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PHOTRONICS, INC.

PLAB · Technology · $1.7B mkt cap · FY2025 filings · Narrow moat ·

Wonderful & reasonably priced

Narrow moat
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The five investor questions

93

2021–2025 (latest 5 aligned FYs; v3 window cap 5): revenue $664M to $849M, increasing; diluted EPS 0.89 to 2.28, increasing.

21

Median gross margin 24.9% over 10y, variable.

46

Median ROIC 11.6%, above the 12% hurdle in 50% of years.

100

Net cash position — no leverage risk.

83

Owner earnings changed +7.1%/yr over up to the ten most recent annual observations.

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
25% above value if growth stopped today
$125M
$24.19
$39.19
$30.33
25% above value if growth stopped today

What today’s price assumes: owner earnings growing ~5%/yr over 5 years. The zero-growth estimate assumes owner earnings stay flat (0% growth).

How to read this

We solve for the constant annual change in owner earnings that would make the five-year zero-growth estimate equal today’s price. This keeps the existing model inputs and calculation unchanged; it is an expectations lens, not a forecast.

This zero-growth estimate assumes trailing owner earnings persist — unreliable for declining businesses. The recent FY revenue series does not trigger the three-consecutive-declines flag.

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 4% (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.

18 years of fundamentals

The business, in plain English

PHOTRONICS, INC. booked $849M of revenue in FY2025 in the Technology sector and kept 35.3% of it as gross profit — a solid-margin business by that measure. After every other cost, 16.1% of each revenue dollar reached the bottom line.

Across the filed record, revenue grew from $361M (FY2009) to $849M (FY2025) — about 5.5% a year compounded over 16 years.

It earned 26.2% on invested capital in the latest filed year, FY2025. Across the full 17-year measurable filed record, median ROIC was 10.2%. Over the v3 recent window (10 measurable filed years), median ROIC was 11.6%. The Returns on Capital filter above scores it 46/100.

The balance sheet carried $24000 of total debt in FY2025 against $136M of owner earnings — roughly 0.0 years of owner earnings to retire it all. Balance-Sheet Safety scores it 100/100.

Put together: Balance-Sheet Safety is the strongest of the five filters (100/100) and Pricing Power the weakest (21/100), which is how PLAB lands at 69/100 — a Narrow moat.

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.

FY2008–FY2025 · 18 fiscal years, normalized from PLAB’s SEC filings

Sales, as filed$849M FY2025
$0$500M2008201420202025
Revenue kept after cost of goods35.3% FY2025
0%20%40%2008201420202025
Standard ROIC or separately labeled Operating ROICROIC 26.2% FY2025
0%20%40%2008201420202025
Cash an owner could take out$136M FY2025
$0$100M2008201420202025

Gaps in a line mean that item isn’t in PLAB’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 PHOTRONICS, INC. makes its money

Start with a dollar of revenue and follow what the filing says remains.

revenueBranching filed flows with values and percentages directly labeled. Missing filing concepts are omitted rather than estimated.Revenue$849M · 100%Cost of revenue$549M · 65%Gross profit$300M · 35%Operating income$208M · 25%Income before tax$222M · 26%Income tax$31.6M · 4%Net income$136M · 16%As of 2025-10-31 · 1 SEC filing sourceBuy Like Buffett · buylikebuffett.com

Honest partial: the filing did not provide a normalized tag for Research and development, Selling, general and administrative; those components are omitted, not plugged.

Table alternative
Filed lineValue% of revenueSource
$849M100%
Cost of revenue$549M65%
$300M35%
$208M25%
Income before tax$222M26%
Income tax$31.6M4%
$136M16%
Source: · event Oct 31, 2025 · retrieved Jul 26, 2026 · annual-row source set
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Flagship explainer

What PHOTRONICS, INC. owns — and owes

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

Table alternative
Filed lineValue% of assetsSource
Total assets$1.8B100%
Cash and equivalents$492M27%
$240000%
Stockholders’ equity$1.2B65%
Source: · event Oct 31, 2025 · retrieved Jul 26, 2026 · annual-row source set

Flagship explainer

What drives PHOTRONICS, INC.’s return on equity?

ROE is five filed business factors multiplied together.

DuPont return on equity factor treeReturn on equity branches into tax burden, interest burden, operating margin, asset turnover, and the equity multiplier.Return on equity12%Tax burden62%net income ÷ pretax incomeInterest burden107%pretax ÷ operating incomeOperating margin25%operating income ÷ revenueAsset turnover0.48×revenue ÷ average assetsEquity multiplier1.53×average assets ÷ average equityAs of 2025-10-31 · 1 SEC filing sourceBuy Like Buffett · buylikebuffett.com
DuPont source inputs
InputValueFiscal yearSource
$136MFY2025
Income before tax$222MFY2025
Operating income$208MFY2025
$849MFY2025
Ending assets$1.8BFY2025
Beginning assets$1.7BFY2024
$1.2BFY2025
$1.1BFY2024
Source:
  • SEC filingFiling detailsAccession 0001140361-25-045801
· event Oct 31, 2025 · retrieved Jul 26, 2026 · annual-row source set
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Flagship explainer

Where PHOTRONICS, INC.'s cash went

PHOTRONICS, 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$248M100%
Depreciation and amortization$77.3M31%
Source: · event Oct 31, 2025 · retrieved Jul 26, 2026 · annual-row source set

Curated 19-manager tier

Who reported holding PHOTRONICS, INC.

