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SEPN, Septerna Inc.
A pharmaceutical business, where patents grant a temporary monopoly the pipeline must keep refilling.
We do not intend our use or display of other parties' trademarks, trade names or service marks to imply, and such use or display should not be construed to imply, a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, these other parties.
Our foundational technologies enable us to isolate, purify, and reconstitute full-length, properly folded GPCR proteins within ternary complexes with ligands and transducer proteins in a lipid bilayer that mimics the cell membrane.
The business
What it sells, where the money comes from, the kind of company it is.
Next report Est. 11/9–11/12 · the 10-Q for the quarter ended late September · due within 45 days of period end · has filed ~42 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.
- Situation
- Unprofitable. No meaningful revenue yet; the record is the cash on hand against the burn.
- What moves the needle
- The pipeline against the patent cliff, and pricing. What decides it: whether new drugs replace those losing exclusivity, the odds in the clinical pipeline, and how durable pricing stays against payers and generics. On its own account, the filing leans hardest on regulation & policy, set against the numbers in what the filing emphasizes, below.
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, 2023–2025
realized figures from each filing · older years to the left| 2023’23 | 2024’24 | 2025’25 | TTMTTMJun 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income statement | ||||
| $151K | $1M | $46M | $99M | RevenueRevenue |
| n/m | n/m | 63% | 35% | SG&A / revenueSG&A/rev |
| n/m | n/m | 212% | 122% | R&D / revenueR&D/rev |
| $2M | ($81M) | ($68M) | ($44M) | Operating incomeOp. inc. |
| n/m | n/m | −148.6% | −44.0% | Operating marginOp. mgn |
| ($49M) | ($72M) | ($49M) | — | Pretax incomePretax |
| $4M | ($72M) | ($49M) | ($24M) | Net incomeNet inc. |
| Cash flow & returns | ||||
| ($39M) | ($67M) | $110M | $106M | Operating cash flowOp. cash |
| $800K | $1M | $2M | $2M | Depreciation & amortizationD&A |
| ($45M) | ($224K) | $149M | $112M | Working capital & otherWC & other |
| $3M | $2M | $518K | $910K | CapexCapex |
| n/m | 195.6% | 1.1% | 0.9% | Capex / revenueCapex/rev |
| ($40M) | ($69M) | $110M | $105M | Owner earningsOwner earn. |
| n/m | n/m | 238.7% | 106.3% | Owner earnings marginOE mgn |
| ($42M) | ($70M) | $110M | $105M | Free cash flowFCF |
| n/m | n/m | 238.7% | 106.3% | Free cash flow marginFCF mgn |
| $22M | ($161M) | ($229M) | — | Investing cash flowInv. cash |
| $75M | $378M | $2M | — | Financing cash flowFin. cash |
| $58M | $150M | ($117M) | — | Change in cashΔ cash |
| — | -35% | -21% | -11% | ROICROIC |
| — | -17% | -13% | -6% | Return on equityROE |
| — | −17% | −13% | −6% | Retained to equityRetained/eq |
| Balance sheet | ||||
| $88M | $421M | $549M | $517M | Cash & investmentsCash+inv |
| $151K | $171K | $10M | $12M | ReceivablesReceiv. |
| $3M | $3M | $10M | $4M | Accounts payablePayables |
| ($2M) | ($3M) | $73K | $8M | Operating working capitalOper. WC |
| $113M | $357M | $411M | $396M | Current assetsCur. assets |
| $7M | $13M | $87M | $79M | Current liabilitiesCur. liab. |
| 16.3× | 27.8× | 4.7× | 5.0× | Current ratioCurr. ratio |
| $5M | $5M | $4M | — | Net PP&ENet PP&E |
| $131M | $457M | $596M | $567M | Total assetsAssets |
| ($88M) | ($421M) | ($549M) | ($517M) | Net debt / (cash)Net debt |
| $20M | $37M | $214M | — | Total liabilitiesTotal liab. |
| ($38M) | $420M | $382M | $387M | Shareholders’ equityEquity |
| n/m | 293.2% | 18.4% | 16.5% | Stock comp / revenueSBC/rev |
| Per share | ||||
| 2.2M | 9.9M | 44.3M | 44.9M | Shares out (diluted)Shares |
| $0.07 | $0.11 | $1.04 | $2.20 | Revenue / shareRev/sh |
| $1.92 | $-7.26 | $-1.10 | $-0.54 | EPS (diluted)EPS |
| $-18.15 | $-6.96 | $2.48 | $2.34 | Owner earnings / shareOE/sh |
| $-19.11 | $-7.03 | $2.48 | $2.34 | Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh |
| $1.32 | $0.21 | $0.01 | $0.02 | Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh |
| $-17.63 | $42.47 | $8.63 | $8.61 | Book value / shareBVPS |
The diluted share count moved ×4.54 into 2024 — shares issued, not a split the totals corroborate — and the per-share figures carry the counts as filed.
