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ACAD, ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc.

We are a biopharmaceutical company focused on turning scientific promise into meaningful innovation that makes the difference for underserved neurological and rare disease communities around the world.

Our neurological disease franchise is anchored by the commercial product NUPLAZID (pimavanserin), which is the first and only drug approved by the FDA for the treatment of hallucinations and delusions associated with PDP.

Our rare disease franchise is anchored by the commercial product DAYBUE, which is the first and only drug approved for the treatment of Rett syndrome.

Latest annual: FY2025 10-K

ACAD · ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc.

The business

What it sells, where the money comes from, the kind of company it is.

Revenue · FY2025

$1.1B

+11.9% YoY · 19% 5-yr CAGR

Vital signs · TTM, with 5-yr average

Revenue $1.1B 5-yr avg $751M

Gross margin 91% 5-yr avg 92%

Operating margin 7.4% 5-yr avg −10.9%

ROIC 8% 5-yr avg −12%

Owner-earnings margin 11% 5-yr avg −4%

Free cash flow margin 10% 5-yr avg −4%

The business in brief

read the 10-K →

What this business is and what moves its needle, from its own SEC filings.

What moves the needle: Operating margin has reached 24% at its best but run negative through the cycle (median −65%) on a 94% gross margin — so the question is which reading is truer: whether the median was pulled below zero by one-off charges, by the cycle, or by spending it is still growing into, and whether it settles back at a profit. Stock-based pay runs about 13% of sales, a real and recurring claim on owners that the GAAP margin understates. Read this kind of business on the pipeline against the patent cliff, and pricing. On its own account, the filing leans hardest on debt terms & refinancing, set against the numbers in what the filing emphasizes, below.
Is it a good business?: Return on capital has rarely cleared the cost of capital (median −48%, above 15% in 1 of 10 years). Owner earnings, the cash-based check, have been thin too. This is price-taker territory, where the balance sheet and the cycle matter more than any multiple; the rest is in the 10-K.

Every line is arithmetic on the company's filings, shown in full in the sections below.

The record

Ten years of arithmetic, read across the cycle.

