MeritValue

Whitestone REIT

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

Whitestone REIT earns about 5% on invested capital, below its ~9% cost of capital, but has diluted owners by 13% over 5 years — no moat visible in the numbers. The estimate methods put fair value between $4.38 and $6.99 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$125.4M1$139.4M2$147M3$154.3M3$160.9M3
Net income$12M4$35.3M5$19.2M6$36.9M6$49.9M6
Operating cash flow$47M7$44.4M8$47.6M9$58.2M9$50.8M9
Capital expenditure$300,00010$100,00011$100,00012$200,00012$300,00012
Free cash flow (derived)$46.7M7$44.3M8$47.5M9$58M9$50.5M9
Total debt$643.6M13$626M14$640.5M15$632.5M16$649.4M16
Cash & equivalents$15.7M17$6.17M18$4.57M19$5.22M19$4.89M19
Diluted shares46.3M50.0M50.8M51.3M52.3M

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
$87.56
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$9.54
Free cash flow it threw off
$9.65
Debt you’d be carrying
$124.13

10 shares is a claim on $87.56 of net worth that earned you $9.54 and generated $9.65 of cash last year, against $124.13 of debt.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
5% avg · 5y
FY21 3%FY22 6%FY23 5%FY24 4%FY25 5%

It earned about 5% 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
+13% shares · 5y

Share count is up 13% over 5 years — owners have been diluted. Worth asking what they got for it. 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 $4.38 and $6.99 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
$5.46
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth4.4%
  • fcfBase$50.5M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$4.38
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth4.4%
  • fcfBase$50.5M
Earnings Power Value
$6.99
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$35.3M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$13.68
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 years4.4%
Discount rate (WACC)8.93%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $4.38
The three cases
Bear0.0%$1.46
Base4.4%$4.38
Bull9.4%$8.29

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

Default growth 4.4%= 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 0001437749-24-007627 (Revenues)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001437749-25-007990 (Revenues)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001437749-26-007232 (Revenues)
  4. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001437749-24-007627 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001437749-25-007990 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001437749-26-007232 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001437749-24-007627 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001437749-25-007990 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001437749-26-007232 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001437749-24-007627 (PaymentsToAcquireProductiveAssets)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001437749-25-007990 (PaymentsToAcquireProductiveAssets)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001437749-26-007232 (PaymentsToAcquireProductiveAssets)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001437749-23-005812 (LongTermDebt)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001437749-24-007627 (LongTermDebt)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001437749-25-007990 (LongTermDebt)
  16. 10-K · period ending 2024-12-31 · accession 0001437749-26-007232 (LongTermDebt)
  17. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001437749-24-007627 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  18. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001437749-25-007990 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)
  19. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001437749-26-007232 (CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue)