Share count
101Mpeak FY2025
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ACIU, AC Immune SA
Immune is a leading, clinical stage biopharmaceutical company advancing a portfolio of programs strategically focused on pioneering Precision Medicine for neurodegenerative diseases.
Leveraging our dual proprietary technology platforms, SupraAntigen and Morphomer, we have built a comprehensive pipeline of first-in-class or best-in-class candidates spanning multiple treatment modalities and targeting both established and emerging neurodegenerative pathologies.
D., is a skilled manager of translational research with extensive knowledge of global product development from early discovery to late stage clinical development in the biotech industry, as well as significant experience in project and program management.
The business
What it sells, where the money comes from, the kind of company it is.
Revenue · FY2025
CHF 4M
−86.9% YoY · −25% 5-yr CAGR
Vital signs · TTM
Cash & investments CHF 27M
Cash burn · annual CHF 69M
Runway 5 mo
The business in brief
read the 10-K →What this business is and what moves its needle, from its own SEC filings.
- Situation
- Unprofitable. No meaningful revenue yet; the record is the cash on hand against the burn. Capital build-out. Capital spending has surged to 25% of sales, today's earnings are charged less depreciation than tomorrow's will be.
- What moves the needle
- Operating margin has reached 40% at its best but run negative through the cycle (median −362%) — 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. Capital spending runs about 8.9% of sales, so the return earned on what it sinks into that plant weighs as much as the margin. Read this kind of business on the pipeline against the patent cliff, and pricing. On its own account, the filing leans hardest on pricing power & competition, 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 −53%, above 15% in 1 of 8 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 | TTMTTMDec 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income statement | |||||||||||
| CHF 23M | CHF 20M | CHF 7M | CHF 110M | CHF 15M | CHF 0 | CHF 4M | CHF 15M | CHF 27M | CHF 4M | CHF 4M | RevenueRevenue |
| (CHF 10M) | (CHF 23M) | (CHF 50M) | CHF 45M | (CHF 61M) | (CHF 79M) | (CHF 71M) | (CHF 54M) | (CHF 52M) | (CHF 69M) | (CHF 69M) | Operating incomeOp. inc. |
| −45.0% | −111.3% | −716.9% | 40.3% | −397.0% | — | n/m | −362.3% | −191.8% | n/m | n/m | Operating marginOp. mgn |
| (CHF 7M) | (CHF 26M) | (CHF 51M) | CHF 45M | (CHF 62M) | (CHF 73M) | (CHF 71M) | (CHF 54M) | (CHF 51M) | (CHF 70M) | (CHF 70M) | Net incomeNet inc. |
| Cash flow & returns | |||||||||||
| (CHF 6M) | (CHF 22M) | (CHF 44M) | CHF 55M | (CHF 60M) | (CHF 66M) | (CHF 74M) | (CHF 60M) | CHF 66M | (CHF 69M) | (CHF 69M) | Operating cash flowOp. cash |
| CHF 278K | CHF 580K | CHF 961K | CHF 1M | CHF 2M | CHF 2M | CHF 2M | CHF 2M | CHF 1M | CHF 1M | CHF 1M | DepreciationDeprec. |
| CHF 1M | CHF 4M | CHF 6M | CHF 9M | CHF 869K | CHF 5M | (CHF 5M) | (CHF 8M) | CHF 115M | (CHF 208K) | (CHF 208K) | Working capital & otherWC & other |
| CHF 899K | CHF 2M | CHF 2M | CHF 2M | CHF 2M | CHF 3M | CHF 1M | CHF 801K | CHF 576K | CHF 900K | CHF 900K | CapexCapex |
| 3.9% | 8.9% | 26.9% | 1.7% | 11.1% | — | 31.5% | 5.4% | 2.1% | 25.2% | 25.2% | Capex / revenueCapex/rev |
| (CHF 7M) | (CHF 24M) | (CHF 46M) | CHF 53M | (CHF 61M) | (CHF 68M) | (CHF 75M) | (CHF 61M) | CHF 65M | (CHF 70M) | (CHF 70M) | Owner earningsOwner earn. |
| −28.2% | −118.0% | −664.6% | 48.3% | −396.8% | — | n/m | −413.5% | 239.0% | n/m | n/m | Owner earnings marginOE mgn |
