MeritValue

Veralto Corp

VLTOdata completeness 100%5 fiscal years on file
The thesis, from the filings

Veralto Corp earns about 17% on invested capital, comfortably above its ~9% cost of capital, with a roughly flat share count — a real edge showing up in the numbers. The estimate methods put fair value between $34.98 and $51.1 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$4.7B1$4.87B2$5.02B3$5.19B3$5.5B3
Net income$861M4$845M5$839M6$833M6$940M6
Operating cash flow$896M7$870M8$963M9$875M9$1.08B9
Capital expenditure$54M10$34M11$54M12$55M12$63M12
Free cash flow (derived)$842M7$836M8$909M9$820M9$1.01B9
Total debt—$013$5.26B14$5.2B15$5.35B15
Cash & equivalents$016$017$762M18$1.1B19$2.03B19
Diluted shares246.3M246.3M246.8M249.6M250.3M

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
$124.05
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$37.55
Free cash flow it threw off
$40.51
Debt you’d be carrying
$213.58

10 shares is a claim on $124.05 of net worth that earned you $37.55 and generated $40.51 of cash last year, against $213.58 of debt.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
17% avg · 5y
FY21 —FY22 26%FY23 15%FY24 14%FY25 15%

It earned about 17% on invested capital against a ~9% cost of capital — comfortably above the cost of funding, a moderate advantage.

seeing a moat in the numbers →
Management signal · capital allocation
+2% shares · 5y

Share count is roughly flat over 5 years — little dilution, little buyback.

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 $34.98 and $51.1 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
$51.1
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth3.9%
  • fcfBase$909M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$48.25
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth3.9%
  • fcfBase$909M
Earnings Power Value
$34.98
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$845M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$32.4
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 years3.9%
Discount rate (WACC)8.93%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $48.25
The three cases
Bear0.0%$38.64
Base3.9%$48.25
Bull8.9%$62.7

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

Default growth 3.9%= 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 0001967680-24-000033 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001967680-25-000008 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001967680-26-000011 (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerExcludingAssessedTax)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001967680-24-000033 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001967680-25-000008 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001967680-26-000011 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001967680-24-000033 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001967680-25-000008 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001967680-26-000011 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001967680-24-000033 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001967680-25-000008 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001967680-26-000011 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001967680-24-000033 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001967680-25-000008 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001967680-26-000011 (LongTermDebtNoncurrent)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001967680-25-000008 (CashCashEquivalentsRestrictedCashAndRestrictedCashEquivalents)
  17. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001967680-24-000033 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  18. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001967680-25-000008 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  19. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001967680-26-000011 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)