The record, 2016–2025

realized figures from each filing · older years to the left

2016’16	2017’17	2018’18	2019’19	2020’20	2021’21	2022’22	2023’23	2024’24	2025’25	TTMTTMMar 2026
											Income statement
$17M	$125M	$224M	$339M	$442M	$484M	$517M	$726M	$958M	$1.1B	$1.1B	RevenueRevenue
82%	93%	94%	97%	98%	96%	98%	94%	91%	92%	91%	Gross marginGross mgn
n/m	204%	119%	96%	88%	82%	71%	56%	51%	51%	54%	SG&A / revenueSG&A/rev
573%	119%	84%	71%	72%	49%	70%	48%	32%	31%	30%	R&D / revenueR&D/rev
($273M)	($292M)	($247M)	($247M)	($287M)	($170M)	($224M)	($73M)	$231M	$105M	$81M	Operating incomeOp. inc.
n/m	−234.1%	−110.6%	−72.7%	−64.9%	−35.2%	−43.2%	−10.1%	24.1%	9.8%	7.4%	Operating marginOp. mgn
($271M)	($289M)	($245M)	($235M)	($282M)	($168M)	($216M)	($61M)	$226M	$391M	$376M	Net incomeNet inc.
											Cash flow & returns
($208M)	($218M)	($167M)	($151M)	($136M)	($126M)	($114M)	$17M	$158M	$110M	$123M	Operating cash flowOp. cash
$843K	$1M	$2M	$1M	$1M	$2M	$2M	$1M	$920K	$871K	$913K	DepreciationDeprec.
$7M	($5M)	($5M)	$575K	$60M	($24M)	$32M	$10M	($137M)	($334M)	($309M)	Working capital & otherWC & other
$2M	$812K	$2M	$1M	$8M	$1M	$0	$50K	$523K	$5M	$10M	CapexCapex
8.7%	0.7%	0.9%	0.3%	1.7%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%	0.4%	0.9%	Capex / revenueCapex/rev
($209M)	($219M)	($169M)	($152M)	($138M)	($127M)	($114M)	$17M	$157M	$109M	$123M	Owner earningsOwner earn.
n/m	−175.0%	−75.5%	−44.9%	−31.2%	−26.2%	−22.0%	2.3%	16.4%	10.2%	11.2%	Owner earnings marginOE mgn
($210M)	($219M)	($170M)	($152M)	($144M)	($127M)	($114M)	$17M	$157M	$105M	$114M	Free cash flowFCF
n/m	−175.0%	−75.8%	−44.9%	−32.5%	−26.2%	−22.0%	2.3%	16.4%	9.8%	10.4%	Free cash flow marginFCF mgn
-61%	-87%	-57%	-38%	-75%	-34%	-62%	-24%	49%	10%	8%	ROICROIC
-52%	-86%	-51%	-34%	-45%	-31%	-54%	-14%	31%	32%	30%	Return on equityROE
−52%	−86%	−51%	−34%	−45%	−31%	−54%	−14%	31%	32%	30%	Retained to equityRetained/eq
											Balance sheet
$164M	$69M	$135M	$190M	$326M	$147M	$115M	$189M	$320M	$178M	$365M	Cash & investmentsCash+inv
$6M	$17M	$26M	$36M	$48M	$64M	$62M	$98M	$99M	$121M	$135M	ReceivablesReceiv.
$4M	$5M	$4M	$6M	$10M	$14M	$12M	$40M	$92M	$111M	$112M	InventoryInvent.
$4M	$9M	$3M	$7M	$8M	$7M	$13M	$18M	$16M	$11M	$12M	Accounts payablePayables
$6M	$14M	$27M	$35M	$49M	$72M	$61M	$121M	$174M	$222M	$235M	Operating working capitalOper. WC
$548M	$373M	$526M	$760M	$718M	$618M	$508M	$616M	$938M	$1.1B	$1.1B	Current assetsCur. assets
$43M	$49M	$60M	$75M	$106M	$96M	$126M	$254M	$395M	$277M	$306M	Current liabilitiesCur. liab.
12.9×	7.6×	8.8×	10.2×	6.8×	6.4×	4.0×	2.4×	2.4×	3.8×	3.6×	Current ratioCurr. ratio
$561M	$385M	$540M	$783M	$783M	$700M	$588M	$749M	$1.2B	$1.6B	$1.6B	Total assetsAssets
$518M	$335M	$479M	$699M	$627M	$541M	$400M	$432M	$733M	$1.2B	$1.2B	Shareholders’ equityEquity
318.9%	60.5%	36.4%	24.3%	19.1%	13.1%	13.2%	9.1%	7.0%	4.9%	5.1%	Stock comp / revenueSBC/rev
											Per share
116M	123M	127M	147M	157M	160M	162M	164M	166M	170M	173M	Shares out (diluted)Shares
$0.15	$1.02	$1.77	$2.30	$2.81	$3.02	$3.20	$4.43	$5.76	$6.31	$6.34	Revenue / shareRev/sh
$-2.34	$-2.36	$-1.94	$-1.60	$-1.79	$-1.05	$-1.34	$-0.37	$1.36	$2.30	$2.18	EPS (diluted)EPS
$-1.81	$-1.78	$-1.34	$-1.03	$-0.87	$-0.79	$-0.71	$0.10	$0.94	$0.64	$0.71	Owner earnings / shareOE/sh
$-1.81	$-1.78	$-1.34	$-1.03	$-0.91	$-0.79	$-0.71	$0.10	$0.94	$0.62	$0.66	Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh
$0.01	$0.01	$0.02	$0.01	$0.05	$0.01	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.03	$0.06	Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh
$4.47	$2.73	$3.78	$4.75	$3.99	$3.37	$2.48	$2.64	$4.40	$7.22	$7.23	Book value / shareBVPS

Per-share growththe realized rate an owner's share compounded

	9-yr	5-yr
Revenue / share	+51.5%/yr	+17.6%/yr
Capital spending / share	+8.7%/yr	−10.6%/yr
Book value / share	+5.5%/yr	+12.6%/yr

The record, charted

FY2016–2025

Each measure over its full record; the current point and the worst year marked.

