Share count
4Mpeak FY2022
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ZSQR, Z Squared Inc.
An asset-light business: the value sits in intellectual property and people, not plant, so the question is how durable the advantage is, not how high the margin.
The business
What it sells, where the money comes from, the kind of company it is.
Revenue · FY2025
$1M
· 106% 4-yr CAGR
Vital signs · TTM
The business in brief
read the 10-K →What this business is and what moves its needle, from its own SEC filings.
- Situation
- Unprofitable. No meaningful revenue yet; the record is the cash on hand against the burn.
- What moves the needle
- Whether the advantage is durable, not just the margin high. What decides it: the moat that keeps the returns up, a network, switching costs, intellectual property; whether stock paid to staff is quietly diluting owners; and whether the cash can be reinvested at the same high rate or only handed back. 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 −287%, above 15% in 0 of 4 years). Customers and suppliers fund the business through negative working capital, a structural edge the ratio does not show. 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.
The record
Ten years of arithmetic, read across the cycle.
The record, 2021–2025
realized figures from each filing · older years to the left| 2021’21 | 2022’22 | 2023’23 | 2024’24 | 2025’25 | TTMTTMMar 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income statement | ||||||
| $75K | $0 | $0 | $0 | $1M | $1M | RevenueRevenue |
| 100% | — | — | — | 87% | 87% | Gross marginGross mgn |
| 0% | — | — | — | 94% | 101% | R&D / revenueR&D/rev |
| ($14M) | ($34M) | ($21M) | ($10M) | ($13M) | ($13M) | Operating incomeOp. inc. |
| n/m | — | — | — | −956.9% | −912.4% | Operating marginOp. mgn |
| ($13M) | ($38M) | ($21M) | ($11M) | ($12M) | ($13M) | Net incomeNet inc. |
| Cash flow & returns | ||||||
| ($4M) | ($4M) | ($7M) | ($7M) | ($9M) | ($8M) | Operating cash flowOp. cash |
| $447K | $1M | $1M | $1M | $1M | $1M | DepreciationDeprec. |
| $7M | $33M | $13M | $2M | $2M | $2M | Working capital & otherWC & other |
| -309% | -3327% | — | -265% | -128% | -84% | ROICROIC |
| -572% | -844% | -2613% | -316% | -88% | -73% | Return on equityROE |
| −572% | −844% | n/m | −316% | −88% | −73% | Retained to equityRetained/eq |
| Balance sheet | ||||||
| $76M | $4M | $1M | $533K | $6M | $39M | Cash & investmentsCash+inv |
| $0 | $8K | $0 | — | — | $83K | ReceivablesReceiv. |
| $134K | $99K | $1M | $1M | $889K | $1M | Accounts payablePayables |
| ($134K) | ($91K) | ($1M) | — | — | ($929K) | Operating working capitalOper. WC |
| $2M | $4M | $2M | $1M | $7M | $6M | Current assetsCur. assets |
| $3M | $2M | $3M | $5M | $2M | $2M | Current liabilitiesCur. liab. |
| 0.8× | 1.8× | 0.6× | 0.2× | 4.2× | 3.3× | Current ratioCurr. ratio |
| $7M | $8M | $5M | $9M | $16M | $20M | Total assetsAssets |
| $2M | $150K | $150K | $150K | $150K | $150K | Total debtDebt |
| ($75M) | ($4M) | ($1M) | ($383K) | ($6M) | ($38M) | Net debt / (cash)Net debt |
| -75.1× | -156.6× | -199.6× | -40.9× | -134.8× | -422.9× | Interest coverageInt. cov. |
| $2M | $4M | $814K | $3M | $14M | $17M | Shareholders’ equityEquity |
| Per share | ||||||
| 10.9M | 14.3M | 1.3M | 1.9M | 4.2M | 6.0M | Shares out (diluted)Shares |
| $0.01 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.00 | $0.32 | $0.23 | Revenue / shareRev/sh |
| $-1.23 | $-2.63 | $-16.56 | $-5.55 | $-2.81 | $-2.08 | EPS (diluted)EPS |
| $0.22 | $0.31 | $0.63 | $1.76 | $3.20 | $2.85 | Book value / shareBVPS |
The diluted share count moved ×1/11.13 into 2023 — shares retired, not a split the totals corroborate — and the per-share figures carry the counts as filed.
The diluted share count moved ×1.5 into 2024 — shares issued, not a split the totals corroborate — and the per-share figures carry the counts as filed.
The diluted share count moved ×2.2 into 2025 — shares issued, not a split the totals corroborate — and the per-share figures carry the counts as filed.
The diluted share count moved ×1.42 into TTM — 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
| 4-yr | 5-yr | |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue / share | +161.6%/yr | +161.6%/yr (4-yr) |
| Book value / share | +96.4%/yr | +96.4%/yr (4-yr) |
The record, charted
FY2021–2025Each measure over its full record; the current point and the worst year marked.
ROIC
−128%low FY2022
Quality & stewardship
Returns, the balance sheet, capital allocation, and pay.
Owner’s Scorecard
FY2025 10-K · source on SEC EDGAR →
Will it survive?
