Owner Scorecard


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CNXN, PC Connection Inc.

We are a Fortune 1000 Global Solutions Provider that simplifies IT, guiding the connection between people and technology.

Our dedicated account managers partner with customers to design, deploy, and support cutting-edge IT environments using the latest hardware, software, and services.

Our Technology Solutions and Services Organization, or TSSO, and state-of-the-art ISO 9001:2015 SOC 2 Type 2 certified Technology Integration and Distribution Center, or TIDC, offer end-to-end services related to the design, configuration, and implementation of IT solutions.

Latest annual: FY2025 10-K
CNXN · PC Connection Inc.
I

The business

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

Revenue · FY2025
$2.9B
+2.5% YoY · 2% 5-yr CAGR
Vital signs · TTM, with 5-yr average
Revenue $2.9B 5-yr avg $2.9B
Gross margin 19% 5-yr avg 18%
Operating margin 3.6% 5-yr avg 3.5%
ROIC 11% 5-yr avg 11%
Owner-earnings margin 4% 5-yr avg 5%
Free cash flow margin 4% 5-yr avg 5%

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 Enterprise Solutions (45%), Business Solutions (38%) and Public Sector (18%).
What moves the needle
Gross margin has run about 16% and operating margin about 3.3% through the cycle, a thin spread that turns the result on volume and the cost of what it sells far more than on the price it sets. That margin has held in a narrow 2.7%–4.0% band over the years, so steadiness itself is the evidence — the lever is unit growth and cost discipline, not a moving line. 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 sat near the cost of capital (median 12%). 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 →

Revenue spreads across 3 segments, the largest Enterprise Solutions at 45%.

Revenue by reportable segment, FY2025
  • Enterprise Solutions45%$1.3B
  • Business Solutions38%$1.1B
  • Public Sector18%$508M

