Skip to main content
Homepage
Full 18-step deep-dive · ~20–30 min · a member feature.
AGING Analysis Report
Aug 2, 2026
21 days ago · 100% complete
UNVERIFIED BASIS Generated before the data-freshness fixes of Aug 14, 2026 — treat as indicative.
For AI assistants & researchers — machine-readable summary of this page

What this page is: Delvantic's full research page for Arm Holdings plc (ARM) — AI-driven forensic equity research: mechanical valuation models (DCF, EPV, anchored-PE, scenario) plus three independent AI lenses (Quality / Value / Sentiment). Everything below is rendered server-side; you are not missing content that requires JavaScript. All scores are predictions and research opinions, not financial advice.

Our current read (analysis of 2026-08-23): Designation Low · Gem Score -21 (−100…+100 Quality+Value blend) · Quality 35 · Value -77 · Sentiment 58 (timing only, not weighted)

Page map (sections in order; each card carries a stable reference-name attribute you can cite):

  • profile-header / price-overview — company profile, live quote, market cap
  • extended-analysisthe core: three AI lens reads with findings, scores, and the analyst memo
  • future-predictions — our forward price-band predictions
  • market-narrative / ai-findings / gpt-critique — narrative context, cross-model findings, and an adversarial critique of our own analysis (near the end of the document)
  • Members-only sections (render as login gates for anonymous readers): price-history, income-trend, key-metrics, financials (statement tables), insider-trading. The analysis above is public; the raw data tables require a free account.

More for machine readers: site briefing at /llms.txt · any ticker resolves at delvantic.com/stock/TICKER · raw inputs are public-company filings and market data (via licensed data feeds); every model, score, lens read, and prediction on this page is Delvantic's own analysis.

Arm Holdings plc

ARM NASDAQ
Technology · Semiconductors
Cambridge, CB1 9NJ, United Kingdom arm.com Updated Aug 2, 12:03am
Price
$239.69
Market Cap
$256.0B
Employees
9,584
Beta
3.77
Avg Volume
7,551,254
CEO
Mr. Rene Anthony Andrada Haas

Arm Holdings plc American Depositary Receipt is an ADR representing ordinary shares of Arm Holdings plc, a British semiconductor and software design company headquartered in Cambridge, England. The asset gives U.S. investors access to Arm’s business model, which centers on designing central processing unit architectures and related intellectual property that are widely used across mobile devices, embedded systems, and other power-efficient computing applications. Arm also provides software, tools, and associated IP solutions that support chip designers and technology manufacturers in developing products for smartphones, tablets, wearables, sensors, and connected devices. As an ADR, it serves as a U.S.-traded wrapper for the underlying ordinary shares, making the company’s equity available through the American depositary share structure. Arm Holdings plc American Depositary Receipt is positioned as a key name in the semiconductor design market, with its technology embedded across a broad range of consumer and industrial electronics.

Runs with full report Generated: Aug 2, 2026 12:10am
Price Overview
Price at report time
$239.69
as of Aug 2, 12:20am (21d ago)
Change · Aug 2
-1.85 (-0.77%)
Day Range
$239.26 – $261.91
52-Week Range
$100.02 – $452.70
50-Day MA
$324.65
200-Day MA
$189.88
Volume
7,206,000.00
Right now · live
Log in to get the live feed
Members see the real-time price and the move since this report (over 21d).
Share Structure
Outstanding 1,064,053,821.00
Float 142,599,360.00
Free Float 13.4%
Very low free float — 13.4% of shares trade freely, ~86.6% held by insiders/institutions
Thinly traded — expect wider bid-ask spreads and sharp price swings on modest volume. Institutional investors may avoid due to liquidity constraints.
Price History (1 Year)
Last updated: Aug 2, 2026 12:20am (21d ago)
Revenue & Net Income Trend
The directional story — useful even when net income is negative.
Last updated: Jul 31, 2026 9:13am (23d ago)
Why there are no quarterly figures for Arm Holdings plc

This company does not file structured financial statements with the U.S. SEC, so quarterly figures aren't available from our filings-based data engine. Annual figures shown here come from the sources that do cover it.