Share count

170Mpeak FY2025

ROIC

10%low FY2017

Gross margin

92%low FY2016

Owner earnings vs. net income

Owner earningsNet income

The accountant's number, and the cash an owner can take; the gap is the tell.

$109Mowner earningsvs.$391Mnet incomelow FY2017

Where the cash went

ReinvestBuybacksDividendsAcquisitionsRetained

Each year's operating cash, by what management did with it: the mix, and how it drifts.

FY2023FY2025

Owner-earnings bridge

FY2021–FY2025cash-flow statement, SEC EDGAR →

Net income is the accountant's number; owner earnings is the cash an owner could take out. The walk between them, off the cash-flow statement, and whether the gap is widening or holding.

In fiscal 2025 the business earned $109M of owner earnings, the operating cash left after the $871K it takes just to hold its position. It put $4M more into growth; free cash flow, after that spending, was $105M.

Reported net income$391M

Owner earnings$109M · 10% of revenue

	FY2025	FY2024	FY2023	FY2022	FY2021
Reported net income	$391M	$226M	($61M)	($216M)	($168M)
Depreciation & amortizationnon-cash charge added back	+$871K	+$920K	+$1M	+$2M	+$2M
Stock-based compensationreal costnon-cash, but a real cost	+$52M	+$67M	+$66M	+$68M	+$64M
Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items	−$334M	−$137M	+$10M	+$32M	−$24M
Cash from operations	$110M	$158M	$17M	($114M)	($126M)
Maintenance capital expenditurethe spending needed just to hold position and volume	−$871K	−$523K	−$50K	—	−$1M
Owner earnings	$109M	$157M	$17M	($114M)	($127M)
Growth capital expenditurediscretionary; spent to get bigger, not to stand still	−$4M	—	—	—	—
Free cash flow	$105M	$157M	$17M	($114M)	($127M)
Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue	10%	16%	2%	-22%	-26%

Owner earnings is the cash an owner could pull out without starving the business: operating cash less the maintenance capital it must spend to hold its position (here about $871K, roughly its depreciation, the rate its assets wear out). The other $4M of its capital spending is growth it chose, not upkeep it owed; charged only with the maintenance it must do, the business earns well more than the year's free cash flow shows. The cash-flow statement also adds stock comp back as non-cash, but it is a real cost paid in shares; counted as the expense it is (less $52M), owner earnings is nearer $57M.

Much of fiscal 2025's profit didn't arrive as operating cash; it sits in “working capital & other” above. That can be a real inventory or timing swing, or profit that doesn't run through operating cash at all: a heavy tax year, equity-method earnings, or investment income booked through investing. For a year like this, owner earnings understates the cash earned; the full cash-flow statement carries the rest.

Maintenance capex is estimated as depreciation where a growing business invests above it; free cash flow is the figure the scorecard's free-cash margin reads.

III

Quality & stewardship

Returns, the balance sheet, capital allocation, and pay.

Owner’s Scorecard

FY2025 10-K · source on SEC EDGAR →

Will it survive?

Can it pay its interest? —

No meaningful interest burden

Little or no interest expense reported

What this means
Little or no interest expense reported, the business isn't leaning on lenders to operate.
How heavy is the debt, net of cash? +$228M

Net cash

Cash $178M + ST investments $50M − debt $32K

What this means
Cash and short-term investments exceed every dollar of debt by $228M, on net the company owes nothing, and can act from strength when others can't. Net debt is the leverage figure that matters: the cash is already set against the debt. Strategic or illiquid investments aren't counted here.
How long is cash tied up? 453d

Long (60+ days)

DSO 41 + DIO 457 − DPO 45 days

What this means
Days cash is tied up between paying suppliers and collecting from customers. Lower is better; a long cycle means growth itself eats cash.

