Owner Scorecard
An independent research publication · data as of July 9, 2026

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CLLS, Cellectis S.A.

Biotechnology consumer brand Unprofitable

A pharmaceutical business, where patents grant a temporary monopoly the pipeline must keep refilling.

Latest annual: FY2025 20-F · 1 ADS = 1 ordinary share
CLLS · Cellectis S.A.
I

The business

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

Revenue · FY2025
$73M
+75.8% YoY · 7% 5-yr CAGR
Vital signs · TTM, with 5-yr average
Revenue $73M 5-yr avg $33M
Operating margin −45.3% 5-yr avg −2777.0%
ROIC −182% 5-yr avg −232%
Owner-earnings margin −57% 5-yr avg −829%
Free cash flow margin −57% 5-yr avg −860%

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 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.
What moves the needle
Operating margin has run around −368% through the cycle on a 91% 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. Capital spending runs about 31% of sales, well above depreciation, 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 customer concentration, 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 −206%, above 15% in 0 of 6 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.

II

The record

Ten years of arithmetic, read across the cycle.

The record, 2016–2025

realized figures from each filing · older years to the left
2016’162017’172018’182019’192020’202021’212022’222023’232024’242025’25TTMTTMDec 2025
Income statement
$45M$25M$13M$15M$51M$30M$19M$755K$42M$73M$73MRevenueRevenue
——78%25%———2%———Gross marginGross mgn
($67M)($93M)($105M)($124M)($42M)($103M)($90M)($97M)($60M)($33M)($33M)Operating incomeOp. inc.
−150.2%−367.8%−825.5%−813.4%−82.9%−341.0%−467.7%n/m−143.5%−45.3%−45.3%Operating marginOp. mgn
($67M)($99M)($79M)($102M)($81M)($114M)($106M)($101M)($37M)($68M)($68M)Net incomeNet inc.
Cash flow & returns
($33M)($52M)($68M)($69M)($80M)($105M)($87M)($25M)$23M($39M)($39M)Operating cash flowOp. cash
$2M$3M$2M$7M$10M$8M$11M$10M$11M$11M$11MDepreciationDeprec.
$32M$44M$8M$26M($9M)$2M$8M$86M$70M$40M$17MWorking capital & otherWC & other
$14M$2M$5M$13M$44M$19M$2M$1M$3M$2M$2MCapexCapex
30.6%9.5%37.0%85.0%86.3%61.1%12.7%142.1%6.2%3.2%3.2%Capex / revenueCapex/rev
($35M)($55M)($71M)($76M)($90M)($112M)($90M)($25M)$20M($42M)($42M)Owner earningsOwner earn.
−77.9%−217.2%−553.9%−500.4%−176.4%−369.5%−468.8%n/m49.2%−57.2%−57.2%Owner earnings marginOE mgn
($46M)($55M)($73M)($82M)($124M)($123M)($90M)($26M)$20M($42M)($42M)Free cash flowFCF
−103.6%−217.2%−572.2%−540.2%−243.5%−405.7%−468.8%n/m49.2%−57.2%−57.2%Free cash flow marginFCF mgn
-178%-862%——-78%-229%-286%——-182%-182%ROICROIC
-24%-38%-19%-32%-29%-52%-90%-119%-28%-89%-89%Return on equityROE
−24%−38%−19%−32%−29%−52%−90%−119%−28%−89%−89%Retained to equityRetained/eq
Balance sheet
$255M$256M$452M$341M$253M$186M$93M$137M$143M$62M$73MCash & investmentsCash+inv
$4M$3M$3M$3M$5M$20M$772K$569K$7M$14M$14MReceivablesReceiv.
$118K$250K$275K$3M$2M$0$0———$0InventoryInvent.
$4M$3M$3M$6M$7M$20M$772K$569K$7M$14M$14MOperating working capitalOper. WC
$364M$323M$488M$392M$315M$225M$122M———$122MCurrent assetsCur. assets
$86M$45M$47M$63M$52M$49M$48M$155M$166M$146M$146MCurrent liabilitiesCur. liab.
4.3×7.1×10.4×6.3×6.1×4.6×2.5×———0.8×Current ratioCurr. ratio
$371M$333M$501M$467M$469M$382M$261M$334M$384M$325M$325MTotal assetsAssets
($255M)($256M)($452M)($341M)($253M)($186M)($93M)($137M)($143M)($62M)($73M)Net debt / (cash)Net debt
-9.5×-5.1×-27.6×-34.0×-2.6×-16.0×-5.0×-2.4×-2.8×-0.6×-0.6×Interest coverageInt. cov.
$284M$265M$409M$315M$284M$221M$118M$85M$131M$76M$76MShareholders’ equityEquity
Per share
35.3M35.7M40.8M42.4M42.5M44.8M45.5M57.0M90.6M100M100MShares out (diluted)Shares
$1.27$0.71$0.31$0.36$1.20$0.68$0.42$0.01$0.46$0.73$0.73Revenue / shareRev/sh
$-1.91$-2.78$-1.93$-2.41$-1.91$-2.55$-2.33$-1.77$-0.41$-0.67$-0.67EPS (diluted)EPS
$-0.99$-1.53$-1.73$-1.79$-2.12$-2.50$-1.97$-0.44$0.23$-0.42$-0.42Owner earnings / shareOE/sh
$-1.32$-1.53$-1.79$-1.93$-2.93$-2.75$-1.97$-0.45$0.23$-0.42$-0.42Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh
$0.39$0.07$0.12$0.30$1.04$0.41$0.05$0.02$0.03$0.02$0.02Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh
$8.06$7.42$10.04$7.42$6.68$4.94$2.59$1.49$1.45$0.76$0.76Book value / shareBVPS

