Owner Scorecard


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CLMB, Climb Global Solutions Inc.

Climb Global Solutions Inc. is a value added information technology distribution and solutions company.

Across both segments, we offer an extensive line of products from leading software vendors and tools for virtualization/cloud computing, security, networking, storage and infrastructure management, application lifecycle management and other technically sophisticated domains, as well as computer hardware.

We purchase software, maintenance/service agreements, networking/storage/security equipment and complementary products from our vendors and sell them to our reseller customers.

Latest annual: FY2025 10-K
CLMB · Climb Global Solutions Inc.
I

The business

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

Revenue · FY2025
$653M
+40.1% YoY · 21% 5-yr CAGR
Vital signs · TTM, with 5-yr average
Revenue $712M 5-yr avg $411M
Operating margin 3.9% 5-yr avg 5.0%
ROIC 30% 5-yr avg 32%

Next report Est. 10/27–11/2 · the 10-Q for the quarter ended late September · due within 40 days of period end · has filed ~31 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
Gross margin has run about 16% and operating margin about 4.6% through the cycle, a thin spread that turns the result on volume and the cost of what it sells far more than on the price it sets. That margin has held in a narrow 2.1%–6.0% band over the years, so steadiness itself is the evidence — the lever is unit growth and cost discipline, not a moving line. The cash cycle has run negative through the cycle (a median of −28 days): the operation is paid before it pays, so working capital releases cash as the business grows rather than tying it up. 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 run high across the record (median 26%, above 15% in 8 of 10 years), though buybacks and expensed R&D and brands shrink the capital base, so the figure overstates the underlying economics. Owner earnings, the cash-based check, have been thin too. Whether these returns reflect real pricing power or an accounting artifact is the judgment the 10-K is for.

Every line is arithmetic on the company's filings, shown in full in the sections below.

Where the money comes from

read the 10-K →

23% of revenue comes from outside the United States.

Revenue by geography, FY2025
  • United States77%$503M
  • United Kingdom13%$83M
  • Canada5%$35M
  • Europe5%$32M

From the segment footnote of the company's own 10-K. Shares are of total revenue; the profit bar shows each segment's share of segment operating profit, before unallocated corporate costs.

II

The record

Ten years of arithmetic, read across the cycle.