Is it a good business?

Return on invested capital -57%

Below average through the cycle

10-yr median, range -87%–49%; 10% latest = NOPAT $105M ÷ invested capital $1.0B

Industry peers: median 6%

What this means
The rate the business earns on the money tied up in it, Buffett's north star, because over time a stock tracks the ROIC beneath it. Above ~15% sustained hints at a moat; a return below the cost of capital (~8%) erodes value as a business grows rather than building it — the test Buffett weighs most. The headline is the median of the last 10 years (it ran 10% most recently), so one peak or trough year doesn't set the verdict. Asset-light businesses (R&D expensed, little capital) read artificially high, pair this with Owner Earnings.
Owner-earnings margin 10%

Solid, recently turned positive

latest $109M = operating cash $110M − maintenance capex $871K; positive each of the last 3 years, after an earlier loss stretch (10-yr median -31%)

Industry peers: median 3%

What this means
What an owner could take out without starving the business: operating cash less the maintenance capital it must spend to hold its position — Buffett's owner earnings. That's 10% of revenue this year, a -31% median across 10 years. Treating stock comp as the real expense it is (less $52M of SBC) leaves $57M.
Are earnings backed by cash? 0.28×

Thinly cash-backed

Cash from ops $110M ÷ net income $391M

What this means
How much of reported profit showed up as operating cash. Above 1× is reassuring; well below suggests earnings lean on accruals. One year is noisy, growth and working-capital swings distort it, and this is operating cash, not free cash. Watch the multi-year trend.

How is the cash used?

Where do the earnings go? —

Not enough data

What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.
Investing or harvesting? 5.38×

Expanding

Capex $5M ÷ depreciation $871K

What this means
Descriptive, not a grade. Above ~1× means investing faster than assets wear out (growth, or, sustained for years, today's earnings carrying less depreciation than tomorrow's will). Below means spending less than it's wearing out (efficiency, or a melting asset base). The ratio won't tell you which; the filings will.

Graham’s defensive tests · 2 of 5 met

Graham’s numerical criteria for the defensive investor (The Intelligent Investor, ch. 14), run on the filings. A floor of safety, not a buy signal; many fine modern businesses fail his strictest liquidity rules by design.

Adequate size Near

Revenue ≥ $2B · $1.1B

What this means
Big enough to weather a storm. Graham's 1972 floor was ~$100M of sales (≈ $700M today); we use a $2B revenue line as a conservative modern stand-in.
Strong liquidity Pass

Current ratio ≥ 2× · 3.83×

What this means
Current assets at least twice current liabilities, near-term bills covered without touching the business. Strict by design: many cash-rich modern firms run leaner and miss it, holding their cushion in longer-dated securities.
Conservative debt Pass

Debt ≤ working capital · $32K vs $785M WC

What this means
Graham's rule that borrowings not exceed net current assets. Capital-heavy and buyback-heavy firms routinely fail it, read it next to interest coverage, not alone.
Earnings stability Miss

A profit every year (10-yr record) · 8 loss years

What this means
Graham wanted earnings in each of the past ten years, the stability a defensive owner leans on.
Dividend record Miss

Uninterrupted dividends · none paid

What this means
An unbroken dividend was Graham's mark of durability. He wanted twenty years; the filings show about ten, and a single suspension breaks the streak. Non-payers, many fine modern compounders, fall outside his defensive net by design.
Earnings growth —

Earnings +33% over the record · —

What this means
Earnings were negative early in the record, a growth rate isn't meaningful.
Moderate price —

P/E ≤ 15 and P/E × P/B ≤ 22.5 · decided by the price

What this means
Graham's valuation gate, the wall he kept between a sound business and a sound investment. Three-year average earnings are $1.08/share (latest year $2.28), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is $7.17/share. Enter a price in “What the price implies” just below for the P/E, P/B, and whether it clears. But this is the rule Buffett outgrew: there's no hard P/E law, and a wonderful business can deserve a far richer multiple if the thesis holds, treat it as the bargain-hunter's floor, not a verdict on the price.

