Buy Like Buffett
Watchlist

AQUA METALS, INC.

AQMS · Industrials · $8.1M mkt cap · FY2025 filings · · not refreshed in 35 days · No moat ·

Doesn't clear the bar

No moat
Share / Embed this score
Embed this score

The five investor questions

—

Only one aligned fiscal year of revenue and diluted EPS is available; a trend needs at least two observations.

0

Median gross margin -3956.1% over 7y, variable.

0

Median ROIC -73.3%, above the 12% hurdle in 0% of years.

28

Net debt/EBITDA n/ax, interest coverage -35x.

24

Owner earnings changed trend unclear over up to the ten most recent annual observations.

The businessTrend component abstained: Only one aligned fiscal year of revenue and diluted EPS is available; a trend needs at least two observations. The other four 20% weights were renormalized over the scored 80%.

Price vs. value if growth stopped today

A cautious baseline, not a price target: what the shares may support if normalized owner earnings simply hold steady.

Above value if growth stopped todayBelow value if growth stopped today
No price data
Not reported
Unavailable — insufficient owner-earnings data
Unavailable — insufficient growth-model data
$2.71
No price data

This zero-growth estimate assumes trailing owner earnings persist — unreliable for declining businesses. Flag status unavailable — four adjacent recent FY revenue observations are required.

Among the current top-score group, the median current price is 239% above the zero-growth estimate across 48 of the current top 50 companies by Moat Score with both values.

Score records captured Jul 26, 2026.

Exactly which 50 companies?

FTNT, META, MEDP, IBEX, MSFT, GOOGL, LULU, ANF, IDXX, TXRH, FHI, QLYS, FFIV, ADBE, LLY, MANH, VEEV, GRMN, SSD, MNST, DOCS, MCO, CPRT, NTAP, LRCX, NVDA, CORT, SFM, MPTI, ULTA, SN, RMD, ROL, PAYC, IRMD, INTU, DECK, MORN, LGCY, DAL, GWW, ISRG, MPWR, CTAS, LOPE, MRK, CMG, FAST, BKNG, ORLY

Missing a usable price or zero-growth estimate: ANF, BKNG.

Model details under moat-index@3.0.0: zero-growth multiple 11.1×, capped-growth comparison at no more than 18×; 9% discount rate; high-end growth 0% (capped at 4%) using min(5y revenue CAGR, 5y diluted-EPS CAGR), clamped to 0%–4%; maintenance capex uses min(capex, D&A); abstain when D&A is unavailable. This is a disclosed model range, not intrinsic value as fact.

12 years of fundamentals

The business, in plain English

It earned −465.4% on invested capital in the latest filed year, FY2025. Across the full 11-year measurable filed record, median ROIC was −71.1%. Over the v3 recent window (10 measurable filed years), median ROIC was −73.3%. The Returns on Capital filter above scores it 0/100.

AQMS's latest filed year, FY2025, doesn't disclose total debt in a form the methodology can use, so current leverage is treated as unmeasured — never assumed to be zero.

This breakdown is generated from the filed numbers and sub-scores above — no outside narrative, no estimates. Where a filing doesn’t disclose an input, the sentence that would need it is omitted instead of guessed.

FY2014–FY2025 · 12 fiscal years, normalized from AQMS’s SEC filings

Sales, as filed$0 FY2024
$0$2M$4M2014201820222025
Revenue kept after cost of goods−25028.0% FY2023
−100000%−50000%0%2014201820222025
Standard ROIC or separately labeled Operating ROICROIC −465.4% FY2025
−400%−200%0%2014201820222025
Cash an owner could take out−$22.2M FY2025
−$40M−$20M$02014201820222025

Gaps in a line mean that item isn’t in AQMS’s filings for that year. The series is never interpolated or estimated. The Table view lists every filed value, including operating and net margins, total debt, and share count.