The record, 2016–2025

realized figures from each filing · older years to the left
2016’162017’172018’182019’192020’202021’212022’222023’232024’242025’25TTMTTMJun 2026
Income statement
$165M$161M$181M$209M$252M$283M$304M$352M$466M$653M$712MRevenueRevenue
$27M$27M$27M$30M$33M$46M$54M$64M$91M$105M$418MGross profitGross prof.
17%17%15%14%13%16%18%18%20%16%59%Gross marginGross mgn
11%12%11%10%10%11%11%13%12%10%11%SG&A / revenueSG&A/rev
$9M$8M$4M$8M$5M$12M$17M$16M$28M$29M$28MOperating incomeOp. inc.
5.2%4.9%2.3%4.1%2.1%4.3%5.7%4.7%6.0%4.5%3.9%Operating marginOp. mgn
$9M$9M$5M$9M$6M$12M$17M$17M$25M$28MPretax incomePretax
$6M$5M$4M$7M$4M$9M$12M$12M$19M$21M$21MNet incomeNet inc.
34%41%31%25%28%26%24%27%26%24%26%Effective tax rateTax rate
Cash flow & returns
($516K)($2M)$14M$3M$38M$5M$5M$42M$34M$17M$43MOperating cash flowOp. cash
$296K$477K$482K$488K$713K$2M$2M$3M$4M$8M$8MDepreciation & amortizationD&A
($8M)($9M)$7M($5M)$32M($8M)($12M)$23M$7M($17M)$9MWorking capital & otherWC & other
$1M$359K$266K$106KCapexCapex
0.6%0.2%0.1%0.1%Capex / revenueCapex/rev
($812K)($2M)$14M$3MOwner earningsOwner earn.
−0.5%−1.5%7.5%1.5%Owner earnings marginOE mgn
($2M)($2M)$14M$3MFree cash flowFCF
−0.9%−1.5%7.5%1.5%Free cash flow marginFCF mgn
$17M$9M$13M$21M$0$8MAcquisitionsAcquis.
$3M$3M$3M$3M$3M$3M$3M$3M$3M$3M$2MDividends paidDiv. paid
$5M$3M$1M$86K$4M$544K$655K$2M$2M$2MBuybacksBuybacks
($1M)($359K)($266K)($106K)($17M)($258K)($11M)($18M)($26M)($2M)Investing cash flowInv. cash
($8M)($6M)($4M)($3M)($7M)($4M)($2M)($9M)($13M)($9M)Financing cash flowFin. cash
($281K)$395K($177K)$110K($60K)($131K)($743K)$544K($871K)$1MExchange-rate effectFX
($10M)($8M)$9M$101K$14M($76K)($9M)$16MChange in cashΔ cash
24%14%11%21%25%39%31%30%34%28%30%ROICROIC
16%13%9%15%10%18%21%16%21%18%16%Return on equityROE
7%5%1%8%3%12%16%12%17%16%15%Retained to equityRetained/eq
Balance sheet
$14M$6M$15M$15M$29M$29M$20M$36M$30M$37M$57MCash & investmentsCash+inv
$84M$78M$81M$101M$94M$123M$155M$222M$342M$324M$295MReceivablesReceiv.
$2M$3M$1M$3M$5M$2M$5M$4M$2M$3M$5MInventoryInvent.
$72M$60M$63M$73M$107M$126M$151M$219M$332M$310M$292MAccounts payablePayables
$14M$21M$20M$30M($8M)($1M)$8M$7M$12M$17M$8MOperating working capitalOper. WC
$101M$95M$103M$122M$133M$159M$185M$269M$381M$374M$369MCurrent assetsCur. assets
$76M$65M$67M$79M$117M$135M$162M$251M$372M$337M$328MCurrent liabilitiesCur. liab.
1.3×1.5×1.5×1.5×1.1×1.2×1.1×1.1×1.0×1.1×1.1×Current ratioCurr. ratio
$2M$2M$2M$1M$2M$2M$4M$9M$13M$13MNet PP&ENet PP&E
$17M$17M$19M$27M$35M$37M$42MGoodwillGoodwill
$116M$105M$108M$126M$166M$191M$232M$335M$469M$460M$462MTotal assetsAssets
$0$2M$1M$751K$191K$0Total debtDebt
($29M)($18M)($35M)($29M)($36M)($57M)Net debt / (cash)Net debt
$66M$67M$81M$121M$138M$171M$260M$379M$344MTotal liabilitiesTotal liab.
$38M$39M$41M$45M$45M$52M$61M$75M$91M$117M$125MShareholders’ equityEquity
1.0%0.9%1.5%0.4%0.5%0.5%0.6%1.2%0.9%0.7%0.7%Stock comp / revenueSBC/rev
Per share
18.0M17.2M17.4M17.7M17.2M17.1M17.3M17.6M17.9M18.1M18.3MShares out (diluted)Shares
$9.14$9.34$10.41$11.80$14.67$16.54$17.57$20.00$26.07$36.06$38.99Revenue / shareRev/sh
$0.33$0.29$0.20$0.38$0.26$0.54$0.72$0.70$1.04$1.18$1.12EPS (diluted)EPS
$-0.05$-0.14$0.78$0.18Owner earnings / shareOE/sh
$-0.09$-0.14$0.78$0.18Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh
$0.18$0.18$0.18$0.17$0.17$0.18$0.17$0.17$0.17$0.17$0.08Dividends / shareDiv/sh
$0.06$0.02$0.02$0.01Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh
$2.09$2.25$2.33$2.56$2.61$3.07$3.50$4.25$5.07$6.44$6.85Book value / shareBVPS

Share counts before TTM are restated ×4 for a stock split, so per-share figures sit on one basis.

Per-share growththe realized rate an owner's share compounded
9-yr5-yr
Revenue / share+16.5%/yr+19.7%/yr
EPS+15.3%/yr+35.2%/yr
Dividends / share−0.5%/yr−0.5%/yr
Capital spending / share−53.0%/yr (3-yr)−53.0%/yr (3-yr)
Book value / share+13.3%/yr+19.8%/yr

Where the cash went

ReinvestBuybacksDividendsAcquisitionsRetainedBeyond op. cash

Each year's outlays against its operating cash: the mix, and how it drifts. The hatched cap is spending beyond that year's operating cash — financed from the balance sheet or borrowing, not operations.

FY2018FY2025

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 2019 the business reported $7M of profit but $3M of owner earnings: $4M less than the profit line, taken out by capital spending and the timing of cash.

