← All companies ← ACA Manual ACCO → ← ABUS Pharmaceuticals ACB →

ACAD, ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc.

We are a biopharmaceutical company focused on turning scientific promise into meaningful innovation that makes the difference for underserved neurological and rare disease communities around the world.

Our neurological disease franchise is anchored by the commercial product NUPLAZID (pimavanserin), which is the first and only drug approved by the U.S.

Our most advanced current product candidate is remlifanserin (formerly ACP-204) for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease psychosis (ADP) and Lewy Body Dementia Psychosis (LBDP).

Latest annual: FY2025 10-K

ACAD · ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc.

The business

What it sells, where the money comes from, the kind of company it is.

Revenue · FY2025

$1.1B

+11.9% YoY · 19% 5-yr CAGR

Vital signs · TTM, with 5-yr average

Revenue $1.1B 5-yr avg $751M

Gross margin 91% 5-yr avg 92%

Operating margin 7.6% 5-yr avg −10.9%

ROIC 9% 5-yr avg −12%

Owner-earnings margin 14% 5-yr avg −4%

Free cash flow margin 13% 5-yr avg −4%

Next report By 11/8 · the 10-Q for the quarter ended late September · due within 40 days of period end · has filed ~38 days after · the wire records it on arrival

The business in brief

read the 10-K →

What this business is and what moves its needle, from its own SEC filings.

What moves the needle: Operating margin has reached 24% at its best but run negative through the cycle (median −43%) on a 94% gross margin — so the question is which reading is truer: whether the median was pulled below zero by one-off charges, by the cycle, or by spending it is still growing into, and whether it settles back at a profit. Stock-based pay runs about 13% of sales, a real and recurring claim on owners that the GAAP margin understates. Read this kind of business on the pipeline against the patent cliff, and pricing. 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 −48%, above 15% in 1 of 10 years). Owner earnings, the cash-based check, have been thin too. 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, 2016–2025