Durability & moat, 2016–2025

Whether the record’s returns held, and what the capital reinvested earned.

Profitable years 2 of 10

What this means
Lost money in 8 year(s), look at what happened there before trusting the average.
Operating margin −640% → 8% (3-yr avg ends)

What this means
Through the cycle the operating margin widened — about −640% early to 8% lately, median −65% — pricing power intact or improving.
Worst year 2016 · −1574.1% op. margin

What this means
Operations went underwater in 2016, understand why before trusting the good years.
Share count +4.3%/yr

What this means
The share count is rising, dilution works against you on a per-share basis.

Does AI threaten the moat?

Low contestability

The moat is physical, regulated or balance-sheet-funded, the kind AI cuts costs within but does not contest.

AI is unlikely to contest a moat that is physical, regulated or balance-sheet-funded; here it reads more as a cost tool than a threat.

Read from the filing's own risk factors, paired with the industry's structure under its SIC code; the durability is read above, the price below.

All figures as filed; the source filing is linked above.

Current Position

as of the latest quarter, Mar 31, 2026

Can the business pay what it owes this year, off the freshest balance sheet: the quality of the assets, the debt actually coming due, and what a low ratio means here.

Current assets$1.1B

Cash & short-term investments$365M
Receivables$135M
Inventory$112M
Other current assets$483M

Current liabilities$306M

Debt due within a year$22K
Accounts payable$12M
Other current liabilities$293M

Current ratio3.59×all current assets ÷ what's due · Graham looked for 2×

Quick ratio3.22×stricter: inventory excluded

Cash ratio1.20×strictest: cash alone against what's due

Working capital$790Mthe cushion left after near-term bills

Debt due this year vs. cash$22K due · $365M cash covered by cash on hand, no refinancing forced · both figures from the Mar 31, 2026 balance sheet

Revenue, latest quarter vs. a year ago+9.7%the freshest read on whether the business is still growing

Current ratio, recent quarters2.2× → 3.6×

Deeper floors

Tangible book value$1.1Bequity stripped of goodwill & intangibles

Net current asset value$739MGraham's net-net: current assets less all liabilities

Debt incl. operating leases$51M$51M of it operating leases

Deferred revenue$7Mcustomer cash collected before delivery; operating float

From the company's latest filing.

Management, ownership & pay

read the proxy →

From the proxy: how much of the business the people running it own, and how they are paid, beside what the business earned for its owners in the same years.

Fiscal year	Chief executive	Pay, as filed	“Actually paid”	Owner earnings
2021	Stephen R. Davis	$9.8M	−$21.5M	($127M)
2022	Stephen R. Davis	$14.0M	$7.7M	($114M)
2023	Stephen R. Davis	$7.6M	$21.0M	$17M
2024	Stephen R. Davis	$12.2M	−$919k	$157M
2024	Stephen R. Davis	$7.6M	$8.8M	$157M
2025	Stephen R. Davis	$8.3M	$16.4M	$109M

Both pay figures are the company’s own, from the pay-versus-performance table its proxy statement files. “As filed” is the Summary Compensation Table total: salary, bonus, and equity awards at their value on the day of grant. “Actually paid” is the SEC’s prescribed recalculation, which re-marks those equity awards to what they became as they vested; it can swing far above or below the filed figure in either direction, and negative years occur. Owner earnings are the whole business's, from the record above, for the same fiscal years.