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, 2016–2025

realized figures from each filing · older years to the left
2016’162017’172018’182019’192020’202021’212022’222023’232024’242025’25TTMTTMMar 2026
Income statement
$2.7B$2.9B$2.7B$2.8B$2.6B$2.9B$3.1B$2.9B$2.8B$2.9B$2.9BRevenueRevenue
14%13%15%16%16%16%17%18%19%19%19%Gross marginGross mgn
11%10%12%12%13%13%13%14%15%15%15%SG&A / revenueSG&A/rev
$81M$78M$86M$112M$72M$97M$121M$103M$97M$99M$105MOperating incomeOp. inc.
3.0%2.7%3.2%4.0%2.8%3.3%3.9%3.6%3.5%3.5%3.6%Operating marginOp. mgn
$48M$55M$65M$82M$56M$70M$89M$83M$87M$84M$87MNet incomeNet inc.
40%29%27%27%24%28%27%26%26%26%26%Effective tax rateTax rate
Cash flow & returns
$34M$19M$87M$37M$36M$58M$35M$198M$174M$65M$132MOperating cash flowOp. cash
$9M$10M$13M$12M$12M$11M$11M$11M$12M$10M$10MDepreciationDeprec.
($25M)($47M)$9M($59M)($35M)($27M)($71M)$96M$67M($38M)$25MWorking capital & otherWC & other
$12M$12M$10M$8M$7M$8MCapexCapex
0.4%0.4%0.3%0.3%0.3%0.3%Capex / revenueCapex/rev
$22M$8M$188M$166M$58M$124MOwner earningsOwner earn.
0.8%0.3%6.6%5.9%2.0%4.3%Owner earnings marginOE mgn
$22M$8M$188M$166M$58M$124MFree cash flowFCF
0.8%0.3%6.6%5.9%2.0%4.3%Free cash flow marginFCF mgn
$9M$9M$8M$8M$8M$26M$9M$8M$11M$15M$16MDividends paidDiv. paid
$15M$4M$10M$5M$12M$76MBuybacksBuybacks
13%13%14%16%10%12%14%11%10%10%11%ROICROIC
11%11%12%14%9%10%12%10%10%9%9%Return on equityROE
9%9%11%12%7%6%10%9%8%8%8%Retained to equityRetained/eq
Balance sheet
$49M$50M$92M$90M$96M$108M$123M$297M$443M$407M$411MCash & investmentsCash+inv
$412M$450M$464M$550M$611M$608M$610M$607M$611M$648M$661MReceivablesReceiv.
$91M$107M$96M$125M$141M$207M$209M$124M$95M$144M$194MInventoryInvent.
$178M$194M$194M$236M$267M$282M$233M$264M$300M$338M$396MAccounts payablePayables
$325M$362M$366M$439M$485M$532M$586M$467M$406M$453M$459MOperating working capitalOper. WC
$559M$616M$669M$776M$859M$932M$954M$1.0B$1.2B$1.2B$1.3BCurrent assetsCur. assets
$230M$248M$260M$309M$342M$375M$311M$328M$371M$420M$477MCurrent liabilitiesCur. liab.
2.4×2.5×2.6×2.5×2.5×2.5×3.1×3.2×3.1×2.9×2.7×Current ratioCurr. ratio
$74M$74M$74M$74M$74M$74M$74M$74M$74M$74M$74MGoodwillGoodwill
$686M$748M$805M$937M$1.0B$1.1B$1.1B$1.2B$1.3B$1.4B$1.4BTotal assetsAssets
($49M)($50M)($92M)($90M)($96M)($108M)($123M)($297M)($443M)($407M)($411M)Net debt / (cash)Net debt
590.9×1046.5×673.6×981.2×Interest coverageInt. cov.
$433M$482M$526M$597M$636M$682M$766M$841M$911M$910M$922MShareholders’ equityEquity
0.0%0.0%0.0%0.1%0.1%0.1%0.2%0.2%0.3%0.3%0.3%Stock comp / revenueSBC/rev
Per share
26.7M26.9M26.9M26.5M26.3M26.4M26.4M26.4M26.5M25.6M25.3MShares out (diluted)Shares
$100.77$108.28$100.52$106.40$98.36$109.72$118.18$107.86$105.71$112.07$114.46Revenue / shareRev/sh
$1.80$2.04$2.41$3.10$2.12$2.65$3.37$3.15$3.29$3.27$3.46EPS (diluted)EPS
$0.81$0.28$7.13$6.27$2.26$4.92Owner earnings / shareOE/sh
$0.81$0.28$7.13$6.27$2.26$4.92Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh
$0.34$0.34$0.31$0.32$0.32$0.99$0.34$0.32$0.40$0.60$0.65Dividends / shareDiv/sh
$0.44$0.44$0.36$0.29$0.29$0.30Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh
$16.22$17.93$19.58$22.54$24.16$25.89$28.97$31.81$34.37$35.51$36.46Book value / shareBVPS
Per-share growththe realized rate an owner's share compounded
9-yr5-yr
Revenue / share+1.2%/yr+2.6%/yr
Owner earnings / share+12.1%/yr−43.6%/yr (2-yr)
EPS+6.8%/yr+9.1%/yr
Dividends / share+6.5%/yr+13.4%/yr
Capital spending / share−4.7%/yr−10.9%/yr (2-yr)
Book value / share+9.1%/yr+8.0%/yr

The record, charted

FY2016–2025

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

Share count
26Mpeak FY2017
ROIC
10%low FY2024
Gross margin
19%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.

$58Mowner earningsvs.$84Mnet incomelow FY2017

Where the cash went

ReinvestBuybacksDividendsAcquisitionsRetainedBeyond op. cash

Each year's outlays against its operating cash: the mix, and how it drifts. The hatched cap is spending beyond that year's operating cash — financed from the balance sheet or borrowing, not operations.

FY2016FY2025

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 reported $84M of profit but $58M of owner earnings: $26M less than the profit line, taken out by capital spending and the timing of cash.

Reported net income$84M
Owner earnings$58M · 2% of revenue
FY2025FY2024FY2023FY2017FY2016
Reported net income$84M$87M$83M$55M$48M
Depreciation & amortizationnon-cash charge added back+$10M+$12M+$11M+$10M+$9M
Stock-based compensationreal costnon-cash, but a real cost+$9M+$8M+$7M+$741K+$1M
Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items−$38M+$67M+$96M−$47M−$25M
Cash from operations$65M$174M$198M$19M$34M
Capital expenditurecash put back in to keep running and to grow−$7M−$8M−$10M−$12M−$12M
Owner earnings$58M$166M$188M$8M$22M
Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue2%6%7%0%1%

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 $9M), owner earnings is nearer $49M.

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?