realized figures from each filing · older years to the left

2016’16	2017’17	2018’18	2019’19	2020’20	2021’21	2022’22	2023’23	2024’24	2025’25	TTMTTMJun 2026
											Income statement
$17M	$125M	$224M	$339M	$442M	$484M	$517M	$726M	$958M	$1.1B	$1.1B	RevenueRevenue
$14M	$116M	$211M	$328M	$432M	$473M	$507M	$685M	$876M	$983M	$1.0B	Gross profitGross prof.
82%	93%	94%	97%	98%	96%	98%	94%	91%	92%	91%	Gross marginGross mgn
n/m	204%	119%	96%	88%	82%	71%	56%	51%	51%	54%	SG&A / revenueSG&A/rev
573%	119%	84%	71%	72%	49%	70%	48%	32%	31%	29%	R&D / revenueR&D/rev
($273M)	($292M)	($247M)	($247M)	($287M)	($170M)	($224M)	($73M)	$231M	$105M	$86M	Operating incomeOp. inc.
n/m	−234.1%	−110.6%	−72.7%	−64.9%	−35.2%	−43.2%	−10.1%	24.1%	9.8%	7.6%	Operating marginOp. mgn
($270M)	($288M)	($244M)	($234M)	($281M)	($168M)	($213M)	($51M)	$258M	$139M	—	Pretax incomePretax
($271M)	($289M)	($245M)	($235M)	($282M)	($168M)	($216M)	($61M)	$226M	$391M	$380M	Net incomeNet inc.
											Cash flow & returns
($208M)	($218M)	($167M)	($151M)	($136M)	($126M)	($114M)	$17M	$158M	$110M	$160M	Operating cash flowOp. cash
$843K	$1M	$2M	$1M	$1M	$2M	$2M	$1M	$920K	$871K	$1M	DepreciationDeprec.
$7M	($5M)	($5M)	$575K	$60M	($24M)	$32M	$10M	($137M)	($334M)	($279M)	Working capital & otherWC & other
$2M	$812K	$2M	$1M	$8M	$1M	$0	$50K	$523K	$5M	$15M	CapexCapex
8.7%	0.7%	0.9%	0.3%	1.7%	0.2%	0.0%	0.0%	0.1%	0.4%	1.3%	Capex / revenueCapex/rev
($209M)	($219M)	($169M)	($152M)	($138M)	($127M)	($114M)	$17M	$157M	$109M	$159M	Owner earningsOwner earn.
n/m	−175.0%	−75.5%	−44.9%	−31.2%	−26.2%	−22.0%	2.3%	16.4%	10.2%	14.0%	Owner earnings marginOE mgn
($210M)	($219M)	($170M)	($152M)	($144M)	($127M)	($114M)	$17M	$157M	$105M	$146M	Free cash flowFCF
n/m	−175.0%	−75.8%	−44.9%	−32.5%	−26.2%	−22.0%	2.3%	16.4%	9.8%	12.8%	Free cash flow marginFCF mgn
($262M)	$92M	($71M)	($166M)	$193M	($71M)	$73M	$32M	($31M)	($303M)	—	Investing cash flowInv. cash
$534M	$31M	$307M	$372M	$81M	$18M	$8M	$25M	$7M	$50M	—	Financing cash flowFin. cash
$2K	($6K)	$3K	$2K	($8K)	$7K	$6K	($18K)	($94K)	$26K	—	Exchange-rate effectFX
$63M	($94M)	$68M	$55M	$137M	($179M)	($33M)	$74M	$134M	($143M)	—	Change in cashΔ cash
-61%	-87%	-57%	-38%	-75%	-34%	-62%	-24%	49%	10%	9%	ROICROIC
-52%	-86%	-51%	-34%	-45%	-31%	-54%	-14%	31%	32%	29%	Return on equityROE
−52%	−86%	−51%	−34%	−45%	−31%	−54%	−14%	31%	32%	29%	Retained to equityRetained/eq
											Balance sheet
$164M	$69M	$135M	$190M	$326M	$147M	$115M	$189M	$320M	$178M	$385M	Cash & investmentsCash+inv
$6M	$17M	$26M	$36M	$48M	$64M	$62M	$98M	$99M	$121M	$151M	ReceivablesReceiv.
$4M	$5M	$4M	$6M	$10M	$14M	$12M	$40M	$92M	$111M	$109M	InventoryInvent.
$4M	$9M	$3M	$7M	$8M	$7M	$13M	$18M	$16M	$11M	$45M	Accounts payablePayables
$6M	$14M	$27M	$35M	$49M	$72M	$61M	$121M	$174M	$222M	$215M	Operating working capitalOper. WC
$548M	$373M	$526M	$760M	$718M	$618M	$508M	$616M	$938M	$1.1B	$1.2B	Current assetsCur. assets
$43M	$49M	$60M	$75M	$106M	$96M	$126M	$254M	$395M	$277M	$361M	Current liabilitiesCur. liab.
12.9×	7.6×	8.8×	10.2×	6.8×	6.4×	4.0×	2.4×	2.4×	3.8×	3.4×	Current ratioCurr. ratio
$3M	$3M	$3M	$3M	$9M	$8M	$6M	$5M	$4M	$8M	—	Net PP&ENet PP&E
$561M	$385M	$540M	$783M	$783M	$700M	$588M	$749M	$1.2B	$1.6B	$1.7B	Total assetsAssets
$43M	$49M	$61M	$84M	$156M	$159M	$187M	$317M	$455M	$337M	—	Total liabilitiesTotal liab.
$518M	$335M	$479M	$699M	$627M	$541M	$400M	$432M	$733M	$1.2B	$1.3B	Shareholders’ equityEquity
318.9%	60.5%	36.4%	24.3%	19.1%	13.1%	13.2%	9.1%	7.0%	4.9%	5.1%	Stock comp / revenueSBC/rev
											Per share
116M	123M	127M	147M	157M	160M	162M	164M	166M	170M	173M	Shares out (diluted)Shares
$0.15	$1.02	$1.77	$2.30	$2.81	$3.02	$3.20	$4.43	$5.76	$6.31	$6.59	Revenue / shareRev/sh
$-2.34	$-2.36	$-1.94	$-1.60	$-1.79	$-1.05	$-1.34	$-0.37	$1.36	$2.30	$2.20	EPS (diluted)EPS
$-1.81	$-1.78	$-1.34	$-1.03	$-0.87	$-0.79	$-0.71	$0.10	$0.94	$0.64	$0.92	Owner earnings / shareOE/sh
$-1.81	$-1.78	$-1.34	$-1.03	$-0.91	$-0.79	$-0.71	$0.10	$0.94	$0.62	$0.84	Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh
$0.01	$0.01	$0.02	$0.01	$0.05	$0.01	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.03	$0.08	Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh
$4.47	$2.73	$3.78	$4.75	$3.99	$3.37	$2.48	$2.64	$4.40	$7.22	$7.56	Book value / shareBVPS

Per-share growththe realized rate an owner's share compounded

	9-yr	5-yr
Revenue / share	+51.5%/yr	+17.6%/yr
Capital spending / share	+8.7%/yr	−10.6%/yr
Book value / share	+5.5%/yr	+12.6%/yr

Where the cash went

ReinvestBuybacksDividendsAcquisitionsRetained

Each year's operating cash, by what management did with it: the mix, and how it drifts.

