Owner Scorecard


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PRM, Perimeter Solutions SA

Chemicals consumer brand UnprofitableDistress / turnaroundCyclical

We are a leading provider of industrial products and services that support critical and complex customer missions across a range of niche applications.

Our current operations span firefighting products, lubricant additives, electronic components and, following the acquisition of Medical Manufacturing Technologies, LLC ("MMT") in January 2026, highly engineered machinery for the medical device industry.

We develop products that address complex customer challenges where there is little margin for error.

Latest annual: FY2025 10-K
PRM · Perimeter Solutions SA
I

The business

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

Revenue · FY2025
$653M
+16.4% YoY · 22% 5-yr CAGR
Vital signs · TTM, with 5-yr average
Revenue $706M 5-yr avg $447M
Gross margin 56% 5-yr avg 47%
Operating margin −29.2% 5-yr avg 11.0%
ROIC −7% 5-yr avg 1%
Owner-earnings margin 13% 5-yr avg 13%
Free cash flow margin 13% 5-yr avg 13%

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 Fire Safety (69%) and Specialty Products (23%).
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. 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. Cyclical. Margins collapse and recover repeatedly across the record; a single year, good or bad, misstates the through-cycle earning power.
What moves the needle
Operating margin has reached 36% at its best but run negative through the cycle (median −0.7%) on a 40% gross margin — so the question is which reading is truer: whether the median was pulled below zero by one-off charges, by the cycle, or by spending it is still growing into, and whether it settles back at a profit. Inventory runs near 21% of sales, so how fast it turns back into cash — and the risk of writing it down when demand softens — sits alongside the margin. Read this kind of business on the spread and utilization. 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 rarely cleared the cost of capital (median 3%, above 15% in 0 of 6 years). By owner earnings: roughly 8% of revenue reaches owners as cash, though it swings. The cycle and the balance sheet decide this one; the worst year tells more than the median, and 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 →

Fire Safety is 69% of revenue, with Specialty Products the other meaningful segment at 23%.

Revenue by reportable segment, FY2025
  • Fire Safety69%$489M
  • Specialty Products23%$164M

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, 2019–2025

realized figures from each filing · older years to the left
2019’192020’202022’222023’232024’242025’25TTMTTMMar 2026
Income statement
$239M$340M$361M$322M$561M$653M$706MRevenueRevenue
35%48%36%40%57%57%56%Gross marginGross mgn
15%11%17%14%12%12%12%SG&A / revenueSG&A/rev
($6M)$71M$130M$94M($4M)($201M)($206M)Operating incomeOp. inc.
−2.4%21.0%36.1%29.3%−0.7%−30.8%−29.2%Operating marginOp. mgn
($42M)$24M$92M$67M($6M)($206M)($190M)Net incomeNet inc.
30%6%-10%Effective tax rateTax rate
Cash flow & returns
($305K)$71M($40M)$193K$188M$238M$125MOperating cash flowOp. cash
$58M$58M$66M$65M$66M$74M$84MDepreciationDeprec.
($16M)($12M)($212M)($134M)$116M$354M$215MWorking capital & otherWC & other
$9M$7M$9M$9M$16M$30M$31MCapexCapex
3.7%2.2%2.4%2.9%2.8%4.5%4.3%Capex / revenueCapex/rev
($9M)$63M($49M)($9M)$173M$209M$95MOwner earningsOwner earn.
−3.8%18.6%−13.5%−2.9%30.8%31.9%13.4%Owner earnings marginOE mgn
($9M)$63M($49M)($9M)$173M$209M$95MFree cash flowFCF
−3.8%18.6%−13.5%−2.9%30.8%31.9%13.4%Free cash flow marginFCF mgn
$16M$2M$2MAcquisitionsAcquis.
$0$49M$64M$14M$40MBuybacksBuybacks
-2%5%7%5%-0%-11%-7%ROICROIC
-16%8%8%6%-1%-18%-16%Return on equityROE
−16%8%8%6%−1%−18%−16%Retained to equityRetained/eq
Balance sheet
$10M$22M$127M$53M$198M$326M$92MCash & investmentsCash+inv
$29M$27M$40M$56M$64M$88MReceivablesReceiv.
$59M$143M$146M$116M$140M$191MInventoryInvent.
$10M$43M$26MAccounts payablePayables
$78M$127M$185M$172M$204M$253MOperating working capitalOper. WC
$133M$309M$251M$394M$564M$398MCurrent assetsCur. assets
$33M$74M$55M$62M$175M$129MCurrent liabilitiesCur. liab.
4.0×4.2×4.6×6.3×3.2×3.1×Current ratioCurr. ratio
$473M$482M$1.0B$1.0B$1.0B$1.1B$1.4BGoodwillGoodwill
$1.1B$2.5B$2.3B$2.4B$2.7B$3.2BTotal assetsAssets
$687M$665M$666M$668M$669M$1.2BTotal debtDebt
$665M$539M$614M$469M$343M$1.1BNet debt / (cash)Net debt
-0.1×1.7×3.1×2.3×-0.1×-5.1×-3.8×Interest coverageInt. cov.
$262M$291M$1.1B$1.2B$1.2B$1.1B$1.2BShareholders’ equityEquity
0.0%0.0%4.1%0.5%2.3%2.5%2.3%Stock comp / revenueSBC/rev
Per share
53.0M53.0M175M166M146M150M165MShares out (diluted)Shares
$4.51$6.40$2.06$1.94$3.85$4.34$4.28Revenue / shareRev/sh
$-0.79$0.46$0.52$0.41$-0.04$-1.37$-1.15EPS (diluted)EPS
$-0.17$1.19$-0.28$-0.06$1.19$1.39$0.57Owner earnings / shareOE/sh
$-0.17$1.19$-0.28$-0.06$1.19$1.39$0.57Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh
$0.17$0.14$0.05$0.06$0.11$0.20$0.19Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh
$4.95$5.49$6.51$6.92$7.94$7.54$7.30Book value / shareBVPS