Revenue
The top line — total sales before any costs or taxes are subtracted. A measure of how much business the company is doing.
Net Income
The bottom line — profit left after subtracting all expenses, interest, and taxes from revenue. Reflects accounting profitability, but includes non-cash items like depreciation, so it isn't the same as cash earned.
Operating Cash Flow
The real cash generated by the day-to-day business — selling products, paying suppliers, collecting from customers. Calculated from net income by adding back non-cash items and adjusting for timing (unpaid bills, unsold inventory). When OCF consistently lags net income, the reported profit may not be converting to real money.
Period Revenue Net Income Net Margin YoY/QoQ
Key Metrics
TD Twelve Data statement HEX SEC filing
Industry comparison last run: Aug 2, 2026 12:09am
P/E Ratio (Price per dollar of earnings)
HEX
Stock Price / EPS (Diluted)
281.99
Stock Price: $239.69
EPS (Diluted): 0.85
P/B Ratio (Price vs net asset value)
HEX
Stock Price / Book Value Per Share
30.89
Stock Price: $239.69
Total Equity: $8.29B
Shares: 1,068,000,000
EV/EBITDA (Total value vs operating profit)
HEX
Enterprise Value / EBITDA
218.94
Market Cap: $255.99B
Total Debt: $0.00
Cash: $2.75B
EBITDA: $1.15B
Enterprise Value (Takeover price (cap + debt - cash))
HEX
Market Cap + Total Debt - Cash
$251.6B
Market Cap: $255.99B
Total Debt: $0.00
Cash: $2.75B
Gross Margin (Revenue left after direct costs)
HEX
Gross Profit / Revenue
97.5%
Gross Profit: $4.80B
Revenue: $4.92B
Operating Margin (Revenue left after all operations)
HEX
Operating Income / Revenue
18.3%
Operating Income: $900.00M
Revenue: $4.92B
Net Margin (Revenue left as actual profit)
HEX
Net Income / Revenue
18.4%
Net Income: $904.00M
Revenue: $4.92B
ROE (Profit from shareholder equity)
HEX
Net Income / Total Equity
10.9%
Net Income: $904.00M
Total Equity: $8.29B
ROIC (Profit from all invested capital)
HEX
NOPAT / Invested Capital
12.7%
Operating Income: $900.00M
Tax Rate: 21.9%
Equity: $8.29B
Total Debt: $0.00
Cash: $2.75B
Zero debt — invested capital = equity minus cash (very efficient)
Current Ratio (Can it pay short-term bills)
HEX
Current Assets / Current Liabilities
6.00
Current Assets: $6.24B
Current Liabilities: $1.04B
Debt/Equity (Leverage — debt vs equity)
HEX
Total Debt / Total Equity
0.00
Short-Term Debt: $0.00
Long-Term Debt: $0.00
Total Debt: $0.00
Total Equity: $8.29B
Zero debt — this company carries no debt obligations. Strongest possible score.
Rev/Share (Top-line per share)
HEX
Revenue / Shares Outstanding
$4.61
Revenue: $4.92B
Shares: 1,068,000,000
Book Value/Share (Net assets per share)
HEX
(Total Assets - Total Liabilities) / Shares
$7.76
Total Equity: $8.29B
Shares: 1,068,000,000
FCF/Share (Real cash generated per share)
HEX
(Operating Cash Flow + CapEx) / Shares
$0.92
Operating CF: $1.52B
CapEx: -$545.00M
Shares: 1,068,000,000
CapEx is negative (outflow) — added to OCF to get FCF
Div Yield (Annual income from holding)
TD
Last Annual Dividend / Stock Price
Last Dividend: $0.00
Stock Price: $239.69
Payout Ratio (Earnings paid out as dividends)
HEX
Dividends Paid / Net Income
Dividends Paid: N/A
Net Income: $904.00M
Dividends paid not available in cash flow statement
Industry Benchmarks
Last run: Aug 2, 2026 12:08am
Compares ARM against LLM-researched typical ranges for its industry. One research call per industry, cached indefinitely — every stock in the same industry reuses the same baseline.
Income Statement (Annual)
Last updated: Jul 31, 2026 9:13am (23d ago)
Metric 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026
Revenue $2.7B $2.7B $3.2B $4.0B $4.9B
Cost of Revenue $131.0M $106.0M $154.0M $121.0M $121.0M
Gross Profit $2.6B $2.6B $3.1B $3.9B $4.8B
Operating Expenses $1.9B $1.9B $3.0B $3.1B $3.9B
Operating Income $633.0M $671.0M $111.0M $831.0M $900.0M
Net Income $549.0M $524.0M $306.0M $792.0M $904.0M
EBITDA $818.0M $841.0M $273.0M $1.0B $1.1B
EPS $0.54 $0.51 $0.30 $0.75 $0.85
EPS (Diluted) $0.54 $0.51 $0.29 $0.75 $0.85
Balance Sheet (Annual)
Last updated: Jul 31, 2026 9:13am (23d ago)
Metric 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026
Cash & Equivalents $1.6B $1.9B $2.1B $2.8B
Total Current Assets $3.5B $4.2B $4.8B $6.2B
Total Assets $6.9B $7.9B $8.9B $10.7B
Current Liabilities $1.4B $1.5B $929.0M $1.0B
Long-Term Debt
Total Liabilities $2.8B $2.6B $2.1B $2.4B
Total Equity $3.5B $4.1B $5.3B $6.8B $8.3B
Retained Earnings $2.5B $2.8B $3.5B $4.4B
Cash Flow (Annual)
Last updated: Jul 31, 2026 9:13am (23d ago)
Metric 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026
Operating Cash Flow $458.0M $739.0M $1.1B $397.0M $1.5B
Capital Expenditure -$34.0M -$64.0M -$92.0M -$219.0M -$545.0M
Free Cash Flow $424.0M $675.0M $998.0M $178.0M $979.0M
Acquisitions (net)
Net Debt Issued / (Repaid)
Dividends Paid
Stock Buybacks
Net Change in Cash -$210.0M $550.0M $369.0M $162.0M $666.0M
Growth Trends (YoY %)
Last updated: Jul 31, 2026 9:13am (23d ago)
Metric 2023 2024 2025 2026
Revenue Growth -0.9% +20.7% +23.9% +22.8%
Gross Profit Growth +0.0% +19.7% +26.2% +23.5%
Operating Income Growth +6.0% -83.5% +648.6% +8.3%
Net Income Growth -4.6% -41.6% +158.8% +14.1%
EBITDA Growth +2.8% -67.5% +271.4% +13.3%
0Company Classification 1Industry Landscape 2Company Momentum 3Forward Projection 4aDCF Valuation 4bEarnings Power Value 4cAnchored PE 4dReverse DCF 4eRevenue-Based DCF 4fAnchored P/S 4gScenario Analysis 4hDividend Discount Model 4iBook Value Analysis 4jInsider Activity 4fCash Flow Quality 4gDebt Maturity Risk 4hMacro Environment 4iSector Intelligence 4jRevenue Confidence 4kSensitivity Analysis 4lSector Demand Cycle 5AI Investigation 5bThesis Evaluation 6Valuation Synthesis
computed not applicable not yet run 16 computed · 7 not applicable · 1 not yet run
Narrative Economics
The story the market is telling about this stock — the intangible X-factor (founder mythology, cult dynamics, TAM-of-imagination) that moves price beyond what cash flows alone explain. After Shiller, Narrative Economics.
No narrative profile yet for ARM — it's generated by the pipeline (market-narrative step).
Claude Reading
Independent analyst synthesis · claude-opus-4-7 · generated 2026-08-02 00:19:34
Verdict Overvalued despite genuine platform quality — fair value $130-145 based on 40x 2028E FCF; requires triple-digit revenue growth AND margin doubling to justify $240, and neither is in the numbers yet.