FY2023FY2025

Owner-earnings bridge

FY2021–FY2025cash-flow statement, SEC EDGAR →

Net income is the accountant's number; owner earnings is the cash an owner could take out. The walk between them, off the cash-flow statement, and whether the gap is widening or holding.

In fiscal 2025 the business earned $109M of owner earnings, the operating cash left after the $871K it takes just to hold its position. It put $4M more into growth; free cash flow, after that spending, was $105M.

Reported net income$391M

Owner earnings$109M · 10% of revenue

	FY2025	FY2024	FY2023	FY2022	FY2021
Reported net income	$391M	$226M	($61M)	($216M)	($168M)
Depreciationnon-cash charge added back	+$871K	+$920K	+$1M	+$2M	+$2M
Amortization of intangible assetsnon-cash charge added back; the purchase price of past acquisitions, expensed over time	+$11M	+$15M	+$4M	—	+$1M
Stock-based compensationreal costnon-cash, but a real cost	+$52M	+$67M	+$66M	+$68M	+$64M
Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items	−$345M	−$152M	+$6M	+$32M	−$25M
Cash from operations	$110M	$158M	$17M	($114M)	($126M)
Maintenance capital expenditurethe spending needed just to hold position and volume	−$871K	−$523K	−$50K	—	−$1M
Owner earnings	$109M	$157M	$17M	($114M)	($127M)
Growth capital expenditurediscretionary; spent to get bigger, not to stand still	−$4M	—	—	—	—
Free cash flow	$105M	$157M	$17M	($114M)	($127M)
Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue	10%	16%	2%	-22%	-26%

Owner earnings is the cash an owner could pull out without starving the business: operating cash less the maintenance capital it must spend to hold its position (here about $871K, roughly its depreciation, the rate its assets wear out). The other $4M of its capital spending is growth it chose, not upkeep it owed; charged only with the maintenance it must do, the business earns well more than the year's free cash flow shows. The cash-flow statement also adds stock comp back as non-cash, but it is a real cost paid in shares; counted as the expense it is (less $52M), owner earnings is nearer $57M.

Much of fiscal 2025's profit didn't arrive as operating cash; it sits in “working capital & other” above. That can be a real inventory or timing swing, or profit that doesn't run through operating cash at all: a heavy tax year, equity-method earnings, or investment income booked through investing. For a year like this, owner earnings understates the cash earned; the full cash-flow statement carries the rest.

Maintenance capex is estimated as depreciation where a growing business invests above it; free cash flow is the figure the scorecard's free-cash margin reads.

III

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? —

No meaningful interest burden

Little or no interest expense reported

What this means
Little or no interest expense reported, the business isn't leaning on lenders to operate.
How heavy is the debt, net of cash? +$178M

Net cash

Cash $178M − debt $32K

What this means
Cash and short-term investments exceed every dollar of debt by $178M, on net the company owes nothing, and can act from strength when others can't. 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? 453d

Long (60+ days)

DSO 41 + DIO 457 − DPO 45 days

What this means
Days cash is tied up between paying suppliers and collecting from customers. Lower is better; a long cycle means growth itself eats cash.

Is it a good business?

Return on invested capital -48%

Below average through the cycle

10-yr median, range -87%–49%; 10% latest = NOPAT $105M ÷ invested capital $1.0B

Industry peers: median -11%

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 10 years (it ran 10% 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.
Owner-earnings margin 10%

Solid, recently turned positive

latest $109M = operating cash $110M − maintenance capex $871K; positive each of the last 3 years, after an earlier loss stretch (9-yr median -26%)

Industry peers: median -14%

What this means
What an owner could take out without starving the business: operating cash less the maintenance capital it must spend to hold its position — Buffett's owner earnings. That's 10% of revenue this year, a -26% median across 9 years. Treating stock comp as the real expense it is (less $52M of SBC) leaves $57M.
Are earnings backed by cash? 0.28×

Thinly cash-backed

Cash from ops $110M ÷ net income $391M

What this means
How much of reported profit showed up as operating cash. Above 1× is reassuring; well below suggests earnings lean on accruals. One year is noisy, growth and working-capital swings distort it, and this is operating cash, not free cash. Watch the multi-year trend.

