MeritValue

WEST BANCORPORATION INC

WTBAdata completeness 88%17 fiscal years on file
The thesis, from the filings

WEST BANCORPORATION INC earns about 50% on invested capital, far 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 $19.85 and $39.2 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$107.3M1$123.3M2$160.3M3$190.1M3$192.2M3
Net income$49.6M4$46.4M5$24.1M6$24.1M6$32.6M6
Operating cash flow$57.9M7$59.4M8$25.2M9$39.8M9$46.5M9
Capital expenditure$8.74M10$21.3M11$36.4M12$26.1M12$3.33M12
Free cash flow (derived)$49.1M7$38.1M8−$11.1M9$13.7M9$43.2M9
Total debt$51.5M13————
Cash & equivalents$192.8M14$26.5M15$65.4M15$243.5M15$471.1M15
Diluted shares16.8M16.8M16.8M16.9M17.0M

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
$156.44
your share of equity
Profit it earned you last year
$19.15
Free cash flow it threw off
$25.38
Debt you’d be carrying
—

10 shares is a claim on $156.44 of net worth that earned you $19.15 and generated $25.38 of cash last year.

iii. Is this a good business?
Moat signal · return on invested capital
50% avg · 5y
FY21 50%FY22 39%FY23 61%FY24 —FY25 —

It earned about 50% 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
+1% shares · 5y

Share count is roughly flat over 5 years — little dilution, little buyback. 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 $19.85 and $39.2 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
$38.33
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears10
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$13.7M
DCF · Growth Exit 5Y
$39.2
assumptions (10)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • terminalGrowth2.5%
  • projectionYears5
  • fcfGrowth0.0%
  • fcfBase$13.7M
Earnings Power Value
$19.85
assumptions (8)
  • riskFreeRate4.7%
  • equityRiskPremium5.0%
  • beta100.0%
  • equityWeight85.0%
  • costOfDebtSpread1.5%
  • taxRate21.0%
  • normalizedEarnings$32.6M
  • growthAssumed0.0%
Graham Number
$26
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 years0.0%
Discount rate (WACC)8.93%
Terminal growth2.5%
At your growth, a share is worth $39.2
The three cases
Bear0.0%$39.2
Base0.0%$39.2
Bull5.0%$41.98

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/A · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001166928-24-000024 (InterestAndDividendIncomeOperating)
  2. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001166928-25-000012 (InterestAndDividendIncomeOperating)
  3. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001166928-26-000010 (InterestAndDividendIncomeOperating)
  4. 10-K/A · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001166928-24-000024 (NetIncomeLoss)
  5. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001166928-25-000012 (NetIncomeLoss)
  6. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001166928-26-000010 (NetIncomeLoss)
  7. 10-K/A · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001166928-24-000024 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  8. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001166928-25-000012 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  9. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001166928-26-000010 (NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities)
  10. 10-K/A · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001166928-24-000024 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  11. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001166928-25-000012 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  12. 10-K · period ending 2023-12-31 · accession 0001166928-26-000010 (PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment)
  13. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001166928-22-000019 (LongTermDebt)
  14. 10-K · period ending 2021-12-31 · accession 0001166928-25-000012 (CashCashEquivalentsRestrictedCashAndRestrictedCashEquivalents)
  15. 10-K · period ending 2022-12-31 · accession 0001166928-26-000010 (CashCashEquivalentsRestrictedCashAndRestrictedCashEquivalents)