Delayed public 13F reports for 2026-Q1—not live positions, trades, or recommendations.

0 holding0 exited0 not holding0/19 resolved19 unavailable

Named manager positions and quarter-over-quarter changes
ManagerReported positionQuarter-over-quarterFiling accession
Abrams CapitalUnavailableComparison unavailableFiling unavailable
Akre CapitalUnavailableComparison unavailableFiling unavailable
Baupost GroupUnavailableComparison unavailableFiling unavailable
Berkshire HathawayUnavailableComparison unavailableFiling unavailable
Brave Warrior AdvisorsUnavailableComparison unavailableFiling unavailable
Dodge & CoxUnavailableComparison unavailableFiling unavailable
First EagleUnavailableComparison unavailableFiling unavailable
FundsmithUnavailableComparison unavailableFiling unavailable
Gardner Russo & QuinnUnavailableComparison unavailableFiling unavailable
Gates Foundation TrustUnavailableComparison unavailableFiling unavailable
Mairs & PowerUnavailableComparison unavailableFiling unavailable
Markel / Markel-GaynerUnavailableComparison unavailableFiling unavailable
Oakmark / Harris AssociatesUnavailableComparison unavailableFiling unavailable
Pershing SquareUnavailableComparison unavailableFiling unavailable
Polen CapitalUnavailableComparison unavailableFiling unavailable
Sequoia / Ruane CunniffUnavailableComparison unavailableFiling unavailable
Southeastern Asset ManagementUnavailableComparison unavailableFiling unavailable
Tweedy, BrowneUnavailableComparison unavailableFiling unavailable
Yacktman Asset ManagementUnavailableComparison unavailableFiling unavailable

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 unavailable · event Mar 31, 2026 · retrieved Jul 26, 2026

Flagship explainer

What PHOTRONICS, INC. insiders reported

Records still being gathered — partial as of retrieval Aug 11, 2026.

Partial coverage: the incomplete Form 4 walk cannot establish no activity, an activity date, or zero counts.

Moat Score history

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

Moat Score over timeLast scored reading of each day, on the 0–100 scale68.5 / 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.

This machine-readable surface covers SEC ownership filings from 2003; it does not represent earlier paper-era records.

Records still being gathered — partial as of retrieval Aug 11, 2026.

1 filing was skipped because the SEC primary document returned 404; the omission is disclosed and aggregates are withheld.

Trailing-12-month totals and the 90-day cluster result are withheld because this issuer walk is incomplete.

No reported Form 4 rows were captured for PLAB; the incomplete walk cannot establish zero activity, zero counts, or a negative cluster result.

A filing source-event date will appear when a Form 4 row is captured.

Retrieved .

Technology context

#120 of 744 scored Technology companies, ranked by Moat Score.

Nearest peers by Moat Score

  1. #118ZM Zoom Communications, Inc.69.2Narrow moat
  2. #119CRM Salesforce, Inc.68.9Narrow moat
  3. #121ALAB Astera Labs, Inc.68.5Narrow moat
  4. #122AKAM AKAMAI TECHNOLOGIES, INC.68.2Narrow moat

Compare PLAB with its nearest peers →All Technology companies on the Index →

Common questions about PLAB

Does PHOTRONICS, INC. have an economic moat?
Based on its FY2025 SEC filings, the Moat Index scores PHOTRONICS, INC. (PLAB) 68.5 out of 100 — a Narrow 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 93, pricing power 21, returns on capital 46, balance-sheet safety 100, capital allocation 83.
Is PLAB trading below the conservative owner-earnings estimate?
The value if growth stopped today — a zero-growth baseline — is $24.19 per share. It capitalizes normalized owner earnings at a 9% rate and assumes 0% growth. Versus a recent price of $30.33, that is 25% above value if growth stopped today. The model also publishes a capped-growth comparison, but the zero-growth estimate is the cautious baseline. It assumes trailing owner earnings persist and is unreliable for declining businesses. This is an educational estimate from primary SEC filings, not intrinsic value as a fact or investment advice.
How has PLAB's Moat Score changed over time?
The record logs 16 readings since Jul 17, 2026; the latest reads 68.5 out of 100 (narrow 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 PLAB. See the disclaimer.