Flagship explainer

How AQUA METALS, INC. makes its money

AQUA METALS, INC.'s filing does not supply enough comparable lines for a truthful flow chart — here's what is filed:

Table alternative
Filed lineValue% of revenueSource
Cost of revenue$2.4MUnavailable
−$23.3MUnavailable
Income before tax−$22.6MUnavailable
Income tax$2000Unavailable
−$22.6MUnavailable
Source: · event Dec 31, 2025 · retrieved Jul 26, 2026 · annual-row source set

Flagship explainer

What AQUA METALS, INC. owns — and owes

AQUA METALS, INC.'s filing tags don't support a full breakdown — here's what is filed:

Table alternative
Filed lineValue% of assetsSource
Total assets$19.7M100%
Cash and equivalents$10.8M55%
Stockholders’ equity$14.8M75%
Source: · event Dec 31, 2025 · retrieved Jul 26, 2026 · annual-row source set

Flagship explainer

What drives AQUA METALS, INC.’s return on equity?

One or more filed inputs needed for the five-factor decomposition are unavailable.

DuPont source inputs
InputValueFiscal yearSource
Net income−$22.6MFY2025
Income before tax−$22.6MFY2025
Operating income−$23.3MFY2025
RevenueUnavailableFY2025
Ending assets$19.7MFY2025
Beginning assets$26.4MFY2024
Ending equity$14.8MFY2025
Beginning equity$16.2MFY2024
Source:
  • SEC filingFiling detailsAccession 0001437749-25-010177
  • SEC filingFiling detailsAccession 0001437749-26-010705
· event Dec 31, 2025 · retrieved Jul 26, 2026 · annual-row source set

Flagship explainer

Where AQUA METALS, INC.'s cash went

AQUA METALS, INC.’s filing does not supply enough provenance-matched cash-flow lines for a truthful flow chart — here’s what is filed:

Table alternative
Filed lineValue% of cash from operationsSource
Cash from operations−$10.3M−100%
Depreciation and amortization$8850009%
Source: · event Dec 31, 2025 · retrieved Jul 26, 2026 · annual-row source set

Curated 19-manager tier

Who reported holding AQUA METALS, INC.

Delayed public 13F reports for 2026-Q2—not live positions, trades, or recommendations.

0 holding0 exited0 not holding0/19 resolved19 not retrieved

Named manager positions and quarter-over-quarter changes
ManagerReported positionQuarter-over-quarterFiling accession
Abrams CapitalNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
Akre CapitalNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
Baupost GroupNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
Berkshire HathawayNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
Brave Warrior AdvisorsNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
Dodge & CoxNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
First EagleNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
FundsmithNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
Gardner Russo & QuinnNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
Gates Foundation TrustNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
Mairs & PowerNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
Markel / Markel-GaynerNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
Oakmark / Harris AssociatesNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
Pershing SquareNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
Polen CapitalNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
Sequoia / Ruane CunniffNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
Southeastern Asset ManagementNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
Tweedy, BrowneNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved
Yacktman Asset ManagementNot retrievedComparison not retrievedFiling not retrieved

Position size uses shares and filed value from each manager’s 13F. Portfolio weight uses the eligible long-share filing denominator. Changes compare only with the immediately preceding calendar quarter.

Source: Filing source not retrieved · event Jun 30, 2026 · retrieved Jul 26, 2026

Flagship explainer

What AQUA METALS, INC. insiders reported

We could not retrieve insider activity for this rendering; no zero-activity claim is shown.

Unavailable: Form 4 activity could not be retrieved for this rendering.

Moat Score history

15 logged readings since Jul 17, 2026 · append-only, never rewritten

Moat Score over timeLast scored reading of each day, on the 0–100 scale12.9 / 100
0406080100WideNarrowShallowNo moatJul 17, 2026Jul 26, 2026

Breaks in the line mark methodology or normalizer upgrades — readings across versions aren’t compared, so a level shift there isn’t a change in the business.

