Owner Scorecard


← All companies ← CRNT Manual CSIQ → ← CPRT Auto Dealers & Services CVNA →

CSAN, Cosan S.A. ADS

Auto Dealers & Services retail Distress / turnaround

A retailer, earning thin margins on high volume, where inventory turns, unit economics and scale decide the outcome.

Latest annual: FY2024 20-F · figures as filed, in BRL · 1 ADS = 4 ordinary shares
CSAN · Cosan S.A. ADS
I

The business

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

Revenue · FY2024
R$44.0B
+11.4% YoY · 16% 5-yr CAGR
Vital signs · TTM, with 5-yr average
Revenue R$44.0B 5-yr avg R$33.9B
Gross margin 31% 5-yr avg 26%
Operating margin 17.5% 5-yr avg 19.3%
Owner-earnings margin 21% 5-yr avg 17%
Free cash flow margin 12% 5-yr avg 9%

The business in brief

read the 10-K →

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

Situation
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
Gross margin has run about 28% and operating margin about 19% through the cycle, a solid spread between what it charges and what the product costs to make. Capital spending runs about 16% of sales, well above depreciation, so the return earned on what it sinks into that plant weighs as much as the margin. 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 sat near the cost of capital (median 10%). By owner earnings: roughly 18% of revenue reaches owners as cash, consistently. 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, 2018–2024

realized figures from each filing · older years to the left
2018’182019’192020’202021’212022’222023’232024’24TTMTTMDec 2024
Income statement
R$16.8BR$20.6BR$20.4BR$26.1BR$39.3BR$39.5BR$44.0BR$44.0BRevenueRevenue
28%29%27%22%22%28%31%31%Gross marginGross mgn
R$3.5BR$4.5BR$3.4BR$4.1BR$7.5BR$11.0BR$7.7BR$7.7BOperating incomeOp. inc.
20.7%21.8%16.5%15.7%19.0%27.8%17.5%17.5%Operating marginOp. mgn
R$975MR$1.3BR$859MR$6.3BR$1.2BR$1.1B(R$9.4B)(R$9.4B)Net incomeNet inc.
44%37%37%-8%20%Effective tax rateTax rate
Cash flow & returns
R$5.4BR$6.3BR$5.7BR$5.1BR$10.0BR$10.3BR$13.1BR$13.1BOperating cash flowOp. cash
R$2.1BR$2.3BR$2.3BR$2.5BR$3.0BR$3.4BR$3.9BR$3.9BDepreciationDeprec.
R$2.4BR$2.7BR$2.5B(R$3.7B)R$5.8BR$5.8BR$18.6BR$18.6BWorking capital & otherWC & other
R$2.6BR$2.8BR$4.0BR$4.8BR$4.5BR$6.3BR$7.8BR$7.8BCapexCapex
15.6%13.4%19.7%18.3%11.5%15.9%17.8%17.8%Capex / revenueCapex/rev
R$3.3BR$3.5BR$3.3BR$2.6BR$7.0BR$6.9BR$9.2BR$9.2BOwner earningsOwner earn.
19.8%17.1%16.2%10.1%17.7%17.5%21.0%21.0%Owner earnings marginOE mgn
R$2.7BR$3.5BR$1.6BR$372MR$5.4BR$4.0BR$5.2BR$5.2BFree cash flowFCF
16.3%17.1%7.9%1.4%13.8%10.2%11.9%11.9%Free cash flow marginFCF mgn
R$449MR$738MR$546MR$2.6BR$1.9BR$2.6BR$2.8BR$2.8BDividends paidDiv. paid
R$608MR$1.1BR$495MR$26MR$85MR$103MR$193MBuybacksBuybacks
11%6%9%14%ROICROIC
5%24%16%43%6%5%-86%-86%Return on equityROE
3%11%6%25%−4%−7%−112%−112%Retained to equityRetained/eq
Balance sheet
R$3.6BR$8.6BR$13.7BR$16.2BR$13.4BR$14.7BR$16.9BR$16.9BCash & investmentsCash+inv
R$1.8BR$2.0BR$2.6BR$3.8BR$3.3BR$3.7BR$3.7BReceivablesReceiv.
R$787MR$935MR$1.1BR$1.9BR$1.8BR$2.1BR$2.1BInventoryInvent.
R$2.6BR$2.9BR$3.7BR$5.6BR$5.1BR$5.8BR$5.8BOperating working capitalOper. WC
R$16.0BR$23.4BR$27.3BR$25.6BR$28.6BR$30.8BR$30.8BCurrent assetsCur. assets
R$8.9BR$12.5BR$13.0BR$15.8BR$16.2BR$17.9BR$17.9BCurrent liabilitiesCur. liab.
1.8×1.9×2.1×1.6×1.8×1.7×1.7×Current ratioCurr. ratio
R$65.7BR$83.7BR$97.8BR$134.5BR$139.9BR$141.3BR$141.3BTotal assetsAssets
R$29.1BR$42.2BR$45.7BR$53.0BR$56.9BR$66.5BR$66.5BTotal debtDebt
R$20.5BR$28.5BR$29.5BR$39.6BR$42.2BR$49.6BR$49.6BNet debt / (cash)Net debt
1.2×1.2×0.7×1.6×1.6×1.0×1.0×1.0×Interest coverageInt. cov.
R$18.0BR$5.4BR$5.3BR$14.7BR$20.7BR$21.0BR$10.9BR$10.9BShareholders’ equityEquity
Per share
30.5M229M229M229M234M238MShares out (diluted)Shares
R$551.81R$89.88R$89.12R$113.79R$168.31R$184.32Revenue / shareRev/sh
R$31.97R$5.74R$3.75R$27.53R$5.03R$-39.52EPS (diluted)EPS
R$109.02R$15.41R$14.46R$11.52R$29.78R$38.64Owner earnings / shareOE/sh
R$90.13R$15.41R$7.07R$1.62R$23.29R$22.00Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh
R$14.71R$3.22R$2.38R$11.16R$8.17R$11.65Dividends / shareDiv/sh
R$86.15R$12.05R$17.59R$20.82R$19.40R$32.86Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh
R$589.00R$23.56R$22.94R$64.28R$88.40R$45.73Book value / shareBVPS

