Owner Scorecard


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ARDX, Ardelyx Inc.

Pharmaceuticals consumer brand UnprofitableDistress / turnaround

We are a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative medicines that meet significant unmet medical needs.

We currently market two therapies from the active ingredient tenapanor, a sodium/hydrogen exchanger (NHE3) inhibitor that was discovered and developed by Ardelyx.

Tenapanor, branded as IBSRELA , is approved in the U.S. for the treatment of adults with irritable bowel syndrome with constipation.

Latest annual: FY2025 10-K
ARDX · Ardelyx Inc.
I

The business

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

Revenue · FY2025
$407M
+22.1% YoY · 122% 5-yr CAGR
Vital signs · TTM, with 5-yr average
Revenue $428M 5-yr avg $186M
Operating margin −8.7% 5-yr avg −344.0%
ROIC −9% 5-yr avg −101%
Owner-earnings margin −9% 5-yr avg −352%
Free cash flow margin −9% 5-yr avg −352%

The business in brief

read the 10-K →

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

What it is
Revenue is led by IBSRELA (67%) and XPHOZAH (25%), with 3 more lines behind.
Situation
Unprofitable. No sustained operating profit across the record; an earnings multiple has nothing to rest on. What the record does show is revenue, the gross-margin trajectory, and the burn against the cash on hand. Distress / turnaround. Thin interest coverage, or operating cash burned against real debt, across the record. The balance sheet carries this situation; the debt schedule sets the clock.
What moves the needle
Operating margin has run around −155% through the cycle on a 86% gross margin, the operating line in the red even at its best — so the lever is whether the spending below the gross line can come down enough to clear a profit: revenue growth against the cost curve, and the cash runway until it does. The cash cycle has run negative through the cycle (a median of −77 days): the operation is paid before it pays, so working capital releases cash as the business grows rather than tying it up. 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 −82%, above 15% in 0 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.

Where the money comes from

read the 10-K →

IBSRELA is 67% of revenue, with XPHOZAH the other meaningful line at 25%.

Revenue by product line, FY2025
  • IBSRELA67%$274M
  • XPHOZAH25%$104M
  • Product supply revenue4%$16M
  • Non-Cash Royalty Related To Sale of Future Royalties2%$9M
  • License1%$5M
By geographyUnited States93%Asia Pacific7%North America0%

From the segment footnote of the company's own 10-K. Shares are of total revenue; the profit bar shows each segment's share of segment operating profit, before unallocated corporate costs.

II

The record

Ten years of arithmetic, read across the cycle.