The diluted share count moved ×1.59 into 2024 — 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
9-yr5-yr
Revenue / share−6.0%/yr−9.5%/yr
Capital spending / share−26.8%/yr−53.1%/yr
Book value / share−23.1%/yr−35.3%/yr

The record, charted

FY2016–2025

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

Share count
100Mpeak FY2025
ROIC
−182%low FY2017
Gross margin
2%low FY2023

Owner earnings vs. net income

Owner earningsNet income

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

($42M)owner earningsvs.($68M)net incomelow FY2021

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 turned a $68M loss into ($42M) 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($68M)($37M)($101M)($106M)($114M)
Depreciation & amortizationnon-cash charge added back−$11M−$11M−$10M+$11M+$8M
Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items+$40M+$70M+$86M+$8M+$2M
Cash from operations($39M)$23M($25M)($87M)($105M)
Maintenance capital expenditurethe spending needed just to hold position and volume−$2M−$3M−$141K−$2M−$8M
Owner earnings($42M)$20M($25M)($90M)($112M)
Growth capital expenditurediscretionary; spent to get bigger, not to stand still——−$932K—−$11M
Free cash flow($42M)$20M($26M)($90M)($123M)
Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue-57%49%-3296%-469%-370%

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.

III

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? -0.6×
    Does not cover its interest
    Operating income ($33M) ÷ interest expense $51M
    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? +$73M
    Net cash, debt-free
    Cash $62M + ST investments $12M − debt $0
    What this means

    Cash and short-term investments exceed every dollar of debt by $73M, 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? —
    Not enough data
    What this means

    The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.

Is it a good business?

  • Return on invested capital —
    Not enough data
    Industry peers: median -49%
    What this means

    The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.

  • Owner-earnings margin -370%
    Consumes cash through the cycle
    10-yr median margin, range -3296%–49%; latest ($42M) = operating cash ($39M) − maintenance capex $2M
    Industry peers: median -392%
    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 -57% of revenue this year, a -370% median across 10 years.

  • Are earnings backed by cash? ($39M)
    Loss, and burning cash
    Net income ($68M) · cash from operations ($39M)
    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?

  • 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? 0.21×
    Harvesting
    Capex $2M ÷ depreciation $11M
    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 4 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 · $73M
    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 Miss
    Current ratio ≥ 2× · 0.84×
    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 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 $-0.68/share (latest year $-0.67), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is $0.76/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 0 of 10
    What this means

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

  • Operating margin −448% → −4359% (3-yr avg ends)
    What this means

    The recent-years average (−4359%) sits below the early years (−448%), but the latest year (−45%) is back near the early level: a cyclical trough dragging the window down, not a one-way slide. The through-cycle median is −368% — read it across the cycle, not on the dip.

  • Worst year 2023 · −12887.7% op. margin
    What this means

    Operations went underwater in 2023, 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.

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, 2022

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$122M
  • Cash & short-term investments$73M
  • Receivables$14M
  • Other current assets$34M
Current liabilities$146M
  • Other current liabilities$146M
Current ratio0.84×all current assets ÷ what's due · Graham looked for 2×
Quick ratio0.84×stricter: inventory excluded
Cash ratio0.50×strictest: cash alone against what's due
Working capital($24M)the cushion left after near-term bills
Cash runway1.8 yrsthe business is consuming cash; this is how long the cash on hand lasts at that rate
Deeper floors
Tangible book value$75Mequity stripped of goodwill & intangibles
Net current asset value($127M)Graham's net-net: current assets less all liabilities
Debt incl. operating leases$35M$35M of it operating leases

From the company's latest filing.

Peers, Biotechnology

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
STROSutro Biopharma Inc.$102M—-142.2%-49%-29%
FDMT4D Molecular Therapeutics Inc.$85M—-544.6%-41%-392%
MGTXMeiraGTx Holdings plc$81M—-438.4%-134%-329%
AUTLAutolus Therapeutics PLC$75M-28%-2385.6%-289%-2113%
RXRXRecursion Pharmaceuticals Inc.$75M5%-867.9%-106%-672%
CLLSCellectis S.A.$73M25%-354.4%-206%-293%
VIRVir Biotechnology Inc.$69M99%-791.3%-45%-611%
PLXProtalix BioTherapeutics Inc. (DE)$53M58%-23.5%-1%-33%
Group median—25%-491.5%-77%-360%
IV

The price

What a price has to assume.

What the price implies

reverse-DCF

Enter the US price, in dollars: the NYSE/Nasdaq quote you hold. Per the filing's own cover, “Each ADS represents one ordinary”; Cellectis S.A. reports in USD, so every figure in this tool is stated per ADS so your dollar quote reconciles exactly. The record tables elsewhere on this page remain as filed.

Cellectis S.A. 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, delivered11%/yr’20→’25

Enter a price to run it.

Owner earnings it must reach—
Margin the price demands—
Owner-earnings margin today−57%

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.

Weigh CLLS against another business →

Cite: Owner Scorecard, "Cellectis S.A. (CLLS), the owner's record," https://ownerscorecard.com/c/CLLS, data as of 2026-07-09.

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