The diluted share count moved ×7.52 into 2019 — shares issued, not a split the totals corroborate — and the per-share figures carry the counts as filed.

Share counts before TTM are restated ×1/8 for a stock split, so per-share figures sit on one basis.

Per-share growththe realized rate an owner's share compounded
6-yr5-yr
Revenue / share−25.7%/yr (4-yr)−25.7%/yr (4-yr)
Owner earnings / share−27.7%/yr (4-yr)−27.7%/yr (4-yr)
EPS−37.0%/yr (4-yr)−37.0%/yr (4-yr)
Dividends / share−13.7%/yr (4-yr)−13.7%/yr (4-yr)
Capital spending / share−31.1%/yr (4-yr)−31.1%/yr (4-yr)
Book value / share−37.8%/yr (4-yr)−37.8%/yr (4-yr)

The record, charted

FY2018–2024

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

Share count
1.9Bpeak FY2022
ROIC
14%low FY2020
Gross margin
31%low FY2022
Net debt ÷ owner earnings
5.4×peak FY2021

Owner earnings vs. net income

Owner earningsNet income

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

R$9.2Bowner earningsvs.(R$9.4B)net incomelow FY2021

Where the cash went

ReinvestBuybacksDividendsAcquisitionsRetained

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

FY2018FY2024

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 2024 the business earned R$9.2B of owner earnings, the operating cash left after the R$3.9B it takes just to hold its position. It put R$4.0B more into growth; free cash flow, after that spending, was R$5.2B.

FY2024FY2023FY2022FY2021FY2020
Reported net income(R$9.4B)R$1.1BR$1.2BR$6.3BR$859M
Depreciation & amortizationnon-cash charge added back+R$3.9B+R$3.4B+R$3.0B+R$2.5B+R$2.3B
Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items+R$18.6B+R$5.8B+R$5.8B−R$3.7B+R$2.5B
Cash from operationsR$13.1BR$10.3BR$10.0BR$5.1BR$5.7B
Maintenance capital expenditurethe spending needed just to hold position and volume−R$3.9B−R$3.4B−R$3.0B−R$2.5B−R$2.3B
Owner earningsR$9.2BR$6.9BR$7.0BR$2.6BR$3.3B
Growth capital expenditurediscretionary; spent to get bigger, not to stand still−R$4.0B−R$2.9B−R$1.5B−R$2.3B−R$1.7B
Free cash flowR$5.2BR$4.0BR$5.4BR$372MR$1.6B
Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue21%18%18%10%16%

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 R$3.9B, roughly its depreciation, the rate its assets wear out). The other R$4.0B 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.