  • Comfortable
    Operating income $99M ÷ interest expense $107K
    What this means

    Operating profit covers interest with the kind of margin Graham wanted for a defensive holding. Necessary, not sufficient, it says solvent, not cheap.

  • Net cash, debt-free
    Cash $193M + ST investments $213M − debt $0
    What this means

    Cash and short-term investments exceed every dollar of debt by $407M, 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.

  • Tight
    DSO 82 + DIO 22 − DPO 53 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?

  • Not enough data
    Industry peers: median 14%
    What this means

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

  • Thin through the cycle
    5-yr median margin, range 0%–7%; latest $58M = operating cash $65M − maintenance capex $7M
    Industry peers: median 2%
    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 2% of revenue this year, a 2% median across 5 years. Treating stock comp as the real expense it is (less $9M of SBC) leaves $49M.

  • Mostly cash-backed
    Cash from ops $65M ÷ net income $84M
    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?

  • Returned more than it generated
    Dividends + buybacks $92M ÷ Owner Earnings $58M
    What this means

    The company returned more than it generated: against $58M of Owner Earnings, $92M (158%) went back to shareholders, $15M dividends, $76M buybacks — the excess came from the balance sheet or borrowing, not the year's operations. Net of $9M stock comp, the real buyback was about $67M. Sustained, that pattern draws down cash or adds debt; the net-debt line above shows where it stands.

  • Investing or harvesting? 0.70×
    Harvesting
    Capex $7M ÷ depreciation $10M
    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 · 5 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 Pass
    Revenue ≥ $2B · $2.9B
    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× · 2.90×
    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 Pass
    A profit every year (10-yr record) · no losses
    What this means

    Graham wanted earnings in each of the past ten years, the stability a defensive owner leans on.

  • Dividend record Pass
    Uninterrupted dividends · paid every year (10)
    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 Pass
    Earnings +33% over the record · +52%
    What this means

    At least a third more earnings than a decade ago, averaging three years at each end. Net income (not per-share), so stock splits don't distort it, buybacks and dilution show up in the share-count line instead.

  • 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 $3.36/share (latest year $3.32), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is $36.08/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 10 of 10
    What this means

    Never lost money over the record, the earnings stability Graham insisted on.

  • Operating margin 3% → 4% (3-yr avg ends)

    In the filing’s words The margin has held, but the filing names price competition — the pressure is present even where the margin has absorbed it so far.

    What this means

    Through the cycle the operating margin held roughly steady — about 3% early, 4% lately, median 3%.

  • Owner earnings growth +25%/yr
    What this means

    Owner earnings grew about 25% a year over the record.

  • Worst year 2017 · 2.7% op. margin
    What this means

    Stayed profitable even in its hardest year, the resilience that survives recessions.

  • Share count −0.5%/yr
    What this means

    Roughly flat share count, little dilution, little buyback.

  • Dividend record rising
    What this means

    Paid and raised the dividend across the record, the continuity Graham prized.

Does AI threaten the moat?

Moderate contestability

AI is likely to reshape costs and some products here without clearly contesting or sparing the core moat; how the company itself frames it is the tell.

In its own filing Named as a competitive risk

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

“As we continue to expand and mature our AI services, we compete with other companies that develop and deliver on bespoke AI projects, such as Palantir and Scale.ai.”

The question is whether a moat the record shows as durable outlasts a technology that lowers the cost of part of what the firm sells. The durability is read in the record above, the filing's own framing of AI beside it; the industry label decides nothing on its own.

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$1.3B
  • Cash & short-term investments$411M
  • Receivables$661M
  • Inventory$194M
  • Other current assets$23M
Current liabilities$477M
  • Accounts payable$396M
  • Other current liabilities$81M
Current ratio2.70×all current assets ÷ what's due · Graham looked for 2×
Quick ratio2.30×stricter: inventory excluded
Cash ratio0.86×strictest: cash alone against what's due
Working capital$813Mthe cushion left after near-term bills
Revenue, latest quarter vs. a year ago+3.0%the freshest read on whether the business is still growing
Current ratio, recent quarters3.0× → 2.7×
Deeper floors
Tangible book value$847Mequity stripped of goodwill & intangibles
Net current asset value$787MGraham's net-net: current assets less all liabilities
Debt incl. operating leases$7M$7M of it operating leases

From the company's latest filing.