The raw numbers tell a coherent but troubling story once you strip the narrative. Revenue went $2.70B → $2.68B → $3.23B → $4.01B → $4.92B across fiscal 2022-2026, a 16.2% CAGR overall but with clear reacceleration to 22.8% YoY in the most recent year. Operating income is $900M on $4.92B — an 18.3% operating margin despite 97.5% gross margins, meaning opex is consuming ~$3.9B annually and growing roughly in line with revenue. Free cash flow of $979M against a $256B market cap is a 0.38% FCF yield, or 261x FCF. Even if you assume FCF grows at the top-line's 23% for five straight years without further margin expansion, you get to ~$2.75B FCF in 2031 — still ~93x on today's price. The math only works if you believe operating margin expands to 40%+ AND revenue triples, both simultaneously, within a decade.

I largely agree with the synthesis and thesis-evaluation layers, and I think the Pre-Flight note is too generous when it calls this "high-growth" without emphasizing the valuation gap. The Market Narrative layer is the most honest of the bunch — it correctly flags that the story is doing 70%+ of the work. Where I'd push back on the prior models: the Market Narrative says "flat-to-low single-digit growth last 18 months," which is wrong — annuals show 23% then 23%, not deceleration. That's a factual error that weakens its bear case. Conversely, the Pre-Flight thesis undersells customer concentration: Arm's top five customers historically drive >50% of royalties, and the Qualcomm litigation demonstrated that "unavoidable architectural standard" is legally negotiable. The synthesis verdict of "High Conviction Required" is the right conclusion but sanitized — at 52x sales, 219x EV/EBITDA, and 282x earnings, this isn't a "require conviction" stock, it's a "require a specific and improbable future" stock.