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

FY2024 20-F · source on SEC EDGAR →

Will it survive?

  • Thin
    Operating income R$7.7B ÷ interest expense R$7.6B
    What this means

    Operating profit covers interest, but with little room. A bad year, a refinancing at higher rates, or a revenue wobble closes the gap fast.

  • How heavy is the debt, net of cash? R$49.6B · 6.4× operating profit
    Heavy net debt
    Cash R$16.9B + ST investments R$675K − debt R$66.5B
    What this means

    Netting R$16.9B of cash and short-term investments against R$66.5B of debt leaves R$49.6B owed, about 6.4× a year's operating profit (8.6× on the gross debt, before the cash). 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?

  • Solid through the cycle
    4-yr median, range 6%–14%; the latest year is left out — large non-operating charges put its operating line well above pretax profit
    Industry peers: median 13%
    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 4 years, 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.

  • High through the cycle
    7-yr median margin, range 10%–21%; latest R$9.2B = operating cash R$13.1B − maintenance capex R$3.9B
    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 21% of revenue this year, a 18% median across 7 years. It chose to put R$4.0B more into growth, so free cash flow this year was R$5.2B — the gap is investment, not weakness.

  • Loss, but cash-generative
    Net income (R$9.4B) · cash from operations R$13.1B
    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.

How is the cash used?

  • Reinvests most of it
    Dividends + buybacks R$3.0B ÷ Owner Earnings R$9.2B
    What this means

    Of R$9.2B Owner Earnings, R$3.0B (32%) went back to shareholders, R$2.8B dividends, R$193M buybacks. Returning most of it is the mark of a mature business with little left to reinvest at a high return; reinvesting most could mean a long runway, or empire-building. The split doesn't say which; the return earned on it (see ROIC) does.

  • Investing or harvesting? 2.03×
    Expanding
    Capex R$7.8B ÷ depreciation R$3.9B
    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 · 1 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
    Revenue ≥ $2B (a dollar floor) · R$44.0B
    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 Near
    Current ratio ≥ 2× · 1.72×
    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 Miss
    Debt ≤ working capital · R$66.5B vs R$12.9B 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 Near
    A profit every year (7-yr record) · 1 loss year
    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 (7)
    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 Miss
    Earnings +33% over the record · −327%
    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 R$-10.00/share (latest year R$-39.52), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is R$45.73/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, 2018–2024

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

  • Profitable years 6 of 7
    What this means

    Lost money in 1 year(s), look at what happened there before trusting the average.

  • Return on capital ≥ 15% 0 of 6 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 20% → 21% (3-yr avg ends)
    What this means

    Through the cycle the operating margin held roughly steady — about 20% early, 21% lately, median 19%.

  • Reinvestment, incremental ROIC 19%
    What this means

    Every extra dollar the business reinvested came back at a high incremental return — the lens GBM read for a moat that reinvests rather than merely harvests. The record and the 10-K are where you check whether the rate holds.

  • Owner earnings growth +15%/yr
    What this means

    Owner earnings grew about 15% a year over the record.

  • Worst year 2021 · 15.7% op. margin
    What this means

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

  • 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 Framed as a capability

The filing positions AI as something the company uses, not something it fears.

“She has built her career in new technologies and, more recently, in artificial intelligence, having spent much of her career in California, working with leading technology companies.”

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 fiscal year-end, Dec 31, 2024

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 assetsR$30.8B
  • Cash & short-term investmentsR$16.9B
  • ReceivablesR$3.7B
  • InventoryR$2.1B
  • Other current assetsR$8.1B
Current liabilitiesR$17.9B
  • Debt due within a yearR$4.4B
  • Other current liabilitiesR$13.5B
Current ratio1.72×all current assets ÷ what's due · Graham looked for 2×
Quick ratio1.60×stricter: inventory excluded
Cash ratio0.94×strictest: cash alone against what's due
Working capitalR$12.9Bthe cushion left after near-term bills
Debt due this year vs. cashR$4.4B due · R$16.9B cash covered by cash on hand, no refinancing forced · both figures from the Dec 31, 2024 balance sheet
Deeper floors
Tangible book value(R$13.8B)equity stripped of goodwill & intangibles
Net current asset value(R$71.1B)Graham's net-net: current assets less all liabilities
Debt incl. operating leasesR$73.0BR$6.5B of it operating leases

From the company's latest filing.