Insider ownership26.2%
The stake all directors and executive officers hold together, per the 2026 proxy: skin in the game, the first thing Munger reads.
Stock-based compensation$52M
The slice of the business handed to employees in shares this year, 5% of revenue, equal to 50% of operating profit. Buffett's oldest accounting fight: this is compensation, compensation is an expense, real whether or not the headline earnings admit it. One trap: the cash-flow statement adds SBC back, so the operating cash, and the owner earnings drawn from it, are flattered by exactly this amount; counted as the cost it is, what an owner keeps is lower.

What an owner would ask, FY2025

read the 10-K →

Which reported numbers are a judgment call?
Management names Revenue recognition, Income taxes, Stock compensation as critical estimates
each rests partly on management's judgment; the filing's note sets out the assumptionsverify →

The questions the record and the charts do not answer on their own; each carries the figure and the place to look.

Peers, Pharmaceuticals

The same industry, side by side on owner economics. Each figure is a through-cycle median, so a peak or trough year can’t distort it; the group median at the foot is the line to read each against.

Company	Revenue	Gross margin	Op. margin	ROIC	Owner earn. margin
PAHCPhibro Animal Health Corporation	$1.3B	32%	8.8%	16%	3%
INDVIndivior Pharmaceuticals Inc.	$1.2B	82%	-2.9%	—	-2%
PBHPrestige Consumer Healthcare	$1.1B	56%	29.0%	8%	21%
ACADACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc.	$1.1B	94%	-54.1%	-48%	-29%
MDGLMadrigal Pharmaceuticals Inc.	$958M	99%	-276.4%	-61%	-254%
IONSIonis Pharmaceuticals	$944M	99%	-16.9%	-11%	-14%
ANIPANI Pharmaceuticals Inc.	$883M	62%	8.8%	4%	17%
HRMYHarmony Biosciences Holdings Inc.	$868M	79%	26.7%	38%	32%
Group median	—	81%	2.9%	4%	0%

The price

What a price has to assume.

What the price implies

reverse-DCF

Type today's close and see the owner-earnings growth you'd have to believe to justify it, beside what ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. has delivered.

Today’s price $

Base Normalize · through-cycle ($93M) Net of stock comp (−$55M) Steady-state · maintenance capex ($123M)

—

The assumptions Required return 9% Years of high growth 10 Terminal growth 2.5%

9.0% = the 4.55% 10-year Treasury (Jul 15, 2026) + 4.45 points of equity premium. The rate you require is yours to set.

Enter a price above to run it.

Implied by the price—

Owner-earnings growth · since FY2023+151%/yr

Owner-earnings yield—

P/E (3-yr earnings ’23–’25)—

P/B—

Graham’s price gate—

Graham capped the multiple at 15×; Buffett and Munger let that rule go: a wonderful business can deserve 50× if the thesis holds. The gate marks the bargain-hunter's floor.

Against a high-grade bond: Graham’s yardstick bond yield%

Prefilled with the 10-year Treasury (4.55%, as of Jul 15, 2026). Edit it for today’s exact figure, or a AAA corporate yield.

Graham measured a stock against the bond you could own instead, the heart of his margin of safety. Enter a price above to weigh the owner-earnings yield against this bond.

Free cash flow $114M on 171M shares outstanding, per the 10-Q cover, as of 2026-04-29; net cash $365M. The base is the latest year by default; Normalize values it on the through-cycle median owner-earnings margin (to avoid paying on a peak year). Net of stock comp treats option pay as the expense it is. Capex ($10M) runs well above depreciation ($913K), so this is a build-out; Steady-state swaps total capex for maintenance (≈ depreciation), lifting the base to about $123M, the cash it would throw off if it stopped expanding. The dials set the multiple a growth belief justifies; the price, and every dollar on this page, is yours.

Weigh ACAD against another business →

The owners of ACAD: the meeting and the votes →

Cite: Owner Scorecard, "ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ACAD), the owner's record," https://ownerscorecard.com/c/ACAD, data as of 2026-07-09.

Manual order: ← ACA its page in the Manual ACCO →

Industry order: ← ABUS the Pharmaceuticals chapter ACB →