The diluted share count moved ×4.47 into 2025 — shares issued, not a split the totals corroborate — and the per-share figures carry the counts as filed.
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 turned a $49M loss into $110M of owner earnings: more cash than the profit line showed, after the non-cash charges and the capital it put back in.
| FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reported net income | ($49M) | ($72M) | $4M |
| Depreciation & amortizationnon-cash charge added back | +$2M | +$1M | +$800K |
| Stock-based compensationreal costnon-cash, but a real cost | +$8M | +$3M | +$2M |
| Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items | +$149M | −$224K | −$45M |
| Cash from operations | $110M | ($67M) | ($39M) |
| Maintenance capital expenditurethe spending needed just to hold position and volume | −$518K | −$1M | −$800K |
| Owner earnings | $110M | ($69M) | ($40M) |
| Growth capital expenditurediscretionary; spent to get bigger, not to stand still | — | −$703K | −$2M |
| Free cash flow | $110M | ($70M) | ($42M) |
| Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue | 239% | -6407% | -26174% |
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 $8M), owner earnings is nearer $101M.
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.
Quality & stewardship
Returns, the balance sheet, capital allocation, and pay.
Owner’s Scorecard
Will it survive?
- No meaningful interest burdenLittle 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, debt-freeCash $121M + ST investments $270M − debt $0
What this means
Cash and short-term investments exceed every dollar of debt by $391M, on net the company owes nothing, and can act from strength when others can't. It also holds $158M in longer-dated marketable securities; counting those, it sits at net cash of $549M. 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?
- Not enough dataIndustry peers: median -51%
What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.
- HighOwner earnings $110M = operating cash $110M − maintenance capex $518KIndustry peers: median -141%
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 239% of revenue this year. Treating stock comp as the real expense it is (less $8M of SBC) leaves $101M.
- Loss, but cash-generativeNet income ($49M) · cash from operations $110M
What this means
The company reported a net loss, so a conversion ratio isn't meaningful. What matters then is whether operations still threw off cash, here, they did.
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? 0.32×HarvestingCapex $518K ÷ depreciation & amortization as filed $2M
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? 18.4%Stock pay, share count unreadStock compensation $8M (fiscal 2025), 18.4% of revenue · no repurchases · the share count is not comparable across these years (a split or a first listing sits in the record), so the drift is withheld
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 · 1 of 2 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 MissRevenue ≥ $2B · $46M
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 PassCurrent ratio ≥ 2× · 4.73×
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.
- 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 $-0.83/share (latest year $-1.05), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is $8.18/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.
All figures as filed; the source filing is linked above.
Current Position
as of the latest quarter, Jun 30, 2026Can 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.
- Cash & short-term investments$372M
- Receivables$12M
- Other current assets$12M
- Accounts payable$4M
- Other current liabilities$75M
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.
- Insider ownership5.8%
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$8M
The slice of the business handed to employees in shares in fiscal 2025, 18.4% of revenue. 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, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NKTRNektar Therapeutics | $55M | 81% | -265.8% | -46% | -212% |
| LXRXLexicon Pharmaceuticals Inc. | $50M | 98% | -160.5% | -63% | -222% |
| PTGXProtagonist Therapeutics Inc. | $46M | — | -207.1% | -56% | -141% |
| SEPNSepterna Inc. | $46M | — | 612.8%2y | -28%2y | -12968%2y |
| AQSTAquestive Therapeutics Inc. | $45M | 60% | -72.6% | -286%1y | -62% |
| WVEWave Life Sciences Ltd. | $43M | — | -310.1% | — | -219% |
| NBTXNanobiotix S.A. | $38M | — | -53.6% | — | -70% |
| BGMBGM Group Ltd. | $38M | 16% | 3.7% | 5% | 1% |
| Group median | — | — | -116.5% | -51% | -176% |
The price
What a price has to assume.
What the price implies
reverse-DCFType today's close and see the owner-earnings growth you'd have to believe to justify it, beside what Septerna Inc. has delivered.
—
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.
A dated snapshot of the price you typed, the assumptions you set, and what the page showed for them. A snapshot is never edited after it is saved. Your notebook is yours alone — the commitment states what is stored and what we will never do.
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.
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 $105M on 47M shares outstanding, per the 10-Q cover, as of 2026-08-05; net cash $372M. 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 ($910K) runs well above depreciation ($2M), so this is a build-out; Steady-state swaps total capex for maintenance (≈ depreciation), lifting the base to about $105M, 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.
Manual order: ← SENEB its page in the Manual SERV →
Industry order: ← SDGR the Pharmaceuticals chapter SLGL →