MeritValue

UNIVERSAL ELECTRONICS INC

UEICdata completeness 88%17 fiscal years on file

Data notes: no data for concept 'interestExpense'

The thesis, from the filings

UNIVERSAL ELECTRONICS INC earns about -13% on invested capital, below its ~9% cost of capital, and has bought back 4% of its shares over 5 years — no moat visible in the numbers. The estimate methods put fair value between $19.58 and $20.97 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$601.6M1$542.8M2$420.5M3$394.9M3$368.3M3
Net income$5.3M4$407,0005−$98.2M6−$24M6−$18.6M6
Operating cash flow$40.3M7$10.9M8$25.2M9$14.8M9$23.6M9
Capital expenditure$12.6M10$14M11$8.12M12$4.57M12$3.88M12
Free cash flow (derived)$27.7M7−$3.08M8$17.1M9$10.3M9$19.8M9
Total debt—————
Cash & equivalents$60.8M13$66.7M14$42.8M15$26.8M16$32.3M16
Diluted shares13.7M12.8M12.9M13.0M13.2M

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
$110.98
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
−$14.12
Free cash flow it threw off
$14.99
Debt you’d be carrying
—

10 shares is a claim on $110.98 of net worth that earned you −$14.12 and generated $14.99 of cash last year.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
-13% avg · 5y
FY21 4%FY22 3%FY23 -54%FY24 -12%FY25 -8%

It earned about -13% 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
−4% shares · 5y

Share count is down 4% 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 2 estimate methods that apply put fair value between $19.58 and $20.97 a share. They rest on different assumptions, so where they diverge is the story.

DCF · Growth Exit 10Y
$19.58
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$17.1M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$20.97
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$17.1M
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 →

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 years0.0%
Discount rate (WACC)8.93%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $20.97
The three cases
Bear0.0%$20.97
Base0.0%$20.97
Bull5.0%$25.46

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

Default growth 0.0%= 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 0000101984-24-000048 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000101984-25-000038 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000101984-26-000039 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000101984-24-000048 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000101984-25-000038 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000101984-26-000039 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000101984-24-000048 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000101984-25-000038 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000101984-26-000039 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000101984-24-000048 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000101984-25-000038 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000101984-26-000039 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0000101984-23-000012 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0000101984-24-000048 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0000101984-25-000038 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0000101984-26-000039 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)