| (CHF 7M) | (CHF 24M) | (CHF 46M) | CHF 53M | (CHF 61M) | (CHF 68M) | (CHF 75M) | (CHF 61M) | CHF 65M | (CHF 70M) | (CHF 70M) | Free cash flowFCF |
| −28.2% | −118.0% | −664.6% | 48.3% | −396.8% | — | n/m | −413.5% | 239.0% | n/m | n/m | Free cash flow marginFCF mgn |
| — | — | CHF 0 | CHF 0 | CHF 100K | CHF 0 | CHF 0 | — | — | — | — | BuybacksBuybacks |
| — | — | -185% | 56% | -89% | -42% | -41% | -52% | -54% | -303% | -303% | ROICROIC |
| -5% | -23% | -29% | 17% | -29% | -31% | -42% | -34% | -45% | -157% | -157% | Return on equityROE |
| −5% | −23% | −29% | 17% | −29% | −31% | −42% | −34% | −45% | −157% | −157% | Retained to equityRetained/eq |
| Balance sheet | |||||||||||
| CHF 152M | CHF 124M | CHF 156M | CHF 194M | CHF 161M | CHF 82M | CHF 32M | CHF 78M | CHF 36M | CHF 27M | CHF 27M | Cash & investmentsCash+inv |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | CHF 15M | CHF 0 | — | CHF 0 | ReceivablesReceiv. |
| CHF 4M | CHF 1M | CHF 2M | CHF 142K | CHF 2M | CHF 2M | CHF 929K | CHF 2M | CHF 3M | CHF 2M | CHF 2M | Accounts payablePayables |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | CHF 13M | (CHF 3M) | — | (CHF 2M) | Operating working capitalOper. WC |
| CHF 155M | CHF 130M | CHF 193M | CHF 293M | CHF 232M | CHF 203M | CHF 128M | CHF 125M | CHF 172M | CHF 97M | CHF 97M | Current assetsCur. assets |
| CHF 10M | CHF 10M | CHF 13M | CHF 18M | CHF 14M | CHF 20M | CHF 11M | CHF 14M | CHF 101M | CHF 95M | CHF 95M | Current liabilitiesCur. liab. |
| 15.6× | 13.3× | 14.7× | 16.7× | 16.5× | 10.1× | 11.2× | 9.2× | 1.7× | 1.0× | 1.0× | Current ratioCurr. ratio |
| CHF 156M | CHF 132M | CHF 197M | CHF 299M | CHF 239M | CHF 261M | CHF 186M | CHF 183M | CHF 231M | CHF 154M | CHF 154M | Total assetsAssets |
| (CHF 152M) | (CHF 124M) | (CHF 156M) | (CHF 194M) | (CHF 161M) | (CHF 82M) | (CHF 32M) | (CHF 78M) | (CHF 36M) | (CHF 27M) | (CHF 27M) | Net debt / (cash)Net debt |
| -1493.7× | -153.3× | -148.4× | 23.1× | -332.9× | -136.0× | -199.6× | -304.7× | -393.8× | -362.9× | -362.9× | Interest coverageInt. cov. |
| CHF 142M | CHF 117M | CHF 178M | CHF 272M | CHF 215M | CHF 232M | CHF 169M | CHF 161M | CHF 112M | CHF 45M | CHF 45M | Shareholders’ equityEquity |
| Per share | |||||||||||
| 50.1M | 57.1M | 61.8M | 70.6M | 71.9M | 75.0M | 83.6M | 84.7M | 99.7M | 101M | 101M | Shares out (diluted)Shares |
| CHF 0.46 | CHF 0.35 | CHF 0.11 | CHF 1.56 | CHF 0.21 | CHF 0.00 | CHF 0.05 | CHF 0.17 | CHF 0.27 | CHF 0.04 | CHF 0.04 | Revenue / shareRev/sh |
| CHF -0.14 | CHF -0.46 | CHF -0.82 | CHF 0.64 | CHF -0.86 | CHF -0.97 | CHF -0.85 | CHF -0.64 | CHF -0.51 | CHF -0.70 | CHF -0.70 | EPS (diluted)EPS |
| CHF -0.13 | CHF -0.42 | CHF -0.74 | CHF 0.76 | CHF -0.85 | CHF -0.91 | CHF -0.90 | CHF -0.72 | CHF 0.65 | CHF -0.70 | CHF -0.70 | Owner earnings / shareOE/sh |
| CHF -0.13 | CHF -0.42 | CHF -0.74 | CHF 0.76 | CHF -0.85 | CHF -0.91 | CHF -0.90 | CHF -0.72 | CHF 0.65 | CHF -0.70 | CHF -0.70 | Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh |
| CHF 0.02 | CHF 0.03 | CHF 0.03 | CHF 0.03 | CHF 0.02 | CHF 0.04 | CHF 0.01 | CHF 0.01 | CHF 0.01 | CHF 0.01 | CHF 0.01 | Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh |
| CHF 2.84 | CHF 2.05 | CHF 2.87 | CHF 3.86 | CHF 3.00 | CHF 3.10 | CHF 2.02 | CHF 1.90 | CHF 1.13 | CHF 0.45 | CHF 0.45 | Book value / shareBVPS |
Per-share growththe realized rate an owner's share compounded
| 9-yr | 5-yr | |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue / share | −24.8%/yr | −30.2%/yr |
| Capital spending / share | −7.5%/yr | −17.7%/yr |
| Book value / share | −18.6%/yr | −31.7%/yr |
The record, charted
FY2016–2025Each measure over its full record; the current point and the worst year marked.