The contrarian case worth taking seriously is not that Arm is a bad business — it's clearly excellent, with 97.5% gross margins, zero debt, $2.75B cash, and a genuine architectural moat. The contrarian case is that even perfect execution doesn't justify the price. Consider: if Arm hits $15B revenue by 2031 (the bull dream, ~25% CAGR sustained) and expands operating margins to 45% (aspirational for an IP licensor), you get ~$6.75B operating income, maybe $5.5B net. At a generous 35x mature multiple that's $190B — still below today's $256B market cap. The bull needs $20B+ revenue and >50% margins, which means Arm has to become materially more profitable than Visa on a margin basis while growing faster than ASML. RISC-V is a real 5-10 year risk (Meta, Google, Qualcomm all funding it), and CSS licensing — the linchpin of the bull thesis — is unproven at scale beyond a handful of announced deals. Insider activity isn't provided here, but SoftBank still owns ~90%; any secondary offering is a structural overhang.

Where the data is thin: no quarterly breakdown is provided, so I can't verify whether the 23% growth is decelerating intra-year or accelerating — that matters enormously for a stock priced on trajectory. The FCF CAGR of -1% versus earnings CAGR of 71.9% is a red flag the models glossed over: net income is growing because of accounting items (share-based comp add-backs, tax dynamics post-IPO), not because cash generation is compounding. $979M FCF in 2026 vs comparable levels years ago suggests real cash economics are flatter than GAAP earnings imply. I dissent from any "fairly valued" or "buy" read and align with the synthesis's cautious posture, but I'd go further: my fair value estimate, applying a still-premium 40x FCF to 2028E FCF of ~$1.6B (assuming 25% FCF growth resumes), lands around $130-145 — roughly 40-45% below current. This is overvalued, not "priced for perfection with tailwinds." The tailwinds are real; the price already assumes they've been captured and then some.

GPT Reading
Independent reading · gpt-5.4 · generated 2026-08-02 00:19:51
Verdict Overvalued at $239.69 — ARM is an elite IP business, but fair value is closer to $120-$150 unless revenue re-accelerates above 30% and margins inflect sharply higher.

At $256B of equity value on $4.92B of revenue, ARM is being valued like a dominant software platform in the early innings of hypergrowth, not like a semiconductor IP licensor that just posted 23% annual growth and under $1.0B of free cash flow. The raw math is the first thing that matters: 52x sales, about 261x FCF, ~282x earnings, and roughly 28x this year’s revenue increase alone. Even granting the extraordinary quality of the model—97.5% gross margin, no debt, $2.75B cash, sub-billion capex-light economics in a normal year—the operating reality is still much smaller than the stock implies. Revenue went from $2.70B in 2022 to $4.92B in 2026, a very good 16% two-year then four-year cadence overall, but not remotely the kind of compounding that usually supports a quarter-trillion valuation unless margins are exploding and cash conversion is overwhelming. They are not. Operating income improved to $900M from $831M, but operating margin only reached 18.3%, and free cash flow was $979M on $1.52B of operating cash flow because capex was a meaningful $545M. This is a fantastic business; it is not yet a $256B financial machine.

What stands out most is the mismatch between the elegance of the business model and the still-modest monetization of that elegance. ARM’s gross profit was $4.80B on $4.92B of revenue, which tells you the moat is real. But if the moat were already translating into platform economics at the scale implied by the stock, you would expect either much faster top-line acceleration or much higher operating leverage. Instead, annual revenue was basically flat from 2022 to 2023 ($2.70B to $2.68B), then stepped up to $3.23B, $4.01B, and $4.92B. That pattern looks like a good cyclical recovery plus some royalty-rate enrichment, not proof that ARM has become the unavoidable tax collector on all AI compute. Net income rose from $792M to $904M last year, only 14% growth against 23% revenue growth, which is the opposite of the “marginal dollars are almost pure profit” argument bulls lean on. Return on equity of 10.9% and ROIC of 12.7% are healthy, but again, not numbers that scream an enterprise already earning supra-normal economic rents commensurate with a 30.9x book multiple and a 51.1x EV/revenue multiple.

The clean balance sheet actually strengthens the bear case on valuation, because there is no leverage distortion to hide behind. This is not a story where debt paydown or financial engineering can drive equity upside; the stock must be justified by much larger future royalties and licenses. To earn into even a generous 15x sales multiple, ARM would need to roughly triple revenue from $4.9B to about $15B without the market cap moving. That is exactly the sort of heroic endpoint embedded in the current narrative. Can it happen? Yes, but the burden of proof is much higher than the current fundamentals satisfy. When a company with under $1B of FCF is capitalized at $256B, investors are paying now for years of successful expansion into data center, automotive, AI edge, and richer royalty content per chip. Any one of those vectors can work; all of them need to work together, quickly, and at scale. That is a hard bar in semis, where customer concentration, architecture shifts, and negotiation power tend to keep royalty capture below the dream scenario.