How is the cash used?

Where do the earnings go? —

Not enough data

What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.
Investing or harvesting? 5.38×

Expanding

Capex $5M ÷ property depreciation $871K

What this means
Descriptive, not a grade. Above ~1× means investing faster than assets wear out (growth, or, sustained for years, today's earnings carrying less depreciation than tomorrow's will). Below means spending less than it's wearing out (efficiency, or a melting asset base). The ratio won't tell you which; the filings will.

The promise and the pay packet

Is the buyback buying ownership, or mopping up? 4.9%

The count is rising

Stock compensation $52M (fiscal 2025), 4.9% of revenue · no repurchases · diluted shares +5.1% since 2022

What this means
Stock handed to employees is a real cost paid in the owner's own currency: it is charged against profit, but the shares it creates are permanent. Many companies repurchase stock at the same time, which looks like a return of capital and often is not — if the count barely moves, the cash merely cancelled the pay packet and bought the owner nothing. The three states worth telling apart are a count genuinely shrinking, a count standing still despite large repurchases, and a count rising because the issuance was never offset at all.

Graham’s defensive tests · 2 of 4 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 Near

Revenue ≥ $2B · $1.1B

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 Pass

Current ratio ≥ 2× · 3.83×

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 Pass

Debt ≤ working capital · $32K vs $785M 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 Miss

A profit every year (10-yr record) · 8 loss years

What this means
Graham wanted earnings in each of the past ten years, the stability a defensive owner leans on.
Dividend record —

Uninterrupted dividends · no dividend line tagged in the data

What this means
An unbroken dividend was Graham's mark of durability. This record carries no dividends-paid line in any year — common for partnerships, whose distributions file under tags the chain doesn't read — so the criterion is withheld rather than judged on silence.
Earnings growth —

Earnings +33% over the record · —

What this means
Earnings were negative early in the record, a growth rate isn't meaningful.
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 $1.08/share (latest year $2.27), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is $7.12/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, 2016–2025

Whether the record’s returns held, and what the capital reinvested earned.

Profitable years 2 of 10

What this means
Lost money in 8 year(s), look at what happened there before trusting the average.
Operating margin −640% → 8% (3-yr avg ends)

In the filing’s words The record and the words agree: the margin widened and the filing attributes the gain to its own pricing, not volume alone.

What this means
Through the cycle the operating margin widened — about −640% early to 8% lately, median −65% — pricing power intact or improving.
Worst year 2016 · −1574.1% op. margin

What this means
Operations went underwater in 2016, understand why before trusting the good years.
Share count +4.3%/yr

What this means
The share count is rising, dilution works against you on a per-share basis.

All figures as filed; the source filing is linked above.

Current Position

as of the latest quarter, Jun 30, 2026

Can 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$1.2B

Cash & short-term investments$385M
Receivables$151M
Inventory$109M
Other current assets$580M

Current liabilities$361M

Accounts payable$45M
Other current liabilities$317M

Current ratio3.39×all current assets ÷ what's due · Graham looked for 2×

Quick ratio3.09×stricter: inventory excluded

Cash ratio1.07×strictest: cash alone against what's due

Working capital$863Mthe cushion left after near-term bills

Revenue, latest quarter vs. a year ago+16.4%the freshest read on whether the business is still growing

Current ratio, recent quarters2.3× → 3.4×

Deeper floors

Tangible book value$1.2Bequity stripped of goodwill & intangibles

Net current asset value$788MGraham's net-net: current assets less all liabilities

Debt incl. operating leases$74M$74M of it operating leases

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, beside what the business earned for its owners in the same years.

Fiscal year	Chief executive	Pay, as filed	“Actually paid”	Owner earnings
2021	Stephen R. Davis	$9.8M	−$21.5M	($127M)
2022	Stephen R. Davis	$14.0M	$7.7M	($114M)
2023	Stephen R. Davis	$7.6M	$21.0M	$17M
2024	Stephen R. Davis	$12.2M	−$919k	$157M
2024	Stephen R. Davis	$7.6M	$8.8M	$157M
2025	Stephen R. Davis	$8.3M	$16.4M	$109M

Both pay figures are the company’s own, from the pay-versus-performance table its proxy statement files. “As filed” is the Summary Compensation Table total: salary, bonus, and equity awards at their value on the day of grant. “Actually paid” is the SEC’s prescribed recalculation, which re-marks those equity awards to what they became as they vested; it can swing far above or below the filed figure in either direction, and negative years occur. Owner earnings are the whole business's, from the record above, for the same fiscal years.

