“Will it go up?” is the wrong question.
Ask: do I want to own this business — and is the price fair?
6,131 US-listed companies, valued nightly by a deterministic, version-controlled engine, straight from their SEC filings. Every number shows its work: click a footnote, land in the actual 10-K.
What is MeritValue?
A free site that values 6,131 US-listed companies as businesses, from their SEC filings. It reads each company’s reported revenue, cash flow, debt and share count, runs them through a deterministic engine (v0.6.0) every night, and shows what the business is worth under each valuation model — with every figure footnoted to the filing it came from. You bring the price. How it works →
- The valueDCF · Growth Exit 10Y$106.87a share, for Apple Inc. · engine v0.6.0
- rests on an inputStarting free cash flow$99.6Bthe median of the last three fiscal years’ free cash flow
- built from filing linesFree cash flow = operating cash flow − capex
- FY2023$99.6B
- FY2024$108.8B
- FY2025$98.8B
Live from the Apple Inc. page, recomputed every night. Each receipt opens the 10-K on sec.gov; the whole ledger for AAPL → footnotes every figure the same way.
Deterministic, not vibes
Same inputs, same answer, forever. Engine v0.6.0. Every methodology change is versioned and golden-tested. Ask an AI to improvise a DCF and you get a different number each time; ask this engine and you get an auditable one.
Numbers with receipts
Our data comes from the filings themselves, not a licensed black box, so revenue links to the XBRL tag in the 10-K it came from. Reading financial reports is a skill; this is the training ground.
Honest refusals
A cash-flow DCF is meaningless for a bank. Where a model doesn’t apply, the ledger says not applicable and explains why. No confident wrong numbers.
| Model | The question it answers | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| DCF · Growth Exit 10Y | What is the future free cash flow worth today, if it keeps growing at its own historical rate for ten years? | Companies with a positive 3-year median free cash flow |
| DCF · Growth Exit 5Y | The same question over five years, so less rides on the far future. | Companies with a positive 3-year median free cash flow |
| Earnings Power Value | What is the business worth if it never grows again? | Companies with positive normalised earnings |
| Graham Number | What is the most a defensive investor should pay (Graham: P/E ≤ 15, P/B ≤ 1.5)? | Companies with positive earnings and book value |
| FFO · Capitalized | What are a REIT's funds from operations worth, at zero growth? | REITs |
| Reverse DCF 5Y | What growth does the price you type in assume? | Interactive, on every page with a DCF base |
Where a model doesn’t fit, it refuses and says why. Formulas, inputs and the engine changelog: methodology →
| AAPL | What growth is priced into Apple today? |
| KO | A dividend classic through the ownership lens |
| JPM | Why our DCF refuses to value a bank |
| INTC | Negative free cash flow — what's it worth anyway? |
Or learn the craft first: how to read a company like an owner →
What is MeritValue?
MeritValue is a free website that estimates the intrinsic value of 6,131 US-listed companies from their SEC filings. A deterministic, version-controlled engine recomputes every value nightly, and every figure links to the filing it came from. It is an educational tool, not investment advice.
Where does the data come from?
From SEC EDGAR: the XBRL financial data inside each company's annual report (10-K, 20-F or 40-F). Each number keeps its accession number and XBRL tag, which the company page shows as a footnote linking to the filing on sec.gov. No number is typed in by hand.
How is intrinsic value calculated?
With several models side by side: a discounted cash flow over 10 and 5 years, earnings power value, the Graham Number, FFO capitalisation for REITs, and a reverse DCF for the price you enter. Every assumption is listed under each model; the methodology page gives the formulas.
Why doesn't MeritValue show the stock price?
There is no market-data licence behind the site, and the method puts the business first and the price last on purpose. You type in the price you are considering, and the page shows what growth that price implies.
Why does a model say “not applicable”?
Because it doesn't fit that business, and the engine says so rather than printing a confident wrong number. A cash-flow DCF can't value a company that burns cash, or a bank, which files no capital-expenditure line. The reason is shown beside the refusal.
Is it free?
Every company page is free to read, with no account, and a free API key works with the API and the MCP server. Paid plans raise that key's request ceiling and add screening.
Also on iPhone, and in Claude or any MCP client through the MeritValue MCP server. Plans: pricing →