Reported net income$7M
Owner earnings$3M · 2% of revenue
FY2019FY2018FY2017FY2016
Reported net income$7M$4M$5M$6M
Depreciation & amortizationnon-cash charge added back+$488K+$482K+$477K+$296K
Stock-based compensationreal costnon-cash, but a real cost+$759K+$3M+$2M+$2M
Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items−$5M+$7M−$9M−$8M
Cash from operations$3M$14M($2M)($516K)
Maintenance capital expenditurethe spending needed just to hold position and volume−$106K−$266K−$359K−$296K
Owner earnings$3M$14M($2M)($812K)
Growth capital expenditurediscretionary; spent to get bigger, not to stand still−$744K
Free cash flow$3M$14M($2M)($2M)
Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue2%8%-1%0%

Owner earnings is the cash an owner could pull out without starving the business: operating cash less the capital it must spend to hold its position . 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 $759K), owner earnings is nearer $2M.

Much of fiscal 2019'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?

  • 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.

  • Net cash
    Cash $37M − debt $752K
    What this means

    Cash and short-term investments exceed every dollar of debt by $36M, 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.

  • Not enough data
    What this means

    The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.

Is it a good business?

  • Very high (≥25%) through the cycle
    10-yr median, range 11%–39%; 28% latest = NOPAT $22M ÷ invested capital $81M
    Industry peers: median 9%
    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 28% 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.

  • Not enough data
    Industry peers: median 5%
    What this means

    The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.

  • Mostly cash-backed
    Cash from ops $17M ÷ net income $21M
    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?

  • Not enough data
    What this means

    The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.

  • Investing or harvesting?
    Not enough data
    What this means

    The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.

The promise and the pay packet

  • Is the buyback buying ownership, or mopping up? 0.7%
    The count is rising
    Stock compensation $5M (fiscal 2025), 0.7% of revenue · repurchases $2M · diluted shares +4.5% 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 · 4 of 6 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 Miss
    Revenue ≥ $2B · $653M
    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 Miss
    Current ratio ≥ 2× · 1.11×
    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 · $752K vs $37M 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 Pass
    A profit every year (10-yr record) · no losses
    What this means

    Graham wanted earnings in each of the past ten years, the stability a defensive owner leans on.

  • Dividend record Pass
    Uninterrupted dividends · paid every year (10)
    What this means

    An unbroken dividend was Graham's mark of durability. He wanted twenty years; the filings show about ten, and a single suspension breaks the streak. Non-payers, many fine modern compounders, fall outside his defensive net by design.

  • Earnings growth Pass
    Earnings +33% over the record · +260%
    What this means

    At least a third more earnings than a decade ago, averaging three years at each end. Net income (not per-share), so stock splits don't distort it, buybacks and dilution show up in the share-count line instead.

  • 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 $0.93/share (latest year $1.14), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is $6.25/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 10 of 10
    What this means

    Never lost money over the record, the earnings stability Graham insisted on.

  • Return on capital ≥ 15% 5 of 5 yrs
    What this means

    A moat shows up as a high return on invested capital that holds year after year, not one good vintage.

  • Operating margin 4% → 5% (3-yr avg ends)

    In the filing’s words The filing ties gains to its own pricing, but names price competition too — pricing power that is real yet contested, not unopposed. The margin shows who is winning.

    What this means

    Through the cycle the operating margin widened — about 4% early to 5% lately, median 4% — pricing power intact or improving.

  • Reinvestment, incremental ROIC 55%
    What this means

    Every extra dollar the business reinvested came back at a high incremental return — the lens GBM read for a moat that reinvests rather than merely harvests. The record and the 10-K are where you check whether the rate holds.

  • Worst year 2020 · 2.1% op. margin
    What this means

    Stayed profitable even in its hardest year, the resilience that survives recessions.

  • Share count +0.1%/yr
    What this means

    Roughly flat share count, little dilution, little buyback.

  • Dividend record paid
    What this means

    Paid a dividend in 10 of the years on record.