- Can it pay its interest? -134.8×Does not cover its interestOperating income ($13M) ÷ interest expense $97K
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 cashCash $6M + ST investments $677K − debt $150K
What this means
Cash and short-term investments exceed every dollar of debt by $6M, on net the company owes nothing, and can act from strength when others can't. It also holds $76M in longer-dated marketable securities; counting those, it sits at net cash of $82M. 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? -1796dNegative, funded by othersDSO 0 + DIO 0 − DPO 1796 days
What this means
Days cash is tied up between paying suppliers and collecting from customers. A negative cycle is a quiet moat: suppliers and customers fund the operation (Buffett's “float”), the company grows on other people's money. (Little or no inventory, a services / asset-light model, so the inventory leg is ~0.)
Is it a good business?
- Below average through the cycle4-yr median, range -3327%–-128%; -128% latest = NOPAT ($10M) ÷ invested capital $8MIndustry peers: median -24%
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 (it ran -128% 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.
- Not enough dataIndustry peers: median 6%
What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.
- Loss, and burning cashNet income ($12M) · cash from operations ($9M)
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?
- Not enough data
What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.
- Investing or harvesting? —Not enough data
What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.
Graham’s defensive tests · 2 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 MissRevenue ≥ $2B · $1M
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 PassCurrent ratio ≥ 2× · 4.16×
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 PassDebt ≤ working capital · $150K vs $6M 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 MissA profit every year (5-yr record) · 5 loss years
What this means
Graham wanted earnings in each of the past ten years, the stability a defensive owner leans on.
- Dividend record MissUninterrupted 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.
- 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 $-0.28/share (latest year $-0.23), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is $0.26/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, 2021–2025
Whether the record’s returns held, and what the capital reinvested earned.
- Profitable years 0 of 5
What this means
Lost money in 5 year(s), look at what happened there before trusting the average.
- Return on capital ≥ 15% 0 of 4 yrs
What this means
A moat shows up as a high return on invested capital that holds year after year, not one good vintage.
- Reinvestment, incremental ROIC —
What this means
The reinvested base moved too little against the change in profit to read a reliable return on it here — the figure would be a small-denominator artifact, not a moat. Judge this one on the owner-earnings record and the cash it returns instead.
- Worst year 2021 · −18727.9% op. margin
What this means
Operations went underwater in 2021, understand why before trusting the good years.
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 Framed as a capability
The filing positions AI as something the company uses, not something it fears.
“This division features AI-powered marketing software and robotic process automation tools designed to optimize business processes and improve overall efficiency.”
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$6M
- Cash & short-term investments$5M
- Receivables$83K
- Other current assets$564K
Current liabilities$2M
- Accounts payable$1M
- Other current liabilities$806K
Current ratio3.25×all current assets ÷ what's due · Graham looked for 2×
Quick ratio3.25×stricter: inventory excluded
Cash ratio2.90×strictest: cash alone against what's due
Working capital$4Mthe cushion left after near-term bills
Cash runway0.7 yrsthe business is consuming cash; this is how long the cash on hand lasts at that rate
Revenue, latest quarter vs. a year ago+81.0%the freshest read on whether the business is still growing
Current ratio, recent quarters0.5× → 3.3×
Deeper floors
Tangible book value$17Mequity stripped of goodwill & intangibles
Net current asset value$4MGraham's net-net: current assets less all liabilities
Debt incl. operating leases$243K$93K of it operating leases
Deferred revenue$3Mcustomer 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.
- Insider ownership24.3%
The stake all directors and executive officers hold together, per the 2024 proxy: skin in the game, the first thing Munger reads.
- Stock-based compensation$1M
The slice of the business handed to employees in shares this year, 81% 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.
Peers, Capital Markets & Asset Management
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ENVAEnova International Inc. | $3.2B | 50% | 21.6% | 10% | 56% |
| CHYMChime Financial Inc. | $2.2B | 88% | -18.4% | -88% | 2% |
| MSTRStrategy Inc Common Stock Class A | $477M | 80% | -13.0% | -2% | 6% |
| WLTHWealthfront Corporation | $365M | 90% | 37.2% | -46% | — |
| LPROOpen Lending Corporation | $93M | 77% | 53.2% | 45% | 50% |
| SBETSharplink Inc. | $28M | 31% | -294.4% | -308% | -117% |
| ZSQRZ Squared Inc. | $1M | 87% | -956.9% | -287% | — |
| Group median | — | 80% | -13.0% | -46% | — |
The price
What a price has to assume.
What the price implies
reverse-DCFThe owner-earnings base could not be formed from this filing’s tagged data (operating cash flow or capital spending is missing), so the owner-earnings reverse-DCF has no base to grow. We read the price from both ends instead: type a price to see the profitability it demands, then set the mature margin you would believe and weigh the two against each other. Nothing leaves your browser unless you enter it in your notebook.
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The assumptions
Enter a price to run it.
Owner earnings it must reach—
Margin the price demands—
Owner-earnings margin today—
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.
Two reads of one future. From your price: the owner earnings the company must reach, valued at a mature multiple and discounted back at your rate, expressed as the margin it implies on revenue grown at your rate. From your belief: the mature margin you would credit, set on the dial above. When the margin the price demands runs above the one you would believe, you are paying for a future taken on faith. For a deep cyclical at a trough, normalized through-cycle earnings are the better lens; this mode is for the genuinely unprofitable, and for the profitable business whose capital spending currently outruns its cash.
Cite: Owner Scorecard, "Z Squared Inc. (ZSQR), the owner's record," https://ownerscorecard.com/c/ZSQR, data as of 2026-07-09.
Manual order: ← ZS its page in the Manual ZTS →
Industry order: ← YRD the Capital Markets & Asset Management chapter