Graham Holdings Company (GHC)
Fair ValueFundamental
68
Price
$1134.67
Market Cap
$4.85B
Part 1 · What the company is worth
Overview
Graham Holdings, the former publisher of The Washington Post, is now a diversified holding company that owns a set of unrelated businesses run independently of one another: Kaplan, an education and test-preparation provider; seven local television stations; home healthcare and infusion-therapy providers; several manufacturers; car dealerships around Washington, D.C.; and a handful of smaller ventures in restaurants, media and online art. The Graham family controls the company through a separate class of stock.
How it makes money
There is no single revenue model: each division earns money in its own way. Kaplan collects tuition and per-student fees from universities and licensing bodies; television stations sell advertising time and collect retransmission fees from cable and satellite operators; healthcare units bill Medicare, Medicaid and private payors for services rendered; manufacturers sell physical products to industrial customers; and dealerships sell and service vehicles. Capital is allocated centrally by the corporate office across these unrelated cash flows.
Revenue by segment
Test preparation, professional training and higher-education support services, largely outside the U.S. and in the U.K.
Eight new-car dealerships and repair services in the Washington, D.C. and Richmond, VA areas.
In-home infusion therapy, home health, hospice and behavioral therapy services, billed largely to Medicare and Medicaid.
Building materials, electrical components, linear-motion equipment and combustion-monitoring systems sold to industrial customers.
Seven network-affiliated local stations earning advertising and retransmission-consent revenue.
Restaurants, custom framing, online art platforms and digital media ventures, none individually large enough to be a reportable segment.
What drives demand
Moderately cyclicalIndividually, the divisions swing with different cycles: automotive sales and TV advertising track the broader economy, while test-preparation and healthcare services hold up better in downturns. Because the company owns all of them at once, the group's combined results move less sharply than any single division would on its own.
Key risks
- International student and regulatory exposure at Kaplan — Kaplan International depends on foreign students being able to obtain visas and travel to study; the company states that tightening immigration rules and U.S. visa office closures in 2025 already hurt recruitment.
- Declining television advertising — The company cites changing perceptions of broadcast television's effectiveness and growing competition from digital platforms as pressure on advertising revenue at its stations.
- Healthcare reimbursement and staffing — The healthcare division is subject to extensive regulation and depends on Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates it does not control, alongside ongoing nursing staffing shortages.
- Controlled-company structure — The Graham family controls the company through Class B common stock, which the company states limits the influence of other shareholders on corporate decisions.
- Goodwill and intangible asset impairment — As a serial acquirer across unrelated industries, the company states it is exposed to impairment charges on goodwill and other intangible assets if any acquired business underperforms.
The case for
Buyers argue that owning unrelated, independently run businesses lets capital move to wherever it earns the best return, that Kaplan's international and professional-training franchises are durable, and that the stock has historically traded below the sum of its parts.
The case against
Sellers fear that a conglomerate this scattered is hard to underwrite as a whole, that Class B control by the Graham family limits any outside pressure to unlock value, and that several divisions — from broadcast advertising to Kaplan's international enrollment — face structural headwinds at the same time.
Written by the editors, published on August 18, 2026
Direct competitors
Who this company fights with for the same customers
Generated on September 18, 2026 with claude-haiku-4-5 — shared with all users
Through Capella and Strayer it sells online degrees and employer-funded upskilling to the same working adults and corporate clients Kaplan serves, the largest of Graham Holdings' businesses.
It provides universities with the same online program management services — recruiting, admissions, marketing and technology — that Kaplan supplies to Purdue University Global and other partner institutions.
It competes for the same US students seeking career-oriented postsecondary and professional qualifications, and for the same federal and employer tuition dollars as Kaplan's North American schools.
Its local television stations compete with Graham Media Group's seven stations for local advertising budgets, viewers and retransmission fees in overlapping US markets.
Pearson sells professional certification preparation, English-language training and university pathway courses to the same international and professional students as Kaplan International.
Gray owns local network affiliates that fight for the same local news audiences, station advertising and cable retransmission payments as Graham's stations in Detroit, Houston, Orlando and San Antonio.
