VFS, VinFast Auto Ltd.

Will it survive?

• Can it pay its interest? —
  Interest expense not tagged in the data
  What this means

  No usable interest-expense line was tagged in the filing data, but the balance sheet carries real net debt — so the interest burden here is unknown, not absent. Read the debt on the net-debt check below.

• How heavy is the debt, net of cash? VND 66.28T
  Net debt against an operating loss
  Cash VND 13.77T + ST investments VND 2.51T − debt VND 82.56T
  What this means

  Netting VND 16.28T of cash and short-term investments against VND 82.56T of debt leaves VND 66.28T 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.

• 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 meaningful here
  Invested capital (VND 111.20T) = debt VND 82.56T + equity (VND 179.99T) − cash
  Industry peers: median 6%
  What this means

  Invested capital is near zero or negative, usually years of buybacks pulling equity down. ROIC explodes or flips sign and stops meaning anything. Judge this one on Owner Earnings instead.

• Owner-earnings margin -206%
  Consumes cash through the cycle
  4-yr median margin, range -373%–-91%; latest (VND 47.22T) = operating cash (VND 36.87T) − maintenance capex VND 10.36T
  Industry peers: median 8%
  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 -107% of revenue this year, a -206% median across 4 years. It chose to put VND 7.87T more into growth, so free cash flow this year was (VND 55.09T) — the gap is investment, not weakness.

• Are earnings backed by cash? (VND 36.87T)
  Loss, and burning cash
  Net income (VND 81.88T) · cash from operations (VND 36.87T)

  In the filing’s words The filing discloses a material weakness in its financial controls — the reported numbers here, and the record built on them, are only as reliable as the controls that produced them.

  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 not.

How is the cash used?

• Where do the earnings go? —
  No surplus to allocate
  What this means

  The business didn't generate positive Owner Earnings this year, so any distributions came from the balance sheet or borrowing, not from operations.

• Investing or harvesting? 1.76×
  Expanding
  Capex VND 18.23T ÷ depreciation VND 10.36T
  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 · 0 of 2 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) · VND 44.02T
  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 Miss
  Current ratio ≥ 2× · 0.47×
  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 · VND 82.56T vs (VND 98.39T) 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.

• 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 VND -27159.65/share (latest year VND -35010.13), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is VND -76958.45/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, 2021–2024

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

• Profitable years 0 of 4
  What this means

  Lost money in 4 year(s), look at what happened there before trusting the average.

• Operating margin −244% → −138% (2-yr avg ends)
  What this means

  Through the cycle the operating margin widened — about −244% early to −138% lately, median −169% — pricing power intact or improving.

• Worst year 2022 · −319.9% op. margin
  What this means

  Operations went underwater in 2022, understand why before trusting the good years.

• Share count +14.0%/yr
  What this means

  The share count is rising, dilution works against you on a per-share basis.

• Dividend record paid
  What this means

  Paid a dividend in 1 of the years on record.