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EXPO, Exponent

Exponent is an engineering and scientific consulting firm providing solutions to complex problems.

The firm leverages over 55 years of experience in analyzing accidents and failures to advise clients as they innovate their technologically complex products and processes, ensure the safety and health of their users, and address the challenges of sustainability.

We derive our revenues primarily from professional fees earned on consulting engagements, fees earned for the use of our equipment and facilities, as well as reimbursements for outside direct expenses associated with the services that are billed to our clients.

Latest annual: FY2026 10-K

EXPO · Exponent

The business

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

Revenue · FY2026

$582M

+4.2% YoY · 7% 5-yr CAGR

Vital signs · TTM, with 5-yr average

Revenue $603M 5-yr avg $531M

Operating margin 19.4% 5-yr avg 22.7%

ROIC 38% 5-yr avg 59%

Owner-earnings margin 19% 5-yr avg 22%

Free cash flow margin 19% 5-yr avg 22%

The business in brief

read the 10-K →

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

What moves the needle: Operating margin has run about 21% through the cycle, a solid margin the cost base and competition set as much as the price does. That margin has stayed fairly steady relative to where it runs (20%–27% over the years), so unit growth and cost discipline, not a moving line, are the lever. On its own account, the filing leans hardest on regulation & policy, set against the numbers in what the filing emphasizes, below.
Is it a good business?: Return on capital has run high across the record (median 44%, above 15% in 10 of 10 years), though buybacks and expensed R&D and brands shrink the capital base, so the figure overstates the underlying economics. The steadier read is owner earnings: roughly 22% of revenue reaches owners as cash, consistently. Whether these returns reflect real pricing power or an accounting artifact is the judgment the 10-K is for.