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$369M
  • Cash & short-term investments$57M
  • Receivables$295M
  • Inventory$5M
  • Other current assets$13M
Current liabilities$328M
  • Accounts payable$292M
  • Other current liabilities$36M
Current ratio1.13×all current assets ÷ what's due · Graham looked for 2×
Quick ratio1.11×stricter: inventory excluded
Cash ratio0.17×strictest: cash alone against what's due
Working capital$41Mthe cushion left after near-term bills
Revenue, latest quarter vs. a year ago+9.4%the freshest read on whether the business is still growing
Current ratio, recent quarters1.0× → 1.1×
Deeper floors
Tangible book value$49Mequity stripped of goodwill & intangibles
Net current asset value$32MGraham's net-net: current assets less all liabilities
Debt incl. operating leases$2M$2M of it operating leases

From the company's latest filing.

How the cash was used, 2016–2019

Over the record, the business generated $15M of operating cash; how management split it reads as a cash returner, paying most of what it earns straight back to owners.

  • Reinvested$2M · 12%
  • Dividends$12M · 85%
  • Buybacks$9M · 65%
  • Returned to owners$22M

    161% of the owner earnings the business produced over the span, $12M as dividends and $9M as buybacks.

  • Source of funding−$9M

    Reinvestment and shareholder returns ran $9M beyond the operating cash the business generated, so the gap was financed off the balance sheet.

  • Average price paid for buybacks

    Buybacks ran $9M over the span, but the filings don't tag the share count needed to deduce the average price paid.

  • Net change in share count1.4%

    The diluted count rose from 18M to 18M: issuance (stock pay, deals) outran any buybacks, so owners were diluted on net.

  • Dividend record$0.17/sh

    Paid in 4 of the years on record, the per-share dividend shrinking about 1% a year. It was never cut over the span.

Buybacks are gross of stock issued to staff; the share-count line above is the net of that, the figure that decides whether owners gained. The average price paid blends a year of purchases (and any accelerated repurchase), so it is close, not exact. The record of where the cash went and on what terms.

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 yearChief executivePay, as filed“Actually paid”Net income
2021Mr. Foster$1.0M$1.2M$9M
2022Mr. Foster$1.5M$674k$12M
2023Mr. Foster$3.2M$1.7M$12M
2024Mr. Foster$1.9M$3.4M$19M
2025Mr. Foster$2.1M$1.1M$21M

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. Net income is the whole business's, as filed, for the same fiscal years.

  • Insider ownership3.8%

    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$5M

    The slice of the business handed to employees in shares in fiscal 2025, 0.7% of revenue, equal to 16.4% 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.

Peers, Electronic Components & Instruments

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.

CompanyRevenuelatest FY, USDGross marginmedian over the recordOp. marginmedian over the recordROICmedian over the recordOwner earn. marginmedian over the record
SCSCScanSource$3.0B12%2.8%8%2%
CNXNPC Connection Inc.$2.9B16%3.4%12%2%
PLUSePlus inc.$2.4B25%6.3%18%11%3y
BELFABel Fuse Inc.$675M26%5.3%9%5%
CLMBClimb Global Solutions Inc.$653M16%4.6%26%1%4y
OLEDUniversal Display Corporation$651M79%37.9%15%33%
KNKnowles Corporation$593M40%9.5%5%
ALNTAllient Inc.$554M30%7.4%8%5%
Group median25%5.8%11%5%
IV

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 Climb Global Solutions Inc. has delivered.

Climb Global Solutions Inc.’s latest year runs above its own through-cycle margin — the reported figure may flatter a peak. So the tool opens on the through-cycle base, Graham’s averaging cutting both ways; clear the toggle below to read the latest year exactly as reported.

$

Through the cycle, Climb Global Solutions Inc. earns about $3M on its 0.5% median owner-earnings margin. This year’s — margin runs in line with that. Normalize, below, values the price on that through-cycle figure rather than the latest year.

Base

The assumptions

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 FY2018−77%/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.

Owner earnings — on 19M shares outstanding, per the 10-Q cover, as of 2026-07-30; net cash $57M. The base opens on the through-cycle figure (the latest year sits off the record’s own median, and Graham’s averaging cuts both ways); clear Normalize to use the year as filed. Net of stock comp treats option pay as the expense it is. The dials set the multiple a growth belief justifies; the price, and every dollar on this page, is yours.

Cite: Owner Scorecard, "Climb Global Solutions Inc. (CLMB), the owner's record," https://ownerscorecard.com/c/CLMB, data as of 2026-08-17.

Manual order: ← CLH its page in the Manual CLMT →

Industry order: ← CGNX the Electronic Components & Instruments chapter CLS →