MeritValue

WESTAMERICA BANCORPORATION

WABCdata completeness 88%18 fiscal years on file

Data notes: no data for concept 'cash'

The thesis, from the filings

WESTAMERICA BANCORPORATION earns about 21% on invested capital, far above its ~9% cost of capital, and has bought back 4% of its shares over 5 years — the marks of a durable business run for its owners. The estimate methods put fair value between $49.26 and $145.88 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$173.4M1$221.8M2$284M3$268M3$231M3
Net income$86.5M4$122M5$161.8M6$138.6M6$116.2M6
Operating cash flow$88.7M7$113.7M8$158.2M9$141.6M9$121.9M9
Capital expenditure$1.32M10$811,00011$1.16M12$1.74M12$2.25M12
Free cash flow (derived)$87.4M7$112.9M8$157M9$139.8M9$119.7M9
Total debt$146.2M13$57.8M14$58.2M15$120.3M16$137.3M16
Cash & equivalents—————
Diluted shares26.9M26.9M26.7M26.7M25.7M

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
$363.6
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$45.25
Free cash flow it threw off
$46.6
Debt you’d be carrying
$53.48

10 shares is a claim on $363.6 of net worth that earned you $45.25 and generated $46.6 of cash last year, against $53.48 of debt.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
21% avg · 5y
FY21 9%FY22 19%FY23 20%FY24 32%FY25 26%

It earned about 21% on invested capital, year after year, against a ~9% cost of capital — the footprint of real pricing power. Competition usually drags returns like this back down; here it hasn't.

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. Total debt has held roughly steady.

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 $49.26 and $145.88 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
$145.88
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth9.8%
  • fcfBase$139.8M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$113.01
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth9.8%
  • fcfBase$139.8M
Earnings Power Value
$49.26
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$122M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$60.81
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 years9.8%
Discount rate (WACC)8.93%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $113.01
The three cases
Bear0.0%$72.47
Base9.8%$113.01
Bull14.8%$139.63

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

Default growth 9.8%= 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 0001171843-24-001054 (InterestAndDividendIncomeOperating)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001171843-25-001156 (InterestAndDividendIncomeOperating)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001171843-26-001195 (InterestAndDividendIncomeOperating)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001171843-24-001054 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001171843-25-001156 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001171843-26-001195 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001171843-24-001054 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001171843-25-001156 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001171843-26-001195 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001171843-24-001054 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001171843-25-001156 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001171843-26-001195 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001171843-23-001285 (ShortTermBorrowings)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001171843-24-001054 (ShortTermBorrowings)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001171843-25-001156 (ShortTermBorrowings)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001171843-26-001195 (ShortTermBorrowings)