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, 2015–2026

realized figures from each filing · older years to the left

2015’15	2016’16	2017’17	2018’18	2020’20	2021’21	2022’22	2023’23	2025’25	2026’26	TTMTTMApr 2026
											Income statement
$305M	$315M	$348M	$380M	$417M	$466M	$513M	$537M	$559M	$582M	$603M	RevenueRevenue
5%	5%	5%	5%	5%	3%	5%	5%	4%	4%	4%	SG&A / revenueSG&A/rev
$64M	$62M	$72M	$91M	$85M	$109M	$141M	$111M	$120M	$120M	$117M	Operating incomeOp. inc.
20.9%	19.6%	20.7%	24.1%	20.4%	23.4%	27.4%	20.7%	21.4%	20.6%	19.4%	Operating marginOp. mgn
$41M	$47M	$41M	$72M	$82M	$101M	$102M	$100M	$109M	$106M	$109M	Net incomeNet inc.
40%	31%	50%	23%	21%	20%	23%	26%	26%	28%	28%	Effective tax rateTax rate
											Cash flow & returns
$48M	$67M	$68M	$91M	$108M	$125M	$94M	$127M	$145M	$132M	$123M	Operating cash flowOp. cash
$5M	$6M	$6M	$6M	$7M	$6M	$7M	$9M	$10M	$10M	$10M	DepreciationDeprec.
($11M)	$2K	$4M	($4M)	$1M	($2M)	($36M)	($2M)	$3M	($8M)	($20M)	Working capital & otherWC & other
$5M	$14M	$5M	$16M	$23M	$7M	$12M	$16M	$7M	$9M	$10M	CapexCapex
1.6%	4.6%	1.4%	4.3%	5.5%	1.5%	2.3%	3.0%	1.2%	1.6%	1.7%	Capex / revenueCapex/rev
$43M	$61M	$63M	$85M	$101M	$118M	$87M	$118M	$138M	$122M	$113M	Owner earningsOwner earn.
14.2%	19.3%	18.1%	22.4%	24.3%	25.3%	16.9%	22.1%	24.6%	21.0%	18.8%	Owner earnings marginOE mgn
$43M	$53M	$63M	$75M	$85M	$118M	$82M	$111M	$138M	$122M	$113M	Free cash flowFCF
14.2%	16.7%	18.1%	19.7%	20.4%	25.3%	15.9%	20.7%	24.6%	21.0%	18.8%	Free cash flow marginFCF mgn
$13M	$19M	$22M	$27M	$33M	$42M	$49M	$53M	$57M	$60M	$61M	Dividends paidDiv. paid
$31M	$24M	$12M	$28M	$22M	$7M	$156M	$24M	$6M	$97M	—	BuybacksBuybacks
33%	29%	22%	38%	39%	73%	68%	49%	55%	51%	38%	ROICROIC
17%	17%	14%	23%	24%	24%	32%	28%	26%	27%	32%	Return on equityROE
11%	11%	7%	14%	14%	14%	17%	13%	12%	12%	14%	Retained to equityRetained/eq
											Balance sheet
$154M	$185M	$196M	$209M	$232M	$343M	$161M	$187M	$259M	$222M	$144M	Cash & investmentsCash+inv
$86M	$87M	$110M	$106M	$120M	$140M	$170M	$167M	$161M	$182M	$197M	ReceivablesReceiv.
$2M	$3M	$3M	$3M	$5M	$3M	$9M	$4M	$5M	$7M	$37M	Accounts payablePayables
$84M	$84M	$107M	$103M	$115M	$137M	$161M	$163M	$156M	$175M	$160M	Operating working capitalOper. WC
$255M	$274M	$316M	$327M	$364M	$453M	$349M	$380M	$447M	$428M	$341M	Current assetsCur. assets
$79M	$80M	$93M	$98M	$124M	$153M	$159M	$162M	$163M	$178M	$142M	Current liabilitiesCur. liab.
3.2×	3.4×	3.4×	3.3×	2.9×	3.0×	2.2×	2.3×	2.7×	2.4×	2.4×	Current ratioCurr. ratio
$9M	$9M	$9M	$9M	$9M	$9M	$9M	$9M	$9M	$9M	$9M	GoodwillGoodwill
$365M	$404M	$440M	$469M	$563M	$684M	$587M	$647M	$777M	$778M	$687M	Total assetsAssets
($154M)	($185M)	($196M)	($209M)	($232M)	($343M)	($161M)	($187M)	($259M)	($222M)	($144M)	Net debt / (cash)Net debt
$244M	$273M	$289M	$314M	$350M	$417M	$321M	$356M	$421M	$390M	$338M	Shareholders’ equityEquity
4.3%	4.2%	4.6%	4.5%	4.2%	4.1%	4.0%	3.8%	4.2%	4.1%	4.1%	Stock comp / revenueSBC/rev
											Per share
55.3M	54.3M	54.0M	54.2M	53.9M	53.3M	52.3M	51.6M	51.6M	51.2M	50.1M	Shares out (diluted)Shares
$5.51	$5.80	$6.44	$7.01	$7.74	$8.74	$9.82	$10.40	$10.83	$11.36	$12.03	Revenue / shareRev/sh
$0.74	$0.87	$0.77	$1.33	$1.53	$1.90	$1.96	$1.94	$2.11	$2.07	$2.17	EPS (diluted)EPS
$0.78	$1.12	$1.17	$1.57	$1.88	$2.21	$1.66	$2.29	$2.67	$2.39	$2.26	Owner earnings / shareOE/sh
$0.78	$0.97	$1.17	$1.38	$1.58	$2.21	$1.56	$2.15	$2.67	$2.39	$2.26	Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh
$0.24	$0.34	$0.40	$0.50	$0.62	$0.78	$0.94	$1.02	$1.10	$1.18	$1.21	Dividends / shareDiv/sh
$0.09	$0.26	$0.09	$0.30	$0.43	$0.13	$0.23	$0.32	$0.13	$0.18	$0.20	Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh
$4.41	$5.03	$5.36	$5.80	$6.50	$7.82	$6.14	$6.90	$8.17	$7.62	$6.75	Book value / shareBVPS

Share counts before 2016 are restated ×2 for a stock split, so per-share figures sit on one basis.

Per-share growththe realized rate an owner's share compounded

	11-yr	5-yr
Revenue / share	+6.8%/yr	+5.4%/yr
Owner earnings / share	+10.7%/yr	+1.6%/yr
EPS	+9.9%/yr	+1.7%/yr
Dividends / share	+15.8%/yr	+8.6%/yr
Capital spending / share	+6.7%/yr	+7.4%/yr
Book value / share	+5.1%/yr	−0.5%/yr

The record, charted

FY2015–2026

Each measure over its full record; the current point and the worst year marked. Share counts on the current split basis.

Share count

51Mpeak FY2015

ROIC

51%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.