ROIC
−303%low FY2025
Owner earnings vs. net income
Owner earningsNet incomeThe accountant's number, and the cash an owner can take; the gap is the tell.
(CHF 70M)owner earningsvs.(CHF 70M)net incomelow FY2022
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 turned a CHF 70M loss into (CHF 70M) of owner earnings: more cash than the profit line showed, after the non-cash charges and the capital it put back in.
| FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reported net income | (CHF 70M) | (CHF 51M) | (CHF 54M) | (CHF 71M) | (CHF 73M) |
| Depreciation & amortizationnon-cash charge added back | +CHF 1M | +CHF 1M | +CHF 2M | +CHF 2M | +CHF 2M |
| Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items | −CHF 208K | +CHF 115M | −CHF 8M | −CHF 5M | +CHF 5M |
| Cash from operations | (CHF 69M) | CHF 66M | (CHF 60M) | (CHF 74M) | (CHF 66M) |
| Capital expenditurecash put back in to keep running and to grow | −CHF 900K | −CHF 576K | −CHF 801K | −CHF 1M | −CHF 3M |
| Owner earnings | (CHF 70M) | CHF 65M | (CHF 61M) | (CHF 75M) | (CHF 68M) |
| Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue | -1964% | 239% | -414% | -1901% | — |
Owner earnings is the cash an owner could pull out without starving the business: operating cash less the capital it must spend to hold its position .
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.
Quality & stewardship
Returns, the balance sheet, capital allocation, and pay.
Owner’s Scorecard
FY2025 20-F · source on SEC EDGAR →
Will it survive?
- Can it pay its interest? -362.9×Does not cover its interestOperating income (CHF 69M) ÷ interest expense CHF 191K
What this means
A full year of operating profit didn't cover the interest bill. This is the zombie zone: the business depends on refinancing, asset sales, or forbearance to service its debt.
- How heavy is the debt, net of cash? +CHF 27MNet cash, debt-freeCash CHF 27M − debt CHF 0
What this means
Cash and short-term investments exceed every dollar of debt by CHF 27M, 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.
- Not enough data
What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.
Is it a good business?
- Not enough dataIndustry peers: median -53%
What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.
- Owner-earnings margin -397%Consumes cash through the cycle9-yr median margin, range -1964%–239%; latest (CHF 70M) = operating cash (CHF 69M) − maintenance capex CHF 900KIndustry peers: median -1011%
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 -1964% of revenue this year, a -397% median across 9 years.
- Are earnings backed by cash? (CHF 69M)Loss, and burning cashNet income (CHF 70M) · cash from operations (CHF 69M)
What this means
The company reported a net loss, so a conversion ratio isn't meaningful. What matters then is whether operations still threw off cash, here, they did not.
How is the cash used?
- Not enough data
What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.
- Investing or harvesting? 0.65×HarvestingCapex CHF 900K ÷ depreciation CHF 1M
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 · 0 of 3 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 —Revenue ≥ $2B (a dollar floor) · CHF 4M
What this means
Big enough to weather a storm. Graham's floor is a dollar figure — about $2B of revenue as a conservative modern stand-in. This company reports in its home currency and we carry no exchange rate, so we show the figure and leave the size bar for you to apply rather than convert it with a number we don't have.
- Strong liquidity MissCurrent ratio ≥ 2× · 1.02×
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.
- Earnings stability MissA profit every year (10-yr record) · 9 loss years
What this means
Graham wanted earnings in each of the past ten years, the stability a defensive owner leans on.
- Dividend record MissUninterrupted 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 CHF -0.58/share (latest year CHF -0.69), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is CHF 0.44/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 1 of 10
What this means
Lost money in 9 year(s), look at what happened there before trusting the average.