Balance Sheet & Liquidity
Revenue
$4.91B
Fiscal year ended 12/31/2025
Net Income
$292M
Fiscal year ended 12/31/2025
Free Cash Flow
$275M
Total Equity
$4.79B
Total Liabilities
$3.53B
Current Ratio
1.86
Interest Coverage
1.98
Debt/EBITDA
2.03
Earnings Per Share
Revenue & Net Income
Free Cash Flow
Income Breakdown
Historical statement
Margins over time
Debt over time
How heavy the debt is
Growth grid
Growth — Revenue
Fair Value Estimation
Fair Value
$1329.14
Current Price
$1134.67
Margin of Safety
+14.6%
Fair Value Range
$863.94 - $1794.35
Spread across the valuation methods used, not a statistically calibrated confidence interval.
Estimation Methods
Valuation Metrics
P/E Ratio
17.23
ROE
6.1%
P/B Ratio
0.78
P/FCF
-
Gross Margin
-
ROIC
2.6%
Profitability Radar
Value Creation (Economic Moat)
ROIC
2.6%
WACC
8.3%
ROIC − WACC
-5.6 pp
ROIC is below the cost of capital — the company is destroying value for every dollar invested.
Fundamental Analysis Criteria
Passed (16)
- EPS shows upward trend
- EPS CAGR 14.28%
- Price CAGR 8.40%
- P/B Ratio 0.78
- Debt/Equity ratio
- Positive Free Cash Flow
- Current Ratio
- Interest Coverage
- Debt/EBITDA
- Return on Tangible Assets
- ROE 11.6%
- Revenue Growth 5Y 11.2%
- Earnings Surprise avg 13.4%
- Earnings Quality (OCF/NI) 1.19
- Share Dilution -0.8%
- Piotroski F-Score 6/9
Failed (7)
- ROIC 2.6%
- Operating Margin 4.8%
- CapEx intensity
- Low reliance on intangibles
- DCF valuation (Unknown)
- Analyst Consensus 0% Buy
- PEG Ratio 3.51
Unavailable (5)
- Gross Margin NaN%
- P/FCF NaN
- Dividend Payout NaN%
- Price below Graham Number
- Net Margin Trend (invalid data)
Piotroski F-Score
Mixed signals: some areas need attention
Earnings Quality
High quality: earnings backed by cash
Share Dilution
Buying back shares. Shareholder friendly
Institutional Holdings
Governance
Executive Team
| Name | Title | Age |
|---|---|---|
| Mr. Timothy J. O'Shaughnessy | President, CEO & Director | 44 |
| Mr. Wallace R. Cooney CPA | Senior VP of Finance & CFO | 62 |
| Ms. Nicole Marie Maddrey M.D. | Senior VP, General Counsel & Secretary | 60 |
| Mr. Andrew Stephen Rosen | Executive Vice President | 64 |
| Mr. Jacob M. Maas | Executive Vice President | 48 |
| Mr. Marcel A. Snyman | VP & Chief Accounting Officer | 50 |
| Mr. Spiro Roiniotis | VP & CTO | - |
| Ms. Sandra M. Stonesifer | Senior VP & Chief HR and Administrative Officer | 40 |
| Mr. Matthew R. Greisler | VP & Treasurer | - |
| Ms. Dee Grein | Chief Executive Officer of Graham Healthcare Group | - |
Audit Risk
7
Board Risk
8
Compensation Risk
7
Shareholder Rights Risk
10
Part 2 · The price and when to enter
This part won't tell you whether the company is worth owning: it helps you choose when to buy it, once the fundamentals have convinced you. Inside: technical analysis, potential, historical drawdowns, gamma exposure.
Documents
- View document
Annual Report (10-K)
A yearly overview of the business, its financial results, and the risks it faces.
Filed on 2026-02-25
- View document
Quarterly Report (10-Q)
A snapshot of financial performance for the most recent three-month period.
Filed on 2026-07-30
- View document
Current Report (8-K)
An announcement of a major event, such as a leadership change or big news.
Filed on 2026-08-05
via SEC EDGAR
Income History
via SEC EDGAR
Latest News
Recent headlines for GHC, sourced from Markets Gazette.