How the cash was used, 2016–2025

Over the record, the business generated $490M of operating cash; how management split it reads as a cash builder, a large share of cash simply built up on the balance sheet.

  • Reinvested$48M · 10%
  • Dividends$52M · 11%
  • Buybacks$94M · 19%
  • Retained (debt / cash)$295M · 60%
  • Returned to owners$146M

    33% of the owner earnings the business produced over the span, $52M as dividends and $94M as buybacks.

  • Source of fundingOperating cash

    Operating cash covered reinvestment and returns; over the span cash and short-term investments rose $362M.

  • Average price paid for buybacks

    Buybacks ran $94M over the span, but the filings don't tag the share count needed to deduce the average price paid.

  • Net change in share count−5.4%

    The diluted count fell from 27M to 25M, so the buybacks outran the stock issued to staff.

  • Dividend record$0.60/sh

    Paid in 5 of the years on record, the per-share dividend growing about 15% a year. It was never cut over the span.

  • Return on what it retained31%

    Of the earnings it kept rather than paid out ($211M over the span), annual owner earnings (first three years vs last three) grew $65M, so each retained $1 added about 0.31 of yearly owner earnings. Buffett's test, run on owner earnings instead of market value.

Buybacks are gross of stock issued to staff; the share-count line above is the net of that, the figure that decides whether owners gained. The average price paid blends a year of purchases (and any accelerated repurchase), so it is close, not exact. The record of where the cash went and on what terms.

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
2021Timothy McGrath$3.2M$2.3M
2022Timothy McGrath$4.8M$5.5M
2023Timothy McGrath$1.9M$5.4M$188M
2024Timothy McGrath$5.1M$5.7M$166M
2025Timothy McGrath$7.5M$5.7M$58M

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 ownership56.6%

    The stake all directors and executive officers hold together, per the 2026 proxy: skin in the game, the first thing Munger reads.

  • CEO pay ratio97:1

    What the chief earns for every dollar the median employee makes, per the 2026 proxy. A high ratio alone settles nothing; some businesses are genuinely top-heavy in scarce skill. A runaway figure is where Buffett starts asking whether the board is doing its job.

  • Stock-based compensation$9M

    The slice of the business handed to employees in shares this year, 0% of revenue, equal to 9% 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.

Inverting the record

Invert: instead of why PC Connection Inc. is a good business, the question is what would make owning it a mistake, and whether those marks are in the record. Disconfirming tests across 2016–2025.

1 of the 4 tests turned up something to look into; the other 3 came back clean.

  • Look hereDid receivables and inventory outpace sales?19% → 30% of sales

    Receivables and inventory grew from $502M to $856M while revenue grew 7%: working capital is climbing faster than sales (19% of revenue then, 30% now). That can mean customers paying slower, stock building up, or revenue pulled forward. The filing's cash-flow and receivables notes say which.

And these came back clean
  • Is it less profitable than it was?
  • Did the share count rise anyway?
  • Did reported profit become cash?

Each test is read from the filings and is noisy alone; a flag can mark a cyclical trough or a year of heavy investment as easily as a problem. The filing says which.

What an owner would ask, FY2025

read the 10-K →
  • Which reported numbers are a judgment call?
    Management names Revenue recognition, Credit & receivables, Inventory 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, Electronic Components & Instruments

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
INGMIngram Micro Holding Corporation$52.6B7%1.8%10%0%
GOLDGold.com Inc.$11.0B2%1.3%28%-0%
CNXNPC Connection Inc.$2.9B16%3.4%12%2%
PLUSePlus inc.$2.4B25%6.3%18%11%
DXPEDXP Enterprises Inc.$2.0B28%5.6%10%3%
Group median16%3.4%12%2%
IV

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 PC Connection Inc. has delivered.

$

Through the cycle, PC Connection Inc. earns about $58M on its 2.0% median owner-earnings margin. This year’s 2.0% margin runs in line with that. Normalize, below, values the price on that through-cycle figure rather than the latest year.

Base

The assumptions

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 · ’16→’25+25%/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.

Owner earnings $124M on 25M shares outstanding, per the 10-Q cover, as of 2026-04-22; net cash $411M. 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. The dials set the multiple a growth belief justifies; the price, and every dollar on this page, is yours.

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

Manual order: ← CNXC its page in the Manual COCO →

Industry order: ← CLS the Electronic Components & Instruments chapter COHR →