- Operating margin −291% → −831% (3-yr avg ends)
What this means
Through the cycle the operating margin slipped — about −291% early to −831% lately, median −362% — competition or costs are biting in.
- Worst year 2025 · −1940.1% op. margin
What this means
Operations went underwater in 2025, understand why before trusting the good years.
Does AI threaten the moat?
Low contestabilityThe moat is physical, regulated or balance-sheet-funded, the kind AI cuts costs within but does not contest.
In its own filing Named as a competitive risk
Its FY2025 10-K names artificial intelligence as a competitive threat.
“Events such as these have significantly increased in recent years, in part because of the proliferation of new technologies (including artificial intelligence), and if such an event were to occur and cause interruptions in our operations, it could result in a material disruption of our development programs and our busi…”
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 fiscal year-end, Dec 31, 2025Can 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 assetsCHF 97M
- Cash & short-term investmentsCHF 27M
- Other current assetsCHF 70M
Current liabilitiesCHF 95M
- Accounts payableCHF 2M
- Other current liabilitiesCHF 93M
Current ratio1.02×all current assets ÷ what's due · Graham looked for 2×
Quick ratio—inventory untagged this quarter, so withheld rather than shown equal to the current ratio
Cash ratio0.28×strictest: cash alone against what's due
Working capitalCHF 2Mthe cushion left after near-term bills
Cash runway0.4 yrsthe business is consuming cash; this is how long the cash on hand lasts at that rate
Deeper floors
Tangible book value(CHF 6M)equity stripped of goodwill & intangibles
Net current asset value(CHF 13M)Graham's net-net: current assets less all liabilities
Debt incl. operating leasesCHF 2MCHF 2M of it operating leases
Deferred revenueCHF 84Mcustomer cash collected before delivery; operating float
From the company's latest filing.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| COGTCogent Biosciences Inc. | $8M | — | -341.4% | -48% | -320% |
| CPHIChina Pharma Holdings Inc. | $4M | 9% | -65.3% | -29% | -2% |
| ATAIAtaiBeckley Inc. | $4M | — | -15751.1% | -356% | -2533% |
| ACIUAC Immune SA | CHF 4M | — | -362.3% | -53% | -397% |
| CRSPCRISPR Therapeutics AG | $4M | — | -1284.9% | -27% | -715% |
| UPBUpstream Bio Inc. | $3M | — | -3281.2% | -53% | -2500% |
| DNTHDianthus Therapeutics Inc. | $2M | — | -1704.7% | -54% | -1308% |
| SGMTSagimet Biosciences Inc. Series A | $2M | — | -2844.5% | -59% | — |
| Group median | — | — | -1494.8% | -53% | -715% |
The price
What a price has to assume.
What the price implies
reverse-DCFEnter the home-market price, not the US ADR quote. AC Immune SA reports in CHF, and every figure here (owner earnings, book value, the share count) is on that CHF, ordinary-share basis. Enter the price on the same basis: the local-exchange quote per ordinary share in CHF. A US ADR price in dollars bundles the ADR-to-ordinary ratio and the exchange rate, so it will not reconcile with these figures and would throw the multiple off.
AC Immune SA is profitable, but owner earnings are negative this year because capital spending currently outruns operating cash, a build-out, so the owner-earnings reverse-DCF has no positive base to grow. We read the price from both ends instead: type a price to see the steady-state profitability it demands, then set the mature margin you would believe and weigh the two against each other. Nothing leaves your browser unless you enter it in your notebook.
CHF
The assumptions
Revenue, delivered−9%/yr’20→’25
Enter a price to run it.
Owner earnings it must reach—
Margin the price demands—
Owner-earnings margin today−1964%
A dated snapshot of the price you typed, the assumptions you set, and what the page showed for them. A snapshot is never edited after it is saved. Your notebook is yours alone — the commitment states what is stored and what we will never do.
Two reads of one future. From your price: the owner earnings the company must reach, valued at a mature multiple and discounted back at your rate, expressed as the margin it implies on revenue grown at your rate. From your belief: the mature margin you would credit, set on the dial above. When the margin the price demands runs above the one you would believe, you are paying for a future taken on faith. For a deep cyclical at a trough, normalized through-cycle earnings are the better lens; this mode is for the genuinely unprofitable, and for the profitable business whose capital spending currently outruns its cash.
Cite: Owner Scorecard, "AC Immune SA (ACIU), the owner's record," https://ownerscorecard.com/c/ACIU, data as of 2026-07-09.
Manual order: ← ACCL its page in the Manual ADAG →
Industry order: ← ACB the Pharmaceuticals chapter ACRS →