The strongest counterargument is obvious and serious: ARM may be one of the very few true architecture-level toll booths in tech, and architecture transitions can reprice monetization suddenly. If revenue can keep growing near the recent 23% pace for several years, while operating margin lifts from 18% toward 30%-40%, today’s multiples could compress far faster than bears expect. The evidence for that case is real: revenue rose $910M last year, gross margin is nearly perfect, net income is now above $900M, and the company has no debt and plenty of cash. If newer designs increase royalty per device and ARM meaningfully penetrates servers and AI-adjacent silicon, the market may be correctly looking through current earnings as an irrelevant waypoint. I weigh that less heavily because the current income statement still shows only modest operating leverage despite this supposed inflection, and because valuation already assumes not just success but sustained success. There is very little room for “good but not legendary.”

What would change my mind is not another year of 20%-25% revenue growth by itself; the stock needs proof of scale economics. I would turn materially less bearish if ARM can deliver two things together: revenue accelerating above 30% from the current $4.92B base and operating margin moving decisively above 25% with FCF comfortably clearing $1.5B. In other words, I need to see that the incremental dollar is becoming much more valuable, not just more frequent. Conversely, if growth slips back toward the mid-teens or if earnings continue to lag revenue, the valuation should rerate sharply. At $239.69, the market is pricing ARM as if the architecture win is settled and the monetization curve is obvious. The architecture may be real; the monetization at this scale is not yet proven.

Grok Reading
Independent reading · grok-4.5 · generated 2026-08-02 00:20:20
Verdict Overvalued at $240 — 52× sales and 260× FCF price in a $15B+ royalty machine that FY2026’s $4.9B and 23% growth have not yet earned

Arm’s fiscal 2026 numbers show a real business compounding at a healthy clip: revenue climbed from $3.23B in FY2024 to $4.01B then $4.92B, a clean 23% CAGR with gross margin locked at 97.5%. Operating income recovered from the $111M trough in FY2024 (IPO-year noise) to $900M, net income hit $904M, and free cash flow printed $979M on $1.52B of operating cash after $545M of capex. The balance sheet is fortress-like—$2.75B cash, zero debt, current ratio near 6. None of that is fictional. Yet the $256B market cap attaches a 52× sales multiple, 282× earnings and roughly 260× FCF to a company whose absolute profit pool is still under a billion dollars. At 23% growth those multiples only make sense if the market is correctly pricing a multi-year step-function into a $15B-plus royalty machine; the trailing data simply do not yet demonstrate that inflection.

What the numbers actually reveal is a high-quality IP licensor whose royalty base is still dominated by smartphones and whose datacenter and AI contributions remain early. Operating margin sits at 18%, ROIC at 13%—respectable but nowhere near the 40%+ returns a true platform monopoly would already be throwing off at this scale. Free-cash-flow conversion is solid, yet FCF itself has been essentially flat on a multi-year view once you look past the earnings rebound. The 71% earnings CAGR is almost entirely a base-effect artifact from the depressed FY2024; recent earnings growth slowed to 14% while revenue held at 23%. That divergence, plus the warning flags that every profit-based multiple is hyper-sensitive because earnings are still modest relative to enterprise value, tells me the quantitative models that flash “cheap on growth” are being fooled by the narrative overlay rather than the cash-flow trajectory.

The strongest counter-argument is straightforward and data-backed: CSS licensing is already lifting average royalty rates, hyperscaler Arm deployments (Graviton, Cobalt and the Nvidia/MediaTek v9 deals) are real, and the architectural moat in mobile remains intact. If those forces compound, revenue could accelerate toward the 30%+ zone the valuation implies and operating leverage could push margins well above 30%, turning today’s 52× sales into a more palatable 15–20× on a much larger base inside five years. Bulls will also note that SoftBank’s long-term sponsorship and the scarcity of pure-play AI infrastructure IP names keep the multiple sticky even through ordinary misses. I weigh this less heavily because the installed-base inertia of x86 in the datacenter and the emerging RISC-V design-around risk are already visible in the customer concentration and litigation footnotes; history shows very few semiconductor IP vendors ever achieve the 3× revenue leap the market has prepaid.

