Compass Diversified Holdings
Through the investors’ lenses
0 of 2 cleared1 of 7 criteria
Each of these investors has said in public what they look at before buying. Click a name to see how this company measures up — a tick where it passes one of their tests, a cross where it does not.
Warren Buffett 0/4
| Measure | CODI | Checked against | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owner earnings | $-128.21m | positive | ✗ |
| Return on equity | -51.2% | US median 2.8% | ✗ |
| Debt to equity | 4.25x | US median 0.57x | ✗ |
| Operating margin | 0.6% | US median 3.1% | ✗ |
Passes 0 of 4. These are the measures Warren Buffett published, applied to Compass Diversified Holdings’s own figures — their criteria, not their view of this company. What he looks at, and why →
Benjamin Graham 1/3
| Measure | CODI | Checked against | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current ratio | 2.42x | 2.00x published | ✓ |
| Long-term debt to working capital | 3.71x | 1.00x published | ✗ |
| Positive earnings, ten years running | 0 yrs | 10 published | ✗ |
Passes 1 of 3. These are the measures Benjamin Graham published, applied to Compass Diversified Holdings’s own figures — their criteria, not their view of this company. What he looks at, and why →
| Basis | Payout | Why |
|---|---|---|
| GAAP earnings | negative | whyLost $3.59 per share — no earnings to pay from. |
| Operating cash flow | negative | whyOperations consumed $6.83m of cash. |
| Free cash flow | negative | whyOCF fell $51.1m short of capex — the dividend was not funded from free cash flow. |
Nothing is marked as applying, deliberately — no basis produces a ratio. Earnings, operating cash flow and free cash flow are all negative, so there is no denominator to divide the dividend by. That is not a gap in the data; it is the answer. The dividend was funded from something other than the money the business made this year — borrowing, cash on hand, or asset sales — and the filing will say which.
Coverage rating 30 / 100 — Strained. ? Peer standing 2/50Direction 25/30Stability 4/20
Free cash flow payout, last 6 years
| Fiscal year | Payout |
|---|---|
| 2021-12-31 | 143.1% |
| 2020-12-31 | 76.3% |
| 2012-12-31 | 204.4% |
| 2011-12-31 | 96.3% |
| 2010-12-31 | 152.5% |
| 2009-12-31 | 278.7% |
Coverage worsened sharply this year, 76.3% to 143.1%, after no clear trend before it. One year is not a trend, but it is worth knowing which direction the last one moved.
3% of the 62 consumer discretionary here pay out more — at the demanding end.
The arithmetic
- GAAP earnings — dividends declared per share $0.500 ÷ diluted EPS $-3.59
- Operating cash flow — dividends paid $37.6m ÷ operating cash flow $-6.83m
- Free cash flow — dividends paid $37.6m ÷ (operating cash flow $-6.83m − capex $44.3m)
Where the figures came from
- 10-K filed 2026-02-27 · accession 0001345126-26-000026
Every one is public at sec.gov and free to check. That is the point — you should not have to take our word for any of it.
Caveats on this company
- dividends paid derived as $0.50 x 75m shares = $38m; no total was filed
Computed by an open pipeline reading SEC XBRL directly. If any number here looks wrong to you, tell us — that is more useful to us than agreement.
Also on: rated strained · when it files.
Who else looks like this
Every figure above is computed from Compass Diversified Holdings’s own filing, and every company here is measured the same way. Screen all of them on any of these twelve measures, or on the rules two investors published — free, and nothing you screen leaves your browser.
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