Share count
34Mpeak FY2017
← All companies ← IDA Manual IDR → ← ICE Capital Markets & Asset Management IREN →
IDCC, InterDigital Inc.
InterDigital Inc. is a global research and development company focused primarily on wireless, video, artificial intelligence, and related technologies.
We design and develop foundational technologies that enable connected, immersive experiences in a broad range of communications and entertainment products and services.
We license our innovations worldwide to companies providing such products and services, including makers of wireless communications devices, consumer electronics, internet of things ("IoT") devices, cars and other motor vehicles and providers of cloud-based services such as video streaming.
The business
What it sells, where the money comes from, the kind of company it is.
Revenue · FY2025
$834M
−4.0% YoY · 18% 5-yr CAGR
Vital signs · TTM, with 5-yr average
Revenue $829M 5-yr avg $627M
Revenue $205M −2.4% vs yr-ago qtr
Operating margin 40.0% yr-ago 62.6%
Net income $75M yr-ago $116M
Net margin 36.7% yr-ago 54.9%
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
- Occupancy, rents, and the cost of debt. Read on funds from operations and net asset value, because GAAP depreciation distorts the earnings, and a property downturn meets a balance sheet built on leverage. 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?
- Funds from operations per share have been roughly flat (4% a year). The dividend takes 15% of FFO, and is covered. Debt is 20% of assets, conservative for a REIT. The quality and location of the properties, the lease terms and occupancy, and the cost of the debt are what the 10-K settles, and no single ratio captures them.
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 →71% of revenue comes from outside the United States.
Revenue by geography, FY2025
- China37%$309M
- South Korea31%$263M
- United States29%$239M
- Taiwan1%$12M
- Japan1%$7M
- Europe0%$3M
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.
The record
Ten years of arithmetic, read across the cycle.
The record, 2016–2025
realized figures from each filing · older years to the left| 2016’16 | 2017’17 | 2018’18 | 2019’19 | 2020’20 | 2021’21 | 2022’22 | 2023’23 | 2024’24 | 2025’25 | TTMTTMMar 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income statement | |||||||||||
| $666M | $533M | $307M | $319M | $359M | $425M | $458M | $550M | $869M | $834M | $829M | RevenueRevenue |
| $309M | $176M | $65M | $21M | $45M | $55M | $94M | $214M | $359M | $407M | $366M | Net incomeNet inc. |
| Cash flow & returns | |||||||||||
| $358M | $233M | $139M | $98M | $133M | $133M | $172M | $292M | $429M | $484M | $445M | Funds from operationsFFO |
| Balance sheet | |||||||||||
| 9% | 19% | 35% | 45% | 32% | 32% | 25% | 14% | 10% | 13% | 15% | Dividend payout (FFO)Payout |
| $1.7B | $1.9B | $1.6B | $1.6B | $1.6B | $1.6B | $1.9B | $1.8B | $1.8B | $2.1B | $2.1B | Total assetsAssets |
| 16% | 15% | 20% | 28% | 23% | 26% | 32% | 34% | 26% | 23% | 20% | Debt / assetsDebt/assets |
| $272M | $285M | $317M | $445M | $368M | $423M | $607M | $608M | $472M | $475M | $415M | Total debtDebt |
| ($681M) | ($873M) | ($628M) | ($480M) | ($559M) | ($519M) | ($595M) | ($399M) | ($486M) | ($768M) | ($667M) | Net debt / (cash)Net debt |
| 20.7× | 16.9× | 1.7× | 0.9× | 1.4× | 2.8× | 5.1× | 4.9× | 9.7× | 11.5× | 10.5× | Interest coverageInt. cov. |
| $740M | $855M | $937M | $762M | $773M | $745M | $725M | $582M | $857M | $1.1B | $1.1B | Shareholders’ equityEquity |
| Per share | |||||||||||
