MeritValue

ULTRALIFE CORP

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

ULTRALIFE CORP earns about 1% on invested capital, below its ~9% cost of capital, but has diluted owners by 4% over 5 years — no moat visible in the numbers. The estimate methods put fair value between $11.52 and $23.09 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$98.3M1$131.8M2$158.6M3$164.5M4$191.2M4
Net income−$234,0005−$119,0006$7.2M7$6.31M8−$5.9M8
Operating cash flow$4.33M9−$1.26M10$1.93M11$16.6M12$11M12
Capital expenditure$2.81M13$1.68M14$2.55M15$1.93M16$3.87M16
Free cash flow (derived)$1.51M9−$2.94M10−$623,00011$14.7M12$7.12M12
Total debt$20.9M17$42.8M18$51.4M19$109.3M20$49.7M20
Cash & equivalents$8.33M21$5.63M22$10.2M23$6.85M24$9.35M24
Diluted shares16.0M16.1M16.2M16.8M16.6M

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
$78.11
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
−$3.54
Free cash flow it threw off
$4.28
Debt you’d be carrying
$29.83

10 shares is a claim on $78.11 of net worth that earned you −$3.54 and generated $4.28 of cash last year, against $29.83 of debt.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
1% avg · 5y
FY21 -0%FY22 -0%FY23 4%FY24 3%FY25 -4%

It earned about 1% 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 up 4% over 5 years — owners have been diluted. Worth asking what they got for it. Total debt has risen 138% 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 2 estimate methods that apply put fair value between $11.52 and $23.09 a share. They rest on different assumptions, so where they diverge is the story.

DCF · Growth Exit 10Y
$23.09
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$7.12M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$11.52
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth20.0%
  • fcfBase$7.12M
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 years20.0%
Discount rate (WACC)8.93%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $11.52
The three cases
Bear0.0%$3.69
Base20.0%$11.52
Bull20.0%$11.52

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 0001437749-23-008694 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerIncludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001437749-24-008872 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerIncludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001437749-25-010360 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerIncludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001437749-26-009385 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerIncludingAssessedTax)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001437749-23-008694 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001437749-24-008872 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001437749-25-010360 (NetIncomeLoss)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001437749-26-009385 (NetIncomeLoss)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001437749-23-008694 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001437749-24-008872 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001437749-25-010360 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001437749-26-009385 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001437749-23-008694 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001437749-24-008872 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001437749-25-010360 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001437749-26-009385 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  17. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001437749-23-008694 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  18. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001437749-24-008872 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  19. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001437749-25-010360 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  20. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001437749-26-009385 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  21. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001437749-23-008694 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  22. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001437749-24-008872 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  23. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001437749-25-010360 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  24. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001437749-26-009385 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)