The record, 2015–2025

realized figures from each filing · older years to the left
2015’152017’172018’182019’192020’202021’212022’222023’232024’242025’25TTMTTMMar 2026
Income statement
$24M$42M$3M$5M$8M$10M$52M$124M$334M$407M$428MRevenueRevenue
80%82%89%98%90%86%85%90%Gross marginGross mgn
56%55%910%460%438%716%147%108%78%83%83%SG&A / revenueSG&A/rev
166%180%n/mn/m859%903%67%29%16%18%18%R&D / revenueR&D/rev
($29M)($65M)($91M)($91M)($91M)($154M)($64M)($63M)($28M)($41M)($37M)Operating incomeOp. inc.
−122.3%−155.0%n/mn/mn/mn/m−122.2%−50.8%−8.4%−10.1%−8.7%Operating marginOp. mgn
($30M)($64M)($91M)($95M)($94M)($158M)($67M)($66M)($39M)($62M)($58M)Net incomeNet inc.
Cash flow & returns
($72M)($65M)($70M)($76M)($81M)($153M)($70M)($90M)($45M)($42M)($36M)Operating cash flowOp. cash
$800K$3M$3M$3M$3M$3M$1M$1M$2M$3M$3MDepreciationDeprec.
($46M)($13M)$9M$6M($246K)($9M)($15M)($38M)($45M)($33M)($33M)Working capital & otherWC & other
$3M$2M$311K$325K$324K$2M$55K$344K$1M$1M$1MCapexCapex
14.4%5.6%11.9%6.2%4.3%18.5%0.1%0.3%0.3%0.4%0.3%Capex / revenueCapex/rev
($73M)($68M)($71M)($77M)($82M)($154M)($70M)($90M)($46M)($44M)($37M)Owner earningsOwner earn.
−302.3%−160.8%n/mn/mn/mn/m−134.4%−72.4%−13.7%−10.8%−8.8%Owner earnings marginOE mgn
($75M)($68M)($71M)($77M)($82M)($154M)($70M)($90M)($46M)($44M)($37M)Free cash flowFCF
−313.4%−160.8%n/mn/mn/mn/m−134.4%−72.4%−13.7%−10.8%−8.8%Free cash flow marginFCF mgn
-1224%-80%-81%-130%-84%-287%-174%-26%-9%-11%-9%ROICROIC
-27%-46%-79%-51%-75%-191%-68%-40%-23%-37%-39%Return on equityROE
−27%−46%−79%−51%−75%−191%−68%−40%−23%−37%−39%Retained to equityRetained/eq
Balance sheet
$107M$75M$79M$181M$91M$72M$96M$21M$65M$68M$31MCash & investmentsCash+inv
$11M$85K$0$502K$8M$22M$58M$72M$83MReceivablesReceiv.
$28M$49M$91M$123M$128MInventoryInvent.
$3M$4M$1M$2M$6M$4M$11M$11M$16M$19M$28MAccounts payablePayables
$7M($1M)($6M)($4M)$25M$60M$133M$176M$183MOperating working capitalOper. WC
$112M$150M$176M$252M$195M$134M$154M$246M$356M$382M$382MCurrent assetsCur. assets
$8M$18M$18M$22M$28M$53M$66M$50M$78M$89M$110MCurrent liabilitiesCur. liab.
14.5×8.4×9.9×11.3×6.9×2.5×2.3×4.9×4.6×4.3×3.5×Current ratioCurr. ratio
$117M$158M$183M$260M$202M$150M$190M$298M$436M$502M$505MTotal assetsAssets
$52M$50M$51M$32M$27M$50M$151M$203M$230MTotal debtDebt
($27M)($131M)($40M)($40M)($69M)$28M$86M$135M$199MNet debt / (cash)Net debt
-25.7×-15.9×-17.8×-34.3×-18.8×-12.8×-2.1×-2.0×-1.7×Interest coverageInt. cov.
$109M$139M$116M$187M$126M$83M$98M$167M$173M$167M$149MShareholders’ equityEquity
11.0%22.8%353.9%188.1%139.8%119.2%20.6%10.9%11.2%12.0%11.9%Stock comp / revenueSBC/rev
Per share
22.9M47.4M56.2M64.5M89.6M104M159M219M235M241M246MShares out (diluted)Shares
$1.05$0.89$0.05$0.08$0.08$0.10$0.33$0.57$1.42$1.69$1.74Revenue / shareRev/sh
$-1.29$-1.36$-1.62$-1.47$-1.05$-1.52$-0.42$-0.30$-0.17$-0.26$-0.24EPS (diluted)EPS
$-3.17$-1.42$-1.26$-1.19$-0.91$-1.48$-0.44$-0.41$-0.19$-0.18$-0.15Owner earnings / shareOE/sh
$-3.29$-1.42$-1.26$-1.19$-0.91$-1.48$-0.44$-0.41$-0.19$-0.18$-0.15Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh
$0.15$0.05$0.01$0.01$0.00$0.02$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.01$0.01Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh
$4.76$2.94$2.06$2.89$1.41$0.79$0.62$0.76$0.74$0.69$0.60Book value / shareBVPS

The diluted share count moved ×2.07 into 2017 — shares issued, not a split the totals corroborate — and the per-share figures carry the counts as filed.

The diluted share count moved ×1.52 into 2022 — shares issued, not a split the totals corroborate — and the per-share figures carry the counts as filed.

Per-share growththe realized rate an owner's share compounded
10-yr5-yr
Revenue / share+4.9%/yr+82.0%/yr
Capital spending / share−27.3%/yr+11.3%/yr
Book value / share−17.5%/yr−13.2%/yr

The record, charted

FY2015–2025

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

Share count
241Mpeak FY2025
ROIC
−11%low FY2015
Gross margin
90%low FY2017

Owner earnings vs. net income

Owner earningsNet income

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

($44M)owner earningsvs.($62M)net incomelow FY2021

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 $62M loss into ($44M) of owner earnings: more cash than the profit line showed, after the non-cash charges and the capital it put back in.

FY2025FY2024FY2023FY2022FY2021
Reported net income($62M)($39M)($66M)($67M)($158M)
Depreciation & amortizationnon-cash charge added back+$3M+$2M+$1M+$1M+$3M
Stock-based compensationreal costnon-cash, but a real cost+$49M+$37M+$14M+$11M+$12M
Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items−$33M−$45M−$38M−$15M−$9M
Cash from operations($42M)($45M)($90M)($70M)($153M)
Capital expenditurecash put back in to keep running and to grow−$1M−$1M−$344K−$55K−$2M
Owner earnings($44M)($46M)($90M)($70M)($154M)
Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue-11%-14%-72%-134%-1529%

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 . 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 $49M), owner earnings is nearer ($93M).

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?

  • Does not cover its interest
    Operating income ($41M) ÷ interest expense $20M
    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.

  • Net debt against an operating loss
    Cash $68M − debt $203M
    What this means

    Netting $68M of cash and short-term investments against $203M of debt leaves $135M owed, with no operating profit this year to measure it against — understand that combination before anything else about the company. Net debt is the leverage figure that matters: the cash is already set against the debt. Strategic or illiquid investments aren't counted here.

  • Long (60+ days)
    DSO 64 + DIO 1137 − DPO 178 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?

  • Below average through the cycle
    10-yr median, range -1224%–-9%; -11% latest = NOPAT ($32M) ÷ invested capital $302M
    Industry peers: median -56%
    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 -11% 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.