I would flip to a neutral or constructive stance only if the next two reported quarters show royalty revenue accelerating above 30% year-on-year with clear evidence that datacenter/AI mix is driving blended rates higher, or if management guides FY2027 revenue above $6.5B while holding gross margin above 96%. A sustained break of the $180 area on light volume without a fundamental miss would also force a reassessment that the multiple compression has largely occurred.

Big-3 Panel — where each AI stands
Each AI above independently stated a direction (undervalued, fairly valued, or overvalued) and how strongly it believes it (conviction, 0–5). We combine those into a Bull-Bear Index on a 0–10 scale: 5 is neutral, 10 is maximum bullish (undervalued at full conviction), 0 is maximum bearish. We compute the score ourselves with the same arithmetic for every seat — the models never grade their own bullishness — so the three are directly comparable. Δ shows how far each seat sits from the panel average of 1.0; a large Δ marks the dissenting voice, usually the one worth reading.
Claude claude-opus-4-7 1.0
overvalued · conviction 4/5 · Δ +0.0 vs panel · self: 2.0
GPT gpt-5.4 1.0
overvalued · conviction 4/5 · Δ +0.0 vs panel · self: 3.0
Grok grok-4.5 1.0
overvalued · conviction 4/5 · Δ +0.0 vs panel · self: 2.0
Advanced Analysis Forensic deep-dive · separate lenses
Separate reads — Company Quality (is it a great business?), Valuation (is it mispriced?), and General Sentiment (how macro + narrative are pushing it), kept deliberately apart · 2026-08-02 00:36:30
Delvantic - Cairn AI
Great business, wrong price — pass, revisit under $175 8/10
Elite IP franchise (quality +35) priced for a royalty reset that rarely happens (value -77) — I pass at $239.69 and wait for the tape to break.
The cruxWhether Armv9/CSS/data-center royalty mix actually delivers the ~3x revenue step-function the price embeds; without it, no amount of narrative tailwind bridges the gap.
Forensic checks Derived mechanically from ARM's filed financials — not from the AI lenses
Liquidity & RunwaySelf-Funding
DilutionStable Share Count
Earnings QualityHigh Earnings Quality
The four lensesswitch a tab for its full read — score + evidence
Company Quality
+35
Strong
edge √Σ 134 · risk √Σ 97 · conf 8/10

Arm shows the fingerprints of a genuine platform business: gross margin has climbed from 95.2% to 97.5%, revenue has scaled from $2.70B (2022) to $4.92B (2026) - roughly 82% growth over four years - and the business has flipped from modest FCF ($424M) to nearly $1B. Balance sheet is pristine: $3.60B net cash, Altman Z of 65, OCF/NI of 1.6x, accruals negative at -3.6% of assets, Beneish M at -2.6. Nothing in the mechanical earnings-quality checks flashes red, and the FCF/NI relationship suggests the reported profits are real cash. Operating margin is the wobble: 23.4 -> 25 -> 3.4 -> 20.7 -> 18.3. The 2024 collapse to 3.4% and the failure to reclaim the mid-20s despite revenue growth points to opex scaling faster than the top line - and SBC at 21.4% of revenue (over $1B/yr on a $4.92B base) is the mechanism. GAAP profitability is being partially subsidized by paying employees in stock. Dilution has been contained (~1% share CAGR) so per-share value isn't being obviously eroded, but that requires ongoing buybacks or issuance discipline that isn't visible in the data (buyback/SBC ratio is 0%). Durability read: Arm's royalty-and-license model on ubiquitous instruction-set architecture is structurally moaty - 97%+ gross margins don't exist without pricing power. Cash generation, scale, and margin structure are all consistent with a top-decile IP franchise. What holds it below the top rung is the opex intensity: an operating margin drifting down while revenue scales suggests either heavy R&D reinvestment (fine) or cost discipline slippage (not fine) - the data alone can't tell which.