The diluted share count moved ×3.3 into 2022 — 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
6-yr5-yr
Revenue / share−0.6%/yr−7.5%/yr
Owner earnings / share+3.0%/yr
Capital spending / share+2.8%/yr+6.8%/yr
Book value / share+7.3%/yr+6.5%/yr

The record, charted

FY2019–2025

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

Share count
150Mpeak FY2022
ROIC
−11%low FY2025
Gross margin
57%low FY2019
Net debt ÷ owner earnings
1.6×peak FY2020

Owner earnings vs. net income

Owner earningsNet income

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

$209Mowner earningsvs.($206M)net incomelow FY2022

Where the cash went

ReinvestBuybacksDividendsAcquisitionsRetained

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

FY2020FY2025

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 $206M loss into $209M of owner earnings: more cash than the profit line showed, after the non-cash charges and the capital it put back in.

FY2025FY2024FY2023FY2022FY2020
Reported net income($206M)($6M)$67M$92M$24M
Depreciation & amortizationnon-cash charge added back+$74M+$66M+$65M+$66M+$58M
Stock-based compensationreal costnon-cash, but a real cost+$17M+$13M+$2M+$15M
Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items+$354M+$116M−$134M−$212M−$12M
Cash from operations$238M$188M$193K($40M)$71M
Capital expenditurecash put back in to keep running and to grow−$30M−$16M−$9M−$9M−$7M
Owner earnings$209M$173M($9M)($49M)$63M
Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue32%31%-3%-14%19%

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 $17M), owner earnings is nearer $192M.

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?

  • Does not cover its interest
    Operating income ($201M) ÷ interest expense $39M
    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.

  • Net debt against an operating loss
    Cash $326M − debt $669M
    What this means

    Netting $326M of cash and short-term investments against $669M of debt leaves $343M owed, with no operating profit this year to measure it against — understand that combination before anything else about the company. Net debt is the leverage figure that matters: the cash is already set against the debt. Strategic or illiquid investments aren't counted here.

  • Long (60+ days)
    DSO 36 + DIO 184 − DPO 56 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?

  • Below average through the cycle
    6-yr median, range -11%–7%; -11% latest = NOPAT ($159M) ÷ invested capital $1.5B
    Industry peers: median -7%
    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 6 years (it ran -11% most recently), 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.

  • Positive this year, negative across the cycle
    latest $209M = operating cash $238M − maintenance capex $30M (positive this year), after an earlier loss stretch (6-yr median -3%)
    Industry peers: median -13%
    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 32% of revenue this year, a -3% median across 6 years. Treating stock comp as the real expense it is (less $17M of SBC) leaves $192M.

  • Loss, but cash-generative
    Net income ($206M) · cash from operations $238M
    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 $40M ÷ Owner Earnings $209M
    What this means

    Of $209M Owner Earnings, $40M (19%) went back to shareholders, $0 dividends, $40M buybacks. Net of $17M stock comp, the real buyback was about $24M. 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? 0.40×
    Harvesting
    Capex $30M ÷ depreciation $74M
    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 6 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 · $653M
    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× · 3.22×
    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 · $669M vs $389M 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 Miss
    A profit every year (6-yr record) · 3 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 Miss
    Earnings +33% over the record · −296%
    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 $-0.30/share (latest year $-1.27), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is $6.95/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, 2019–2025

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

  • Profitable years 3 of 6
    What this means

    Lost money in 3 year(s), look at what happened there before trusting the average.

  • Return on capital ≥ 15% 0 of 5 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 18% → −1% (3-yr avg ends)
    What this means

    Through the cycle the operating margin slipped — about 18% early to −1% lately, median −1% — competition or costs are biting in.

  • Reinvestment, incremental ROIC returns capital
    What this means

    The capital base barely grew: this business returns cash through dividends and buybacks rather than reinvesting. Judge it on the cash returned, not on compounding.

