MeritValue

RPM INTERNATIONAL INC/DE/

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

RPM INTERNATIONAL INC/DE/ earns about 26% on invested capital, far above its ~9% cost of capital, with a roughly flat share count — a real edge showing up in the numbers. The estimate methods put fair value between $47.8 and $314.98 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$6.71B1$7.26B2$7.34B3$7.37B3$7.86B3
Net income$491.5M4$478.7M5$588.4M6$688.7M6$661.4M6
Operating cash flow$178.7M7$577.1M8$1.12B9$768.2M9$898.7M9
Capital expenditure$222.4M10$254.4M11$214M12$229.9M12$223.5M12
Free cash flow (derived)−$43.7M7$322.7M8$908.3M9$538.3M9$675.2M9
Total debt$603.5M13$178.6M14$136.2M15$7.69M16$407.8M16
Cash & equivalents$201.7M17$215.8M18$237.4M19$302.1M20$315.2M20
Diluted shares129.6M128.8M128.3M128.2M127.6M

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
$259.62
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$51.85
Free cash flow it threw off
$52.93
Debt you’d be carrying
$31.97

10 shares is a claim on $259.62 of net worth that earned you $51.85 and generated $52.93 of cash last year, against $31.97 of debt.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
26% avg · 5y
FY22 24%FY23 27%FY24 28%FY25 30%FY26 22%

It earned about 26% 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
−2% shares · 5y

Share count is roughly flat over 5 years — little dilution, little buyback. Total debt has fallen 32% — 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 $47.8 and $314.98 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
$314.98
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$675.2M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$171.86
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$675.2M
Earnings Power Value
$47.8
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$588.4M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$54.95
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 $171.86
The three cases
Bear0.0%$74.91
Base20.0%$171.86
Bull20.0%$171.86

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 2022-05-31 · accession 0000950170-24-086386 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2023-05-31 · accession 0000950170-25-098313 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2024-05-31 · accession 0001193125-26-312142 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2022-05-31 · accession 0000950170-24-086386 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2023-05-31 · accession 0000950170-25-098313 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2024-05-31 · accession 0001193125-26-312142 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2022-05-31 · accession 0000950170-24-086386 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2023-05-31 · accession 0000950170-25-098313 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2024-05-31 · accession 0001193125-26-312142 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2022-05-31 · accession 0000950170-24-086386 (PaymentsToAcquireProductiveAssets)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2023-05-31 · accession 0000950170-25-098313 (PaymentsToAcquireProductiveAssets)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2024-05-31 · accession 0001193125-26-312142 (PaymentsToAcquireProductiveAssets)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2022-05-31 · accession 0000950170-23-034640 (LongTermDebtCurrent)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2023-05-31 · accession 0000950170-24-086386 (LongTermDebtCurrent)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2024-05-31 · accession 0000950170-25-098313 (LongTermDebtCurrent)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2025-05-31 · accession 0001193125-26-312142 (LongTermDebtCurrent)
  17. 10-K · period ending 2022-05-31 · accession 0000950170-23-034640 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  18. 10-K · period ending 2023-05-31 · accession 0000950170-24-086386 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  19. 10-K · period ending 2024-05-31 · accession 0000950170-25-098313 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  20. 10-K · period ending 2025-05-31 · accession 0001193125-26-312142 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)