Daily Journal
Daily Journal's revenue rose 25.4% to $88 million in fiscal 2025. Its operating margin was 10.9%, up from 5.8% a year earlier. Free cash flow was $13 million.
Operating margin is operating income as a share of revenue. Free cash flow is cash from operations minus capital spending. Return on equity is net income as a share of shareholders' equity. Market cap is the last closing share price times the latest diluted share count, so it is approximate. P/E is the last close divided by diluted earnings per share over the last four quarters, or the latest fiscal year where the quarters aren't available; there is none when the company made a loss.
Charts show fiscal years, from the 10-K filings.
What Daily Journal does
Daily Journal has two parts. Its Traditional Business publishes ten newspapers and websites covering California and Arizona news, with the Los Angeles Daily Journal and San Francisco Daily Journal aimed at lawyers and judges. It also produces specialized information publications and acts as a newspaper representative for public notice advertising, the legal notices that must be published in newspapers.
Its subsidiary Journal Technologies sells case management software to courts, prosecutor and public defender offices, probation departments and other justice agencies, as well as city and county governments. The software is licensed or subscribed to in about 37 states and abroad, and handles tasks such as e-filing and online payment of traffic citations.
The papers earn money from subscriptions and from commercial and public notice advertising. Journal Technologies earns license, maintenance and support fees, hosting fees and consulting fees for installation and training. Its U.S. operations are based in California and Utah, and it also works in Australia and Canada.
Its biggest risks, as it describes them
- Changes in the law that require or allow public notice advertising in newspapers.
- Strong competition and falling commercial advertising and circulation revenue in the newspaper business, as readers move online.
- Higher postage and paper costs.
- Dependence of Journal Technologies on keeping its case management software up to date, against strong competitors.
- Customers that are government bodies, which bring unique issues and risks, including payment timing.
Income statement
From fiscal 2018 to 2025, earnings per share grew 45.3% a year and net income 45.3% a year, with the share count about the same.
Returns on capital
Balance sheet
Five years at a glance
| Fiscal year end | FY21 | FY22 | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash and short-term investments | 360 | 289 | 324 | 372 | 514 |
| Debt incl. finance leases | — | — | — | — | — |
| Net debt (negative means net cash) | — | — | — | — | — |
| Net debt to EBITDA | — | — | — | — | — |
| Debt to equity | — | — | — | — | — |
| Interest coverage | 6.5x | 1.9x | 1.6x | 1.3x | 6.9x |
| Current ratio | 10.9x | 9.2x | 8.2x | 10.3x | 13.9x |
| Quick ratio | 10.9x | 9.2x | 8.2x | 10.3x | 13.9x |
Cash flow
Projections
Project Daily Journal's revenue, net income and earnings per share five years ahead in a bull, a base and a bear case with your own figures, and see the share prices your P/E estimates give them, or value it with a discounted cash flow model. Every projected figure is yours: it is not a forecast of ours.
Insider trades
No officer, director or 10% owner of Daily Journal reported buying or selling its shares on the open market between November 7, 2025 and November 6, 2026.
Indicators
Four widely used measures, worked out from the company's filings. The cutoffs are the ones their authors or users go by, not a verdict of ours.
| Indicator | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Piotroski F-score | — | — | — |
| Rule of 40 | 47.5% | 3.1% | 40.6% |
| Altman Z'' | 8.92 | 10.43 | 11.03 |
| Accruals ratio | 1.9% | 20.6% | 20.8% |
The nine F-score tests
| Test | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Net income is positive | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| Cash from operations is positive | Pass | Fail | Pass |
| Return on assets rose | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| Cash from operations exceeds net income | Fail | Fail | Fail |
| Debt fell relative to assets | — | — | — |
| Current ratio rose | Fail | Pass | Pass |
| Share count didn't rise | Pass | Pass | Fail |
| Gross margin rose | — | — | — |
| Revenue rose relative to assets | Pass | Fail | Pass |
| F-score | — | — | — |
Compare
Put Daily Journal side by side with any other company we cover: revenue, growth, margins, cash flow and returns, with ten years of charts.