  • Consumes cash through the cycle
    10-yr median margin, range -2708%–-11%; latest ($44M) = operating cash ($42M) − maintenance capex $1M
    Industry peers: median -45%
    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 -11% of revenue this year, a -302% median across 10 years. Treating stock comp as the real expense it is (less $49M of SBC) leaves ($93M).

  • Loss, and burning cash
    Net income ($62M) · cash from operations ($42M)
    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?

  • No surplus to allocate
    What this means

    The business didn't generate positive Owner Earnings this year, so any distributions came from the balance sheet or borrowing, not from operations.

  • Investing or harvesting? 0.49×
    Harvesting
    Capex $1M ÷ depreciation $3M
    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 Miss
    Revenue ≥ $2B · $407M
    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× · 4.31×
    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 · $203M vs $294M 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) · 10 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 $-0.23/share (latest year $-0.25), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is $0.68/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, 2015–2025

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

  • Profitable years 0 of 10
    What this means

    Lost money in 10 year(s), look at what happened there before trusting the average.

  • Return on capital ≥ 15% 0 of 8 yrs
    What this means

    A moat shows up as a high return on invested capital that holds year after year, not one good vintage.

  • Operating margin −1255% → −23% (3-yr avg ends)

    In the filing’s words The filing ties gains to its own pricing, but names price competition too — pricing power that is real yet contested, not unopposed. The margin shows who is winning.

    What this means

    Through the cycle the operating margin widened — about −1255% early to −23% lately, median −155% — pricing power intact or improving.

  • Reinvestment, incremental ROIC 8%
    What this means

    Reinvested capital came back at only a modest incremental return — near the cost of capital, where extra growth adds little per dollar. The record shows whether it is a soft stretch or a thinning moat.

  • Worst year 2018 · −3488.6% op. margin
    What this means

    Operations went underwater in 2018, understand why before trusting the good years.

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.

In its own filing Named as a competitive risk

Its FY2025 10-K names artificial intelligence as a competitive threat.

“It is possible that new laws and regulations will be adopted in the United States and in other non-U.S. jurisdictions, or that existing laws and regulations, including competition and antitrust laws, may be interpreted in ways that would limit our ability to use AI Technologies for our business, or require us to change…”

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$382M
  • Cash & short-term investments$31M
  • Receivables$83M
  • Inventory$128M
  • Other current assets$140M
Current liabilities$110M
  • Debt due within a year$27M
  • Accounts payable$28M
  • Other current liabilities$55M
Current ratio3.49×all current assets ÷ what's due · Graham looked for 2×
Quick ratio2.32×stricter: inventory excluded
Cash ratio0.28×strictest: cash alone against what's due
Working capital$272Mthe cushion left after near-term bills
Debt due this year vs. cash$27M due · $31M cash covered by cash on hand, no refinancing forced · both figures from the Mar 31, 2026 balance sheet
Cash runway0.8 yrsthe business is consuming cash; this is how long the cash on hand lasts at that rate
Revenue, latest quarter vs. a year ago+27.5%the freshest read on whether the business is still growing
Current ratio, recent quarters4.2× → 3.5×
Deeper floors
Tangible book value$149Mequity stripped of goodwill & intangibles
Net current asset value$26MGraham's net-net: current assets less all liabilities
Debt incl. operating leases$235M$5M of it operating leases
Deferred revenue$17Mcustomer 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 yearChief executivePay, as filed“Actually paid”Owner earnings
2021Michael Raab$4.2M$39k($154M)
2022Michael Raab$1.9M$4.0M($70M)
2023Michael Raab$4.1M$10.1M($90M)
2024Michael Raab$9.6M$4.7M($46M)
2025Michael Raab$7.8M$8.3M($44M)

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 ownership5.3%

    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$49M

    The slice of the business handed to employees in shares this year, 12% of revenue. 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 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.

CompanyRevenueGross marginOp. marginROICOwner earn. margin
NATRNature's Sunshine Products Inc.$480M73%4.3%12%4%
ZLABZai Lab Limited$457M65%-338.0%-103%-281%
INVAInnoviva Inc.$411M85.6%44%63%
ARDXArdelyx Inc.$407M87%-138.7%-82%-232%
ESPREsperion Therapeutics Inc.$403M-62.8%-48%
ARQTArcutis Biotherapeutics Inc.$376M90%-234.9%-56%-236%
AVIRAtea Pharmaceuticals Inc.$351M-51.5%-80%-38%
MNKDMannKind Corporation$349M72%-63.3%-45%
Group median73%-63.0%-68%-46%
IV

The price

What a price has to assume.

What the price implies

reverse-DCF

Ardelyx Inc. 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.

$
The assumptions

Revenue, delivered104%/yr’20→’25

Enter a price to run it.

Owner earnings it must reach
Margin the price demands
Owner-earnings margin today−9%

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, "Ardelyx Inc. (ARDX), the owner's record," https://ownerscorecard.com/c/ARDX, data as of 2026-07-09.

Manual order: ← ARDT its page in the Manual ARE →

Industry order: ← ARCT the Pharmaceuticals chapter ARQT →