Insider ownership26.2%
The stake all directors and executive officers hold together, per the 2026 proxy: skin in the game, the first thing Munger reads.
Stock-based compensation$52M
The slice of the business handed to employees in shares in fiscal 2025, 4.9% of revenue, equal to 49.7% of operating profit. 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.

What an owner would ask, FY2025

read the 10-K →

Which reported numbers are a judgment call?
Management names Revenue recognition, Income taxes, Stock compensation as critical estimates
each rests partly on management's judgment; the filing's note sets out the assumptionsverify →

The questions the record and the charts do not answer on their own; each carries the figure and the place to look.

Peers, Pharmaceuticals

The same industry, side by side on owner economics. Each column names the period it is read over, and a median resting on fewer than three years carries that count beside it; the group median at the foot is the line to read each figure against.

Company	Revenuelatest FY, USD	Gross marginmedian over the record	Op. marginmedian over the record	ROICmedian over the record	Owner earn. marginmedian over the record
LKFTLakefront Biotherapeutics	$1.3B	92%2y	-37.1%	-6%	-106%
ENLVEnlivex Ltd.	$1.2B	—	-1.2%1y	-62%	-1%1y
PBHPrestige Consumer Healthcare	$1.1B	56%	29.0%	8%	21%
ACADACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc.	$1.1B	94%	-43.2%	-48%	-26%
LEGNLegend Biotech Corporation	$1.0B	55%	-198.6%	-125%	-143%
MDGLMadrigal Pharmaceuticals Inc.	$958M	—	-153.9%2y	-61%	-137%2y
IONSIonis Pharmaceuticals	$944M	98%	-16.9%	-11%	-14%
ANIPANI Pharmaceuticals Inc.	$883M	62%	8.8%	4%	17%
Group median	—	77%	-27.0%	-29%	-20%

The price

What a price has to assume.

What the price implies

reverse-DCF

Type today's close and see the owner-earnings growth you'd have to believe to justify it, beside what ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. has delivered.

Today’s price $

Base Normalize · through-cycle ($93M) Net of stock comp (−$58M TTM) Steady-state · maintenance capex ($159M)

—

The assumptions Required return 9% Years of high growth 10 Terminal growth 2.5%

9.0% = the 4.71% 10-year Treasury (Aug 18, 2026) + 4.29 points of equity premium. The rate you require is yours to set.

Enter a price above to run it.

Implied by the price—

Owner-earnings growth · since FY2023+151%/yr

Owner-earnings yield—

P/E (3-yr earnings ’23–’25)—

P/B—

Graham’s price gate—

Graham capped the multiple at 15×; Buffett and Munger let that rule go: a wonderful business can deserve 50× if the thesis holds. The gate marks the bargain-hunter's floor.

Against a high-grade bond: Graham’s yardstick bond yield%

Prefilled with the 10-year Treasury (4.71%, as of Aug 18, 2026). Edit it for today’s exact figure, or a AAA corporate yield.

Graham measured a stock against the bond you could own instead, the heart of his margin of safety. Enter a price above to weigh the owner-earnings yield against this bond.

Free cash flow $146M on 172M shares outstanding, per the 10-Q cover, as of 2026-07-28; net cash $385M. The base is the latest year by default; Normalize values it on the through-cycle median owner-earnings margin (to avoid paying on a peak year). Net of stock comp treats option pay as the expense it is. Capex ($15M) runs well above depreciation ($1M), so this is a build-out; Steady-state swaps total capex for maintenance (≈ depreciation), lifting the base to about $159M, the cash it would throw off if it stopped expanding. The dials set the multiple a growth belief justifies; the price, and every dollar on this page, is yours.

Weigh ACAD against another business →

The owners of ACAD: the meeting and the votes →

Cite: Owner Scorecard, "ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ACAD), the owner's record," https://ownerscorecard.com/c/ACAD, data as of 2026-08-17.

Manual order: ← ACA its page in the Manual ACCO →

Industry order: ← ABUS the Pharmaceuticals chapter ACB →