC

QNSTdata completeness 100%17 fiscal years on file

Data notes: no data for concept 'investmentsAtFairValue'; no data for concept 'netInvestmentIncome'; no data for concept 'gainsOnRealEstateSales'; no data for concept 'realEstateImpairment'; no data for concept 'dividendsPaid'

The thesis, from the filings

QUINSTREET, INC earns about -2% on invested capital, below its ~9% cost of capital, but has diluted owners by 7% over 5 years — no moat visible in the numbers. The estimate methods put fair value between $46.38 and $83.71 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$582.1M1$580.6M1$613.5M2$1.09B2$1.29B2
Net income−$5.25M3−$68.9M3−$31.3M4$4.71M4$81.2M4
Operating cash flow$28.7M5$11.8M5$12M6$85M6$131.3M6
Capital expenditure$2.84M7$3.06M7$5.35M8$2.07M8$3.4M8
Free cash flow (derived)$25.8M5$8.78M5$6.69M6$82.9M6$127.9M6
Total debt———$09$70M9
Cash & equivalents$96.4M10$73.7M10$50.5M11$101.1M11$128.3M11
Diluted shares54.3M53.8M54.9M58.3M58.2M

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
$55.55
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$13.97
Free cash flow it threw off
$21.99
Debt you’d be carrying
$12.04

10 shares is a claim on $55.55 of net worth that earned you $13.97 and generated $21.99 of cash last year, against $12.04 of debt.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
-2% avg · 5y
FY22 -2%FY23 -10%FY24 -14%FY25 4%FY26 13%

It earned about -2% on invested capital 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
+7% shares · 5y

Share count is up 7% 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 v0.5.0

The 2 estimate methods that apply put fair value between $46.38 and $83.71 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
$83.71
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.8%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$82.9M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$46.38
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.8%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$82.9M
Earnings Power Value
not applicable
normalized (5y-median) earnings non-positive — EPV undefined
Graham Number
$13.42
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)9.08%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $46.38
The three cases
Bear0.0%$20.92
Base20.0%$46.38
Bull20.0%$46.38

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 2022-06-30 · accession 0000950170-24-099495 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2024-06-30 · accession 0001193125-26-367160 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2022-06-30 · accession 0000950170-24-099495 (NetIncomeLoss)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2024-06-30 · accession 0001193125-26-367160 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-06-30 · accession 0000950170-24-099495 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2024-06-30 · accession 0001193125-26-367160 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2022-06-30 · accession 0000950170-24-099495 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2024-06-30 · accession 0001193125-26-367160 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2025-06-30 · accession 0001193125-26-367160 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2022-06-30 · accession 0000950170-24-099495 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2024-06-30 · accession 0001193125-26-367160 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)