$122Mowner earningsvs.$106Mnet incomelow FY2015

Where the cash went

ReinvestBuybacksDividendsAcquisitionsRetained

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

FY2015FY2026

Owner-earnings bridge

FY2021–FY2026cash-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 2026 the business turned $106M of profit into $122M of owner earnings: more cash than the profit line showed, after the non-cash charges and the capital it put back in.

Reported net income$106M

Owner earnings$122M · 21% of revenue

	FY2026	FY2025	FY2023	FY2022	FY2021
Reported net income	$106M	$109M	$100M	$102M	$101M
Depreciation & amortizationnon-cash charge added back	+$10M	+$10M	+$9M	+$7M	+$6M
Stock-based compensationreal costnon-cash, but a real cost	+$24M	+$23M	+$20M	+$20M	+$19M
Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items	−$8M	+$3M	−$2M	−$36M	−$2M
Cash from operations	$132M	$145M	$127M	$94M	$125M
Maintenance capital expenditurethe spending needed just to hold position and volume	−$9M	−$7M	−$9M	−$7M	−$7M
Owner earnings	$122M	$138M	$118M	$87M	$118M
Growth capital expenditurediscretionary; spent to get bigger, not to stand still	—	—	−$7M	−$5M	—
Free cash flow	$122M	$138M	$111M	$82M	$118M
Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue	21%	25%	22%	17%	25%

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 $24M), owner earnings is nearer $99M.

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

FY2026 10-K · source on SEC EDGAR →

Will it survive?

Can it pay its interest? —

No meaningful interest burden

Little or no interest expense reported

What this means
Little or no interest expense reported, the business isn't leaning on lenders to operate.
How heavy is the debt, net of cash? +$267M

Net cash, debt-free

Cash $222M + ST investments $45M − debt $0

What this means
Cash and short-term investments exceed every dollar of debt by $267M, 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 3%

What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.
Owner-earnings margin 21%

High through the cycle

10-yr median margin, range 14%–25%; latest $122M = operating cash $132M − maintenance capex $9M

Industry peers: median 4%

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 21% median across 10 years. Treating stock comp as the real expense it is (less $24M of SBC) leaves $99M.
Are earnings backed by cash? 1.24×

Cash-backed

Cash from ops $132M ÷ net income $106M

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?

Where do the earnings go? 129%

Returned more than it generated

Dividends + buybacks $158M ÷ Owner Earnings $122M

What this means
The company returned more than it generated: against $122M of Owner Earnings, $158M (129%) went back to shareholders, $60M dividends, $97M buybacks — the excess came from the balance sheet or borrowing, not the year's operations. Net of $24M stock comp, the real buyback was about $73M. Sustained, that pattern draws down cash or adds debt; the net-debt line above shows where it stands.
Investing or harvesting? 0.93×

Maintaining

Capex $9M ÷ 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 · 4 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 · $582M

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× · 2.40×

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 · +144%

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 $2.17/share (latest year $2.19), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is $8.05/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, 2015–2026

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 20% → 21% (3-yr avg ends)

What this means
Through the cycle the operating margin held roughly steady — about 20% early, 21% lately, median 21%.
Owner earnings growth +9%/yr

What this means
Owner earnings grew about 9% a year over the record.
Worst year 2016 · 19.6% 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?

Elevated contestability

The product is software or information, the very thing capable AI now produces more cheaply, so the moat is more contestable than the record alone implies.

In its own filing Framed as a capability

Despite the structural exposure, the filing positions AI as something it uses, not a threat to its product.

“As artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies become increasingly embedded in complex and performance-critical systems, rising societal expectations for safety and reliability continue to drive demand for our specialized expertise.”

The moat the record shows, a high return on capital held across years, was earned before AI collapsed the cost of building a capable substitute for the very thing this business sells. When a credible alternative can be assembled for a fraction of the incumbent's price, it is pricing power that erodes first, not revenue tomorrow. The live question is whether the moat survives that, not whether it held in the past. Whether that question is answerable at all is yours to decide, against your own circle of competence.