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| Company | Year | Revenue growth | Operating margin | Free cash flow margin | Return on capital | Net debt to EBITDA | F-score | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daily Journal | FY25 | 25.4% | 10.9% | 15.2% | — | — | — | |
| Red Violet | FY25 | 20.0% | 14.6% | 31.9% | 22.1% | −1.8x | 6 | Compare |
| Blend Labs | FY25 | 6.8% | −17.6% | −0.1% | — | — | 5 | Compare |
| BigBear.ai | FY25 | −19.3% | −167.5% | −33.3% | −65.8% | — | 4 | Compare |
| Backblaze | FY25 | 14.3% | −16.2% | 12.9% | — | — | — | Compare |
10 years of figures
| Fiscal year | FY16 | FY17 | FY18 | FY19 | FY20 | FY21 | FY22 | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income statement | ||||||||||
| Revenue | 42 | 41 | 41 | 49 | 50 | 50 | 54 | 68 | 70 | 88 |
| Revenue growth | −5.4% | −0.6% | −1.6% | 19.5% | 2.6% | −0.0% | 8.2% | 25.4% | 3.3% | 25.4% |
| Gross profit | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Research and development | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Operating income | −7 | −13 | −14 | −18 | −1 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 10 |
| Net income | −1 | −1 | 8 | −25 | 4 | 113 | −22 | 22 | 78 | 112 |
| Diluted EPS (US$) | −0.76 | −0.66 | 5.94 | −18.26 | 2.93 | 81.77 | — | — | 56.73 | 81.41 |
| Diluted shares (millions) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Cash flow | ||||||||||
| Cash from operations | 1 | −3 | −2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | −5 | 15 | −0 | 13 |
| Capital expenditure | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Free cash flow | −3 | −3 | −2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −5 | 15 | −0 | 13 |
| Dividends paid | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Share buybacks | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Acquisitions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Stock-based compensation | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0 | 0 |
| Balance sheet at fiscal year end | ||||||||||
| Cash and short-term investments | 11 | 233 | 222 | 203 | 206 | 360 | 289 | 324 | 372 | 514 |
| Debt incl. finance leases | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Total assets | 225 | 281 | 264 | 237 | 239 | 383 | 319 | 355 | 404 | 548 |
| Total liabilities | 100 | 121 | 101 | 100 | 97 | 128 | 140 | 154 | 125 | 157 |
| Shareholders' equity | 125 | 160 | 163 | 138 | 142 | 255 | 179 | 200 | 279 | 391 |
| Margins and ratios | ||||||||||
| Gross margin | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Operating margin | −16.0% | −31.8% | −34.5% | −37.5% | −2.6% | 4.3% | 3.7% | 9.8% | 5.8% | 10.9% |
| Net margin | −2.5% | −2.2% | 20.1% | −51.8% | 8.1% | 226.1% | −39.7% | 31.7% | 111.7% | 127.9% |
| Free cash flow margin | −6.1% | −7.0% | −5.1% | 3.0% | 4.3% | 6.5% | −9.8% | 22.1% | −0.2% | 15.2% |
| Rule of 40 (growth + FCF margin) | −11.5% | −7.6% | −6.8% | 22.5% | 7.0% | 6.5% | −1.6% | 47.5% | 3.1% | 40.6% |
| Return on capital | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Return on equity | −0.8% | −0.6% | 5.1% | −16.8% | 2.9% | 57.0% | −9.9% | 11.3% | 32.6% | 33.5% |
| Return on assets | −0.5% | −0.4% | 3.0% | −10.1% | 1.7% | 36.4% | −6.1% | 6.4% | 20.6% | 23.6% |
| Net debt to EBITDA | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |