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Acacia Research Corp.

ACTG · US · USD
Watchlist and comparison: planned
Market value421.67 m USD
Industry per SECPatent Owners & Lessors
Price as of12 Oct 2026
Last financial year2025
Latest filing10-Q, 6 Aug 2026
Method version2.7.0
Years in the base11
Company quality, four grades from 0 to 5
Balance sheet5
Profitability1
Cash flow4
Growth5
Total points15 of 20
Share valuation, scored separately

No reliable range can be derived for this company. The reason is given below.

The key figures

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All values from audited annual reports filed with the US regulator SEC. No value is estimated, none smoothed.

GradePointsBasis
Balance sheet5/5Net cash 214.82 m $, no net debt · Current ratio 9.2
How this grade is built
Net debt to operating incomeNet cash 214.82 m $, no net debt5/51: ≤ 5.0×2: ≤ 4.0×3: ≤ 3.0×4: ≤ 2.0×5: ≤ 1.0×
Current ratio9.25/51: ≥ 0.82: ≥ 1.03: ≥ 1.34: ≥ 1.85: ≥ 2.5
Mean 5 + 5 / 2 = 5.00, rounded 5
Profitability1/5Operating margin 2.2% · Return on equity 4.0%
How this grade is built
Operating margin2.2%1/51: ≥ 0.0%2: ≥ 5.0%3: ≥ 12.0%4: ≥ 20.0%5: ≥ 30.0%Next step: at least 5.0% for grade 2
Return on equity4.0%1/51: ≥ 0.0%2: ≥ 5.0%3: ≥ 10.0%4: ≥ 18.0%5: ≥ 25.0%Next step: at least 5.0% for grade 2
Mean 1 + 1 / 2 = 1.00, rounded 1
Cash flow4/5Free cash flow to revenue 26.4% · Profit covered by cash flow 3.5× · Free cash flow positive 2 of 5 years
How this grade is built
Free cash flow to revenue26.4%5/51: ≥ 0.0%2: ≥ 5.0%3: ≥ 10.0%4: ≥ 18.0%5: ≥ 25.0%
Profit covered by cash flow3.5×5/51: ≥ 0.4×2: ≥ 0.6×3: ≥ 0.8×4: ≥ 1.0×5: ≥ 1.2×
Free cash flow positive2 of 5 years2/51: 1 of 52: 2 of 53: 3 of 54: 4 of 55: 5 of 5Next step: at least 3/5 for grade 3
Mean 5 + 5 + 2 / 3 = 4.00, rounded 4
Growth5/5Revenue growth per year 57.1% · Operating income per year not reported
How this grade is built
Revenue growth per year57.1%5/51: ≥ 0.0%2: ≥ 3.0%3: ≥ 8.0%4: ≥ 15.0%5: ≥ 25.0%
Operating income per yearnot reported—1: ≥ 0.0%2: ≥ 3.0%3: ≥ 8.0%4: ≥ 15.0%5: ≥ 25.0%
Mean 5 / 1 = 5.00, rounded 5

Each grade is the rounded mean of two or three key figures, each placed on a five-step scale. Open the derivation under a grade to see, for every figure, the measured value, the step it reached and what the next step would have required.

The valuation range

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No range is reported for this company. Not enough history.

Within the sector

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Rank 2 of 6 in the industry. Median of total points in this industry: 12.0 of 20, across 6 graded companies. The grades are absolute and are not normalised to the sector: in a weak industry a weak grade stays weak.

one place above
InterDigital, Inc.
IDCC
20/20
one place below
Dolby Laboratories, Inc.
DLB
15/20

The neighbours follow from the ranking alone, not from a judgement. More total points does not mean a company is the better investment, only that more quality rules are met. It says nothing about the price.

The series of figures

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Every figure comes from the annual report of that year and has not been revised afterwards. Amounts in USD.

Swipe sideways for all columns.

YearRevenueOperating profitFree cash flowEarnings per shareSharesNet debt
2015—-152.62 m-9.96 m-8.1219.80 m-135.22 m
2016—-37.41 m34.06 m-2.7020.03 m-158.50 m
201765.40 m-27.27 m12.96 m1.1020.28 m-136.60 m
2018131.51 m-24.69 m20.84 m-5.2519.99 m-165.84 m
201911.25 m-23.42 m-2.49 m-1.0020.36 m-168.75 m
202029.78 m-19.52 m-19.82 m3.7022.97 m-165.55 m
202188.05 m14.54 m13.23 m4.7739.39 m-707.47 m
202259.22 m-40.09 m-38.07 m-3.1342.46 m-386.14 m
2023125.10 m20.94 m-22.70 m0.5892.41 m-439.91 m
2024122.31 m-32.93 m-98.55 m-0.3699.21 m-271.48 m
2025285.23 m6.41 m75.24 m0.2297.16 m-214.82 m

How durable the advantage is

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0 of 8 points, measured over 10 years (2016 to 2025). Classification: no trace.

FeaturePointsBasis
Return on capital, level0/3The company earns on average -6.3% of its assets per year as operating profit, measured over 10 years. Comparable companies are around 10%.
Return on capital, consistency0/30 of 10 years above 10%. Consistency is the real evidence, because anyone has one good year.
Pricing power—/2Gross profit is not reported separately in the filing.
Stability in a downturn0/2Operating margin averaging -27%. Tested in 2020 and 2022: 2020 -66%, 2022 -68%. Holding counts from two thirds of the company's own average.

What is measured is the trace of a moat: a durably high return on capital and margins that survive a downturn. The causes (switching costs, network effects, brand, licences, economies of scale) appear in no filing and are not claimed here.

Next figures

Expected on 4 Nov 2026 (estimated from the rhythm of earlier filings, ± 6 days). Grades can change after a report; the page is then rebuilt.

Required disclosures for this analysis

Produced byFlorian Maier
Completed on14.10.2026 03:58
Price as of12 Oct 2026
Latest filing10-Q, 6 Aug 2026
Method version2.7.0
Time horizonThe grades describe a state that can change with every annual report, so roughly quarterly. The historical analysis is computed over 36 months.
Own positionNot disclosed individually, see the risk notice.
Earlier analysesThe list of all analyses of this company from the past twelve months will appear once twelve months of analyses exist. This run is the start of the series.

This is not investment advice. Limits of the method, assumptions and conflicts of interest: risk notice.