MeritValue

SILICON LABORATORIES INC.

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

SILICON LABORATORIES INC. earns about -3% on invested capital, and has bought back 26% of its shares over 5 years. The cash-flow models don't apply cleanly here — the ledger says why below.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 2022FY 2023FY 2024FY 2026
Revenue$720.9M1$1.02B2$782.3M3$584.4M3$784.8M3
Net income$2.12B4$91.4M4−$34.5M5−$191M5−$64.9M5
Operating cash flow$91.2M6$141.3M7−$30.3M8−$13.9M8$95.7M8
Capital expenditure$28.6M9$26.5M10$22.3M11$11.7M11$29.9M11
Free cash flow (derived)$62.6M6$114.7M7−$52.6M8−$25.7M8$65.8M8
Total debt—————
Cash & equivalents$1.07B12$499.9M13$227.5M14$281.6M15$364.2M15
Diluted shares44.3M36.0M31.8M32.2M32.7M

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
$334.47
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
−$19.84
Free cash flow it threw off
$20.11
Debt you’d be carrying
—

10 shares is a claim on $334.47 of net worth that earned you −$19.84 and generated $20.11 of cash last year.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
-3% avg · 5y
FY22 -1%FY22 11%FY23 -2%FY24 -15%FY26 -6%

It earned an average -3% on invested capital over 5 years. Compare that to what it costs to fund the business.

seeing a moat in the numbers →
Management signal · capital allocation
−26% shares · 5y

Share count is down 26% 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
DCF · Growth Exit 10Y
not applicable
3y-median FCF non-positive — growth-exit DCF not applicable (see EPV)
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
not applicable
3y-median FCF non-positive — growth-exit DCF not applicable (see EPV)
Earnings Power Value
not applicable
normalized (5y-median) earnings non-positive — EPV undefined
Graham Number
not applicable
diluted EPS missing or non-positive — Graham Number undefined

Different models answer different questions — which to trust when →

Sources — the receipts
  1. 10-K · period ending 2022-01-01 · accession 0001104659-24-025535 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001038074-25-000003 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-30 · accession 0001038074-26-000005 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2022-01-01 · accession 0001104659-24-025535 (ProfitLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-30 · accession 0001038074-26-000005 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2022-01-01 · accession 0001104659-24-025535 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivitiesContinuingOperations)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001038074-25-000003 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivitiesContinuingOperations)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-30 · accession 0001038074-26-000005 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2022-01-01 · accession 0001104659-24-025535 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001038074-25-000003 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-30 · accession 0001038074-26-000005 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2022-01-01 · accession 0001104659-23-009254 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001104659-24-025535 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-30 · accession 0001038074-25-000003 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-28 · accession 0001038074-26-000005 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)