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, Apr 3, 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$341M

Cash & short-term investments$144M
Receivables$197M

Current liabilities$142M

Accounts payable$37M
Other current liabilities$105M

Current ratio2.40×all current assets ÷ what's due · Graham looked for 2×

Quick ratio2.40×stricter: inventory excluded

Cash ratio1.01×strictest: cash alone against what's due

Working capital$199Mthe cushion left after near-term bills

Revenue, latest quarter vs. a year ago+14.3%the freshest read on whether the business is still growing

Current ratio, recent quarters3.0× → 2.4×

Deeper floors

Tangible book value$330Mequity stripped of goodwill & intangibles

Net current asset value($8M)Graham's net-net: current assets less all liabilities

Debt incl. operating leases$81M$81M of it operating leases

Deferred revenue$16Mcustomer cash collected before delivery; operating float

From the company's latest filing.

How the cash was used, 2015–2026

Over the record, the business generated $1.0B of operating cash; how management split it reads as a cash returner, paying most of what it earns straight back to owners.

Reinvested$115M · 11%
Dividends$374M · 37%
Buybacks$407M · 41%
Retained (debt / cash)$108M · 11%

Returned to owners$781M
83% of the owner earnings the business produced over the span, $374M as dividends and $407M as buybacks.
Average price paid for buybacks$54.22
Across the years where the filing reports a share count, 8M shares were bought for $407M, about $54.22 each. Year to year the price paid ranged from $18.19 (2015) to $89.74 (2021); its heaviest year, 2022, paid $88.76 ($156M).
Net change in share count−9.4%
The diluted count fell from 55M to 50M, so the buybacks outran the stock issued to staff.
Dividend record$1.18/sh
Paid in 10 of the years on record, the per-share dividend growing about 20% a year. It was never cut over the span.
Return on what it retained—
Not read here: owner earnings are negative over the span, or the company returned nearly all its earnings rather than retaining them, so there is too little retained to measure a return on.

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 year	Chief executive	Pay, as filed	“Actually paid”	Owner earnings
2021	Dr. Corrigan	$3.0M	$5.2M	$118M
2022	Dr. Corrigan	$3.6M	$2.3M	$87M
2023	Dr. Corrigan	$3.6M	$2.8M	$118M
2025	Dr. Corrigan	$3.5M	$3.5M	$138M
2026	Dr. Corrigan	$3.7M	$2.5M	$122M

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.

Stock-based compensation$24M
The slice of the business handed to employees in shares this year, 4% of revenue, equal to 20% 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 Exponent 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 2015–2026.

None of the 4 tests turned up a mark; each came back clean. A clean panel says only that these particular ways of being wrong are not written into the record.

Each test came back clean

Is it less profitable than it was?
Did the share count rise anyway?
Did reported profit become cash?
Did receivables and inventory outpace sales?

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, Professional 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.

Company	Revenue	Gross margin	Op. margin	ROIC	Owner earn. margin
FCNFTI Consulting	$3.8B	32%	10.5%	16%	9%
EVHEvolent Health	$1.9B	23%	-12.2%	-6%	-11%
ICFIICF International	$1.9B	36%	6.9%	8%	7%
ONTOnterris Inc.	$831M	35%	-4.8%	-5%	3%
NEONeoGenomics Inc.	$727M	42%	-8.5%	-7%	-4%
MGMistras Group Inc	$724M	32%	2.9%	3%	4%
WLDNWilldan Group Inc.	$682M	35%	4.9%	8%	4%
EXPOExponent	$582M	—	20.8%	44%	22%
Group median	—	—	3.9%	5%	4%

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 Exponent has delivered.

Today’s price $

Through the cycle, Exponent earns about $125M on its 21.5% median owner-earnings margin. This year’s 21.0% margin runs in line with that. Normalize, below, values the price on that through-cycle figure rather than the latest year.

Base Normalize · through-cycle ($125M) Net of stock comp (−$25M)

—

The assumptions Required return 9% Years of high growth 10 Terminal growth 2.5%

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 · ’21→’26+5%/yr

Owner-earnings growth · ’15→’26+9%/yr

Owner-earnings yield—

P/E (3-yr earnings ’23–’26)—

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 $113M on 49M shares outstanding, per the 10-Q cover, as of 2026-05-01; net cash $144M. The if-converted diluted count is 50M, 3% above the shares outstanding: the dilution overhang (convertibles, options) a buyer inherits. 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.

Weigh EXPO against another business →

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

Manual order: ← EXPE its page in the Manual EXR →

Industry order: ← DFIN the Professional Services chapter FCN →