Strengths 4
m78
Elite gross margin structure
GM% of 97.5% in 2026, up from 95.2% in 2022 - a signature of IP/royalty economics with real pricing power.
m70
Fortress balance sheet
$3.60B net cash, zero debt implied, Altman Z of 65.45. Survival is not a question.
m62
Revenue compounding at scale
Revenue grew from $2.70B to $4.92B over four years (~16% CAGR), accelerating in the last two years to $3.23B -> $4.01B -> $4.92B.
m55
Clean earnings quality signals
OCF/NI of 1.6x, accruals -3.6% of assets, Beneish M of -2.6. Mechanical checks find no manipulation footprints.
Concerns 4
m68
SBC at 21.4% of revenue
Over $1B/yr of stock comp on $4.92B revenue means non-GAAP profitability materially overstates real economics; a large real cost is being routed around the income statement narrative.
m52
Operating margin trajectory has weakened
OpM ran 23.4 -> 25 -> 3.4 -> 20.7 -> 18.3. Even excluding the 2024 anomaly, the recent trend is down, not up, despite revenue scaling - operating leverage is not showing through.
m35
FCF volatility
FCF swung from $998M (2025) to $178M (2025 fiscal) to $979M - lumpy working capital or timing effects worth understanding; single-year FCF is not a smooth signal.
m30
No buyback offset to SBC
Buyback/SBC ratio is 0%. Share count is only up ~1%/yr so dilution is contained, but if SBC accelerates without buyback discipline, per-share value gets pressured.
This is a genuinely high-quality business - the margin structure, cash generation, and balance sheet are what you want to see in an IP platform, and the earnings-quality checks come back clean. But I'm not willing to call it fortress. SBC at 21% of revenue is a real cost being softened by non-GAAP presentation, and I want to see operating margin re-expand as revenue scales before I believe the operating leverage story. It's a Strong business with room to prove it's an elite one; the mechanics of durability are there, the discipline signals aren't fully in yet.
Verify before trusting this (6)
  • Segment split between royalty vs licensing revenue and concentration among top customers (Apple, Qualcomm, hyperscalers)
  • Whether the 2024 OpM collapse to 3.4% was IPO-related one-time SBC vesting or structural
  • R&D as % of revenue trend and whether opex growth is capacity investment or comp inflation
  • Detail on customer concentration and any single-name exposure over 10% of revenue
  • Terms and duration of the Arm China arrangement and any related-party revenue
  • Whether management has articulated a buyback program to offset ongoing SBC dilution
Valuation / Mispricing
-77
Overvalued
edge √Σ 20 · risk √Σ 121 · conf 8/10
Price $239.69 vs a skeptical deserved value roughly in the $150-175 zone - stock trades ~40-55% above what the business earns without the heroic royalty reset. attractive below $165.00

The e2e synthesis flags that today's price embeds roughly a 3x revenue jump tied to a royalty-rate/mix shift most IP licensors never achieve. That is the tell: the market is not paying for the current royalty stream, it is paying for a step-function reset in take rates as Armv9 and compute-subsystem licensing ramp, plus a data-center wedge. Even accepting the Strong business quality, this is a heroic outcome baked in as base case, not upside.

Cheap signals 1
m20
Genuine IP franchise quality supports a premium
Strong quality (score 35), high margins, clean cash generation - deserved value is above sector average, just not this far above.
Rich / priced-in 4
m78
Priced for a royalty-rate reset that rarely happens
The synthesis explicitly says the price embeds a ~3x revenue jump on royalty-mix shift - an outcome IP licensors historically do not achieve. That is the definition of priced-for-perfection.
m60
SBC masks true profitability at ~$256B cap
SBC at 21% of revenue is a real economic cost. On GAAP-honest earnings the multiple is meaningfully richer than the non-GAAP headline, lowering deserved value.
m55
Consensus platform-monopoly narrative already in the tape
The bull case (AI royalty machine, DC share, auto/edge) is widely held; there is no contrarian gap left to arbitrage at this price.
m45
Reported growth decelerating vs embedded expectations
Bear-side observation of flat-to-low near-term revenue trends conflicts with the ~60% growth trajectory required to grow into the multiple.
I think this is fully-to-over-priced. The business is genuinely excellent and I understand why people own it, but at $239.69 you are underwriting a royalty reset that IP licensors historically do not pull off, and you are doing it on GAAP earnings softened by 21%-of-revenue SBC. I need it closer to $165 before the risk/reward turns; anywhere in the $180s I would call it merely rich, not interesting.
Verify before trusting this (5)
  • Armv9 royalty-rate mix disclosure and per-chip average royalty trend
  • Compute-subsystem (CSS) license and royalty ramp cadence in guidance
  • Data-center design-win to revenue conversion timing
  • SBC trajectory and GAAP operating margin path
  • Any customer concentration or renegotiation risk (Qualcomm dispute status, hyperscaler in-house silicon terms)
General Sentiment
+58
Strong Tailwind
tail √Σ 143 · head √Σ 76 · conf 8/10

ARM is currently a narrative-dominant name and the narrative is winning. The archetype is platform-monopoly with strong intensity, and the last 72 hours handed the bulls fresh ammunition: a revenue and profit beat, an after-hours reversal from red to +4%, and a headline $2B AGI CPU order book across FY27/FY28. Citi reiterated Buy at $300, and coverage is uniformly framed around 'AI infrastructure beneficiary' rather than the decelerating smartphone royalty base. That is exactly the tone that keeps a story stock bid.