How the cash was used, 2018–2024

Over the record, the business generated R$55.8B of operating cash; how management split it reads as a reinvestor, most operating cash is plowed back into the business.

  • ReinvestedR$32.8B · 59%
  • DividendsR$11.6B · 21%
  • BuybacksR$2.7B · 5%
  • Retained (debt / cash)R$8.8B · 16%
  • Returned to ownersR$14.2B

    40% of the owner earnings the business produced over the span, R$11.6B as dividends and R$2.7B as buybacks.

  • Source of fundingOperating cash

    Operating cash covered reinvestment and returns; over the span cash and short-term investments rose R$13.3B.

  • Average price paid for buybacks

    Buybacks ran R$2.7B over the span, but the filings don't tag the share count needed to deduce the average price paid.

  • Net change in share count681.6%

    The diluted count rose from 31M to 238M: issuance (stock pay, deals) outran any buybacks, so owners were diluted on net.

  • Dividend recordR$8.17/sh

    Paid in 7 of the years on record, the per-share dividend shrinking about 14% a year. It was cut at least once along the way.

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.

Inverting the record

Invert: instead of why Cosan S.A. ADS 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 2018–2024.

1 of the 3 tests turned up something to look into; the other 2 came back clean.

  • Look hereDid the share count rise anyway?681.6%

    Diluted shares grew 681.6% over 2018–2024, even as the company spent R$2.7B on buybacks. The repurchases were outrun by issuance — to staff, in a raise, or in a deal — and the filing says which; owners' slice still shrank. Read the buyback line beside this one, not on its own.

And these came back clean
  • Is it less profitable than it was?
  • 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.

Peers, Auto Dealers & Services

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
CSANCosan S.A. ADSR$44.0B28%19.0%10%18%
LADLithia Motors$37.6B15%4.3%12%1%
PAGPenske Automotive$31.8B16%3.7%13%3%
ANAutoNation$27.6B18%4.3%14%2%
KMXCarMax$25.9B12%5.3%4%0%
GPIGroup 1 Automotive$22.6B16%3.9%13%3%
CVNACarvana$20.3B14%-0.7%-3%-17%
MUSAMurphy USA$19.4B90%3.6%20%3%
Group median16%4.1%12%2%
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, “American depositary shares, each representing four common”; Cosan S.A. ADS reports in BRL, so every figure in this tool is stated per ADS and translated at BRL 1 = $0.197 (2026-07-17, reference rate) so your dollar quote reconciles exactly. The record tables elsewhere on this page remain as filed, in BRL.

Type today's close and see the owner-earnings growth you'd have to believe to justify it, beside what Cosan S.A. ADS has delivered.

Cosan S.A. ADS’s latest year runs above its own through-cycle margin — the reported figure may flatter a peak. So the tool opens on the through-cycle base, Graham’s averaging cutting both ways; clear the toggle below to read the latest year exactly as reported.

$

Through the cycle, Cosan S.A. ADS earns about $1.5B on its 17.5% median owner-earnings margin. This year’s 21.0% margin runs above that; the reported figure may flatter a peak you'd be paying on. Normalize, below, values the price on that through-cycle figure rather than the latest year. It comes pre-checked here for that reason, the same rule that already normalizes a trough; clear it to price the year as filed.

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 · ’20→’24+28%/yr
Owner-earnings growth · ’18→’24+7%/yr
Owner-earnings yield
P/E (3-yr earnings ’22–’24)
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 $1.0B on 60M diluted shares; net debt $9.7B. The base opens on the through-cycle figure (the latest year sits above the record’s own median, and Graham’s averaging cuts both ways); clear Normalize to use the year as filed. Net of stock comp treats option pay as the expense it is. Capex ($1.5B) runs well above depreciation ($761M), so this is a build-out; Steady-state swaps total capex for maintenance (≈ depreciation), lifting the base to about $1.8B, 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.

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

Manual order: ← CRNT its page in the Manual CSIQ →

Industry order: ← CPRT the Auto Dealers & Services chapter CVNA →