TIDEWATER INC

TDWdata completeness 100%17 fiscal years on file
The thesis, from the filings

TIDEWATER INC earns about 2% on invested capital, below its ~9% cost of capital, but has diluted owners by 122878% over 5 years — no moat visible in the numbers. The estimate methods put fair value between $19.97 and $286.64 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$371M1$647.7M2$1.01B3$1.35B3$1.35B3
Net income−$129M4−$21.7M5$97.2M6$180.7M6$334.7M6
Operating cash flow$15M7$40.2M8$104.2M9$282.5M9$379.1M9
Capital expenditure$8.95M10$16.6M11$31.6M12$27.6M12$25.8M12
Free cash flow (derived)$6.06M7$23.6M8$72.6M9$254.9M9$353.3M9
Total debt$167.9M13$169M14$734.4M15$1.28B16$1.32B16
Cash & equivalents$149M17$164.2M18$274.4M19$324.9M20$578.8M20
Diluted shares41,00944.1M52.9M53.1M50.4M

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
$270.74
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$66.36
Free cash flow it threw off
$70.06
Debt you’d be carrying
$262.72

10 shares is a claim on $270.74 of net worth that earned you $66.36 and generated $70.06 of cash last year, against $262.72 of debt.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
2% avg · 5y
FY21 -14%FY22 -0%FY23 6%FY24 9%FY25 10%

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
+122878% shares · 5y

Share count is up 122878% over 5 years — owners have been diluted. Worth asking what they got for it. Total debt has risen 689% over the same window.

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 $19.97 and $286.64 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
$286.64
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$254.9M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$149.99
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$254.9M
Earnings Power Value
$19.97
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$97.2M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$63.6
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 $149.99
The three cases
Bear0.0%$57.42
Base20.0%$149.99
Bull20.0%$149.99

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 2021-12-31 · accession 0001437749-24-006108 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001437749-25-005487 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001437749-26-006391 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001437749-24-006108 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001437749-25-005487 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001437749-26-006391 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001437749-24-006108 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001437749-25-005487 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001437749-26-006391 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001437749-24-006108 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001437749-25-005487 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001437749-26-006391 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001437749-23-004829 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001437749-24-006108 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001437749-25-005487 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001437749-26-006391 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  17. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001437749-23-004829 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  18. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001437749-24-006108 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  19. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001437749-25-005487 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  20. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001437749-26-006391 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)