Tier changesSame-methodology and same-normalizer crossings of the Wide / Narrow / Shallow bars

  1. Normalizer upgraded unstamped (version unknown)moat-xbrl-normalizer@1.1.0 — readings across versions aren’t comparedJul 26, 2026
  2. Methodology upgraded moat-index@2.0.0moat-index@3.0.0 — readings across versions aren’t comparedJul 23, 2026
  3. Methodology upgraded moat-index@1.2.0moat-index@2.0.0 — readings across versions aren’t comparedJul 20, 2026

Scores are logged append-only and never overwritten — this record cannot be reconstructed retroactively, which is exactly why it’s worth keeping.

Insider activity

Form 4 reports mix P/S market or private transactions with compensation-plan mechanics. Activity casually described as “insider selling” can include compensation mechanics; awards, tax withholding, and option exercises are shown by their exact filed class here, never collapsed into “Bought” or “Sold.”

These are disclosed filing facts and arithmetic aggregates, not a signal or verdict.

The insider-filing service is temporarily unavailable, so no partial or guessed answer is shown for AQMS.

Track record

How AQUA METALS, INC.’s moat rated in each of the years we can reconstruct from its filings — scored only on what was knowable at the time — and what its price and returns did afterward. The score never saw a price; the two are joined only in hindsight, for education, not as a signal.

Point-in-time scores 2015–2025, one methodology version · reconstructed from filings on file each Dec 31 — never with hindsight

Point-in-time Moat Score (dot colored by tier)Indexed price (total-return (dividends reinvested))Rated Wide-moat that year

How to read this: each dot is what the engine would have scored AQMS on that December 31; the line below is its total-return price path (dividends reinvested) in the years since.

0406080100WideNarrowShallowNo moatPoint-in-time Moat Score0.5125102050100200Indexed price · log scale (2016 = 100)2015201720192021202320252026

Two tracks, one timeline: the score has its own 0–100 scale (top), the price its own 100-based scale (bottom) — never a shared axis. The price path is a total-return (dividends reinvested) index built from the same data the forward returns use; gaps in the score line are years with no reconstructed rating (see the table for why). The Table view carries every value.

What followed, in the years it rated Wide

In the reconstructed history shown, AQMS did not rate Wide-moat in any year, so there is no wide-moat track record to report. That absence is itself the honest answer — we don’t manufacture a comparison where the rating never earned one.

Industrials context

#444 of 446 scored Industrials companies, ranked by Moat Score.

Nearest peers by Moat Score

  1. #442NNBR NN INC13.2No moat
  2. #443CHEV CHARGING ROBOTICS INC.12.9No moat
  3. #445HYFM HYDROFARM HOLDINGS GROUP, INC.12.8No moat
  4. #446ACH ACCENDRA HEALTH INC/VA/8.6No moat

Compare AQMS with its nearest peers →All Industrials companies on the Index →

Common questions about AQMS

Does AQUA METALS, INC. have an economic moat?
Based on its FY2025 SEC filings, the Moat Index scores AQUA METALS, INC. (AQMS) 12.9 out of 100 — below the Shallow-moat bar, so no moat. The five questions behind that score begin at 20% each; if exactly one genuinely lacks data, the other four weights are renormalized and disclosed. revenue and EPS trend not measurable from the filings, pricing power 0, returns on capital 0, balance-sheet safety 28, capital allocation 24.
How has AQMS's Moat Score changed over time?
The record logs 15 readings since Jul 17, 2026; the latest reads 12.9 out of 100 (no moat). No tier changes on record yet. (Methodology or normalizer upgrades on Jul 20, 2026, Jul 23, 2026, Jul 26, 2026 re-based the score; readings across versions aren't compared.) The history is append-only — readings are only ever added, never rewritten.

Scored from primary SEC filings via the public methodology. Educational only — not a recommendation to buy or sell AQMS. See the disclaimer.