Tailwinds 4
m88
AI-royalty narrative running hot
Platform-monopoly archetype with strong intensity, and every recent headline reinforces the AI CPU angle. For a name whose price is almost entirely narrative-driven, this is the dominant force on the tape.
m78
Earnings beat + $2B AGI CPU backlog
Record quarterly revenue, EPS beat, and a concrete $2B demand datapoint gave bulls a fact to hang the story on. After-hours flipped from red to +4%, showing sentiment is set to fade any weakness.
m60
Analyst tone leaning bullish
Citi reiterated Buy with a $300 target and nudged estimates higher. Zacks and other desks are framing ARM alongside NVDA/QCOM as an AI infrastructure play, not a mature mobile IP licensor.
m55
Momentum + benign tape
Up 110% YTD with strong-positive momentum, and the regime is mildly risk-on (VIX 16, S&P 1.6% off highs). A 3.77-beta name gets amplified upside from even a modestly constructive tape.
Headwinds 3
m55
Fundamentals-vs-story gap is wide
Revenue is growing low single digits against a $256B market cap and 60% implied growth. Any AI-narrative crack or a soft guide would hit a 3.77-beta stock disproportionately hard, capping durability.
m40
Softer handset royalty subtext
Multiple reports flag weaker smartphone royalties and 'elevated expectations.' It is being overwhelmed by AI enthusiasm now, but it is the seed of the next narrative wobble.
m35
Rate/valuation macro overhang
10y at 4.68% and market PE 26.2 keep a slow burn against long-duration, story-priced compounders. Not decisive today, but it is why any AI wobble would bite fast on a high-beta name.
Net read: this is a strong tailwind. The AI-infrastructure narrative is exactly the story the market wants to pay for right now, ARM just delivered the beat and the $2B order-book datapoint to feed it, and analyst tone is leaning in rather than fading. The macro tape is neutral-to-constructive, which for a 3.77-beta narrative stock functions as a green light. I am well aware the fundamentals-vs-story gap is enormous and the same beta that is helping today will hurt violently on any crack, but that is a future-event risk - not current pressure. Right now the pressure is up, and hard.
Verify before trusting this (5)
  • Whether the $2B AGI CPU backlog converts to reported revenue on the next print or slips
  • RISC-V adoption headlines from hyperscalers or auto OEMs designing around Arm royalties
  • Any analyst downgrades or target cuts that break the current uniform Buy tone
  • VIX push above 20 or a sharp rise in the 10y, which would punish 3.77-beta story stocks first
  • Smartphone royalty commentary at the next update - the crack in the bull story
The market-wide tape + this name's exposure to it (beta / sector / narrative durability). Context on the non-fundamental pressure — not a call on the business or the price. processId: detail-general-sentiment
Growth Outlook
not run

This lens hasn't been run for this ticker yet.

The forward growth verdict — is the business itself likely to grow (next 2 quarters / year 1 / years 2–3), judged against its category and against printed expectations. The full horizon ladder + creme renders on the Growth Outlook card above. Not a call on the price (Valuation owns that) or the tape (Sentiment owns that).
Please log in to view trade setups
The Augustus trade-setup read is a members feature.
Log in
Lenses kept deliberately separate — Company Quality (price-agnostic), Valuation (price-conditional), General Sentiment (non-fundamental macro/narrative pressure), and Growth Outlook (the forward growth verdict). The scores are not blended. Filing-level items (convertibles, lock-ups, customer concentration) are v2 — see each lens's "verify."
Price Prediction
Lower -14.5% v0.6.0 View full prediction →

When we made this prediction on Aug 2, 2026, ARM was $239.69. We expect it to be $205.00 by Feb 2027, and we consider it great value under $165.00. This is an early model (v0.6.0) — the direction is more reliable than the exact price. Made Aug 2, 2026.

Price when predicted$239.69
Our estimate for Feb 2027$205.00-14.5%
Great value below$165.00
Price history shown (6 Months)

Blue is our prediction, starting the day we made it. Grey is a slower route to the same place — the same destination, taking longer. Black is the actual price, so you can see how we are doing.

Community AI Feedback
No community reviews yet for ARM. Be the first — hit How to Contribute, have any AI review this page, and paste its take back here.
My Notes personal — only you see this
v1.1.562 · 9b2927c4 · 2026-08-22 16:52:06