| 35.2M | 35.8M | 35.3M | 31.8M | 31.1M | 31.3M | 30.5M | 28.1M | 29.7M | 34.5M | 35.3M | Shares out (diluted)Shares |
| $10.19 | $6.52 | $3.95 | $3.09 | $4.29 | $4.27 | $5.65 | $10.39 | $14.42 | $14.04 | $12.61 | FFO / shareFFO/sh |
| $0.88 | $1.21 | $1.37 | $1.40 | $1.39 | $1.38 | $1.39 | $1.40 | $1.41 | $1.76 | $1.90 | Dividends / shareDiv/sh |
| $21.02 | $23.90 | $26.53 | $23.96 | $24.90 | $23.85 | $23.78 | $20.69 | $28.85 | $31.94 | $31.29 | Book value / shareBVPS |
Per-share growththe realized rate an owner's share compounded
| 9-yr | 5-yr | |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue / share | +2.8%/yr | +15.9%/yr |
| Owner earnings / share | +2.6%/yr | +25.7%/yr |
| EPS | +3.3%/yr | +52.2%/yr |
| Dividends / share | +7.9%/yr | +4.9%/yr |
| Capital spending / share | +11.9%/yr | +4.0%/yr |
| Book value / share | +4.8%/yr | +5.1%/yr |
The year, in the company's words
the filing →Verbatim from the 10-K's management discussion. Each sentence is shown only because its subject, direction, and stated figures check out against the filed numbers on this page. The words are the company's; the arithmetic is the record's.
- Revenue-4.0%
“Total revenue of $834.0 million decreased $34.5 million from 2024 primarily due to larger catch-up revenue in 2024 resulting primarily from the Samsung TV and OPPO agreements, as well as the Lenovo UK ruling and arbitration agreement, partially offset by catch-up revenue on the Samsung arbitration decision and the vivo agreement in 2025.”
✓ figure matches the filed record
The record, charted
FY2016–2025Each measure over its full record; the current point and the worst year marked.
Revenue
$834Mlow FY2018
Quality & stewardship
Returns, the balance sheet, capital allocation, and pay.
Owner’s Scorecard
FY2025 10-K · source on SEC EDGAR →
Is it a good business?
- about $14.04 per shareNet income $407M + depreciation $78M
What this means
GAAP net income with property depreciation added back, because the buildings a REIT charges against earnings usually hold or grow their value. This, not net income, is what a REIT is actually priced on. It is an approximation here: where a filing reports gains on property sales, we remove them, the way the NAREIT definition does.
- Lightly coveredDividends $61M ÷ FFO $484MIndustry peers: median 43%
What this means
A REIT must distribute most of its taxable income, so a high payout is normal and the question is whether FFO covers it. Above 100%, the trust is funding the dividend with debt or asset sales, and a cut usually follows.
Is it sound?
- Debt / assets 23%ConservativeTotal debt $475M ÷ assets $2.1BIndustry peers: median 48%
What this means
Every REIT runs on leverage; how much is the question. Heavy debt is what turns a property downturn into a wipeout, as 2008 showed, so a conservative balance sheet is part of the moat here, not a drag on it.
- Strong(operating income + depreciation) ÷ interest $40MIndustry peers: median 4.3×
What this means
How many times the property cash earnings cover the interest bill. Comfortable coverage is what lets a REIT refinance through a tight credit market instead of being forced to sell into one.
Does AI threaten the moat?
Low contestabilityThe moat is physical, regulated or balance-sheet-funded, the kind AI cuts costs within but does not contest.
In its own filing Raised, but not as a competitor
The filing raises AI among its risks, but in other terms (security, regulation, energy or the like), not as a competitor to its product; it frames AI mainly as a capability.
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, and the company is using it that way.