  • Owner earnings growth +38%/yr
    What this means

    Owner earnings grew about 38% a year over the record.

  • Worst year 2025 · −30.8% op. margin
    What this means

    Operations went underwater in 2025, 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 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$398M
  • Cash & short-term investments$92M
  • Receivables$88M
  • Inventory$191M
  • Other current assets$28M
Current liabilities$129M
  • Accounts payable$26M
  • Other current liabilities$103M
Current ratio3.09×all current assets ÷ what's due · Graham looked for 2×
Quick ratio1.61×stricter: inventory excluded
Cash ratio0.71×strictest: cash alone against what's due
Working capital$269Mthe cushion left after near-term bills
Revenue, latest quarter vs. a year ago+73.6%the freshest read on whether the business is still growing
Current ratio, recent quarters3.6× → 3.1×
Deeper floors
Tangible book value($1.4B)equity stripped of goodwill & intangibles
Net current asset value($1.6B)Graham's net-net: current assets less all liabilities
Debt incl. operating leases$1.2B$39M of it operating leases
Deferred revenue$3Mcustomer cash collected before delivery; operating float

From the company's latest filing.

How the cash was used, 2019–2025

Over the record, the business generated $457M of operating cash; how management split it reads as a balanced allocator, splitting cash between the business, owners, and the balance sheet.

  • Reinvested$80M · 17%
  • Buybacks$168M · 37%
  • Retained (debt / cash)$209M · 46%
  • Returned to owners$168M

    45% of the owner earnings the business produced over the span, $0 as dividends and $168M as buybacks.

  • Average price paid for buybacks$6.09

    Across the years where the filing reports a share count, 19M shares were bought for $113M, about $6.09 each.

  • Net change in share count211.2%

    The diluted count rose from 53M to 165M: issuance (stock pay, deals) outran any buybacks, so owners were diluted on net.

  • Dividend record

    No dividend line was reported in the filing data over the span; the record here neither confirms nor rules out a payout.

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.

Acquisitions & goodwill

from the balance sheet & the 6-year cash-flow record

Goodwill grows only when a company acquires and falls only when it concedes it overpaid. The size of that bet, the cash put into buying rather than building, and how much has already been written off.

Goodwill & intangibles$2.0B74% of all assets; the premium carried on the balance sheet for businesses acquired
Against book equity94%goodwill is this share of book equity; the rest is the company’s own retained and paid-in capital
Cash spent acquiring$18Mover 6 years buying other businesses, against $80M of capital spent building

None written down over the record; the goodwill is still carried at full cost. That is the deals holding their value on the books so far; whether they keep doing so is the test an owner watches, since the write-down, when it comes, is the admission the price was too high.

Goodwill, acquired intangibles and equity from the latest balance sheet; acquisition spend and write-downs summed across the 6-year record, from the company's own filings.

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
2021Edward Goldberg$19.7M$22.2M
2022Edward Goldberg$1.8M−$7.8M($49M)
2023Edward Goldberg$1.1M−$5.7M($9M)
2023Haitham Khouri$9.4M$4.7M($9M)
2024Haitham Khouri$4.1M$21.9M$173M
2025Haitham Khouri$8.0M$47.9M$209M

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$17M

    The slice of the business handed to employees in shares this year, 3% of revenue. 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 Perimeter Solutions SA 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 2019–2025.

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

  • Look hereDid the share count rise anyway?211.2%

    Diluted shares grew 211.2% over 2019–2025, even as the company spent $168M 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?
  • Are "one-time" charges a yearly habit?

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 Acquisitions, Stock compensation, Contingencies 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, Chemicals

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
AMPHAmphastar Pharmaceuticals Inc.$720M43%11.0%9%15%
KNSAKiniksa Pharmaceuticals International, PLC$678M88%-9.3%-6%5%
RAREUltragenyx$673M100%-154.9%-92%-113%
PRMPerimeter Solutions SA$653M44%10.2%3%8%
AXSMAxsome Therapeutics Inc.$638M99%-79.2%-44%
WDFCWD-40 Co.$620M55%18.5%27%14%
OPKOPKO Health Inc.$607M34%-18.8%-8%-13%
INSMInsmed Incorporated$606M77%-202.3%-138%-182%
Group median66%-14.0%-6%-4%
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 Perimeter Solutions SA has delivered.

Perimeter Solutions SA’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, Perimeter Solutions SA earns about $52M on its 7.9% median owner-earnings margin. This year’s 31.9% 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→’25+92%/yr
Owner-earnings growth · ’19→’25+38%/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 $95M on 163M shares outstanding, per the 10-Q cover, as of 2026-05-01; net debt $1.1B. 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. The dials set the multiple a growth belief justifies; the price, and every dollar on this page, is yours.

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

Manual order: ← PRLD its page in the Manual PRMB →

Industry order: ← PPG the Chemicals chapter REX →