MeritValue

SEI INVESTMENTS CO

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

SEI INVESTMENTS CO earns about 42% on invested capital, far above its ~9% cost of capital, and has bought back 11% of its shares over 5 years — the marks of a durable business run for its owners. The estimate methods put fair value between $44.57 and $82.55 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$1.92B1$1.99B2$1.92B3$2.13B3$2.3B3
Net income$546.6M4$475.5M5$462.3M6$581.2M6$715.3M6
Operating cash flow$633.1M7$566.1M8$447M9$622.3M9$607.7M9
Capital expenditure$26.5M10$39.2M11$24.8M12$32.2M12$22.6M12
Free cash flow (derived)$606.6M7$526.9M8$422.2M9$590.1M9$585M9
Total debt—————
Cash & equivalents$831.4M13$853M14$834.7M15$840.2M16$399.8M16
Diluted shares143.3M137.4M133.7M131.7M127.1M

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
$192.62
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$56.29
Free cash flow it threw off
$46.04
Debt you’d be carrying
—

10 shares is a claim on $192.62 of net worth that earned you $56.29 and generated $46.04 of cash last year.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
42% avg · 5y
FY21 53%FY22 43%FY23 36%FY24 41%FY25 35%

It earned about 42% 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
−11% shares · 5y

Share count is down 11% over 5 years — management has been buying back stock, quietly handing owners a bigger slice.

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 $44.57 and $82.55 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
$82.55
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth3.5%
  • fcfBase$585M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$79.91
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth3.5%
  • fcfBase$585M
Earnings Power Value
$44.57
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$546.6M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$49.4
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 years3.5%
Discount rate (WACC)8.93%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $79.91
The three cases
Bear0.0%$68.92
Base3.5%$79.91
Bull8.5%$98.01

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

Default growth 3.5%= 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 0000350894-24-000024 (Revenues)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000350894-25-000028 (Revenues)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000350894-26-000013 (Revenues)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000350894-24-000024 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000350894-25-000028 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000350894-26-000013 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000350894-24-000024 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000350894-25-000028 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000350894-26-000013 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000350894-24-000024 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000350894-25-000028 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000350894-26-000013 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000350894-23-000012 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000350894-24-000024 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000350894-25-000028 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0000350894-26-000013 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)