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, 2026Can 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$1.4B
- Cash & short-term investments$1.1B
- Receivables$208M
- Other current assets$96M
Current liabilities$738M
- Debt due within a year$378M
- Accounts payable$6M
- Other current liabilities$355M
Current ratio1.88×all current assets ÷ what's due · Graham looked for 2×
Quick ratio1.88×stricter: inventory excluded
Cash ratio1.47×strictest: cash alone against what's due
Working capital$648Mthe cushion left after near-term bills
Debt due this year vs. cash$378M due · $1.1B cash
covered by cash on hand, no refinancing forced · both figures from the Mar 31, 2026 balance sheet
Revenue, latest quarter vs. a year ago−2.4%the freshest read on whether the business is still growing
Current ratio, recent quarters1.5× → 1.9×
Deeper floors
Tangible book value$726Mequity stripped of goodwill & intangibles
Net current asset value$420MGraham's net-net: current assets less all liabilities
Debt incl. operating leases$406M$18M of it operating leases
Deferred revenue$420Mcustomer 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 year | Chief executive | Pay, as filed | “Actually paid” | Owner earnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Liren Chen | $10.8M | $19.4M | $128M |
| 2021 | William Merritt | $1.6M | −$711k | $128M |
| 2022 | Liren Chen | $4.8M | $8.5M | $283M |
| 2023 | Liren Chen | $4.8M | $20.8M | $209M |
| 2024 | Liren Chen | $7.3M | $88.8M | $266M |
| 2025 | Liren Chen | $7.8M | $57.2M | $529M |
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 ownership3.5%
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$43M
The slice of the business handed to employees in shares this year, 5% 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.
What an owner would ask, FY2025
read the 10-K →- Which reported numbers are a judgment call?Management names Revenue recognition, 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, Capital Markets & Asset Management
The same industry, side by side on the REIT lens. 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 | FFO margin | FFO / assets | Payout (FFO) | Debt / assets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DLBDolby Laboratories | $1.3B | 26% | 10.9% | 31% | — |
| IDCCInterDigital Inc. | $834M | 45% | 10.8% | 22% | 24% |
| TPLTexas Pacific Land | $798M | 67% | 37.5% | 28% | — |
| CDPCopt Defense Properties | $764M | 36% | 5.6% | 55% | 52% |
| NSANational Storage Affiliates | $753M | 35% | 4.6% | 61% | 54% |
| INNSummit Hotel Properties Inc. | $729M | 18% | 4.6% | 22% | 48% |
| IRTIndependence Realty Trust | $658M | 32% | 3.9% | 83% | 48% |
| APPSDigital Turbine Inc. | $565M | 2% | 1.4% | — | 40% |
| Group median | — | 33% | 5.1% | 31% | 48% |
The price
What a price has to assume.
What the price implies
price / FFOA REIT is priced on a multiple of its funds from operations (FFO), the cash it earns once the depreciation on its buildings is added back. Type today’s price; we show the multiple you would pay and the income and growth it implies.
$
The assumptions
FFO / share, delivered34%/yr’20→’25
The justified multiple is 1 ÷ (required return − growth), a perpetuity on FFO. At an 8% required return and 3% growth, a REIT is worth about 20× FFO.
Enter a price above to run it.
Price / FFO—
Justified by growth—
Dividend yield—
A dated snapshot of the price you typed, the assumptions you set, and what the page showed for them. A snapshot is never edited after it is saved. Your notebook is yours alone — the commitment states what is stored and what we will never do.
FFO about $12.61 per share on 26M shares. The dials set the multiple they justify; your price sets the multiple you are paying. FFO here adds back depreciation and removes property-sale gains, the NAREIT method; it does not net out maintenance capex (AFFO), occupancy or lease terms, which the 10-K does.
Cite: Owner Scorecard, "InterDigital Inc. (IDCC), the owner's record," https://ownerscorecard.com/c/IDCC, data as of 2026-07-09.
Manual order: ← IDA its page in the Manual IDR →
Industry order: ← ICE the Capital Markets & Asset Management chapter IREN →