ASGN Incorporated (ASGN) DCF Valuation & Fundamental Primer
ASGN Incorporated (ASGN) currently trades at $47.81 with an enterprise value of $5.32B. Our proprietary institutional model rates ASGN Incorporated at 67/100 (Grade: B+ · Quality Software Operator). The current market price prices in an implied 5-year revenue CAGR of -9.0% vs. historical growth of 4.0% (Substantial Margin of Safety).
Institutional fundamental teardown of ASGN Incorporated (ASGN) covering SEC 10-K/10-Q cash flow conversion, SBC dilution friction, and Reverse-DCF valuation hurdles.
ASGN Incorporated (ASGN) 3-Scenario DCF Valuation Range
Stress-test ASGN's 5-year growth, target FCF margin, WACC, terminal methodology, and SBC/dilution friction in real time.
Split between 5-Year Explicit Cash Flows and Discounted Terminal Value
2D Institutional Valuation Sensitivity Heatmap
Implied share price & upside/downside spread across 25 valuation states (Current Price: $47.81).
| WACC \ Terminal | 1.5% | 2.0% | 2.5% | 3.0% | 3.5% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8.5% | $130.31 +173% | $139.31 +191% | $149.82 +213% | $162.23 +239% | $177.13 +270% |
| 9.3% | $115.54 +142% | $122.64 +157% | $130.78 +174% | $140.23 +193% | $151.32 +217% |
| 10.0% | $103.39 +116% | $109.09 +128% | $115.56 +142% | $122.94 +157% | $131.47 +175% |
| 10.8% | $93.21 +95% | $97.88 +105% | $103.10 +116% | $109.01 +128% | $115.72 +142% |
| 11.5% | $84.56 +77% | $88.43 +85% | $92.73 +94% | $97.53 +104% | $102.93 +115% |
Institutional Software Quality Scorecard (67/100 · Grade B+)
Solid software model with clear operating leverage, partially offset by standard SBC or moderate burn.
Strong cash conversion; 100%+ of operating profit turns into free cash
Minimal dilution friction; management compensation aligned with shareholders
Sub-par gross margins; higher cost of delivery or hardware/services mix
Moderate leverage or cash burn; monitor liquidity runway
Core Investment Strengths & Moats
- High cash conversion: 100%+ of operating income converted to free cash flow
- Low dilution friction: SBC is only 1.0% of revenue
Key Operational & Dilution Risks
- Lower software gross margins (28.9%), indicating higher hosting or service delivery drag
Reverse-DCF Solver: What Growth is Priced Into ASGN?
The current share price only requires -9.0% 5-year CAGR (-7.6% dilution-adjusted), well below historical growth of 4.0%. If the company maintains baseline execution, there is asymmetric upside.
Headline Reverse-DCF ignores Stock-Based Compensation (1.0% of revenue) and annual share dilution (0.1%/yr). Accounting for both requires -7.6% 5-year revenue CAGR to justify $47.81/sh on a true per-share economic cash flow basis.
ASGN Incorporated (ASGN) 5-Year Fundamental Forecast
| Statement Line Item | TTM Audited Base | TTM | Y1 | Y2 | Y3 | Y4 | Y5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $4.10B | $4.10B | $4.26B | $4.44B | $4.61B | $4.80B | $4.99B |
| Gross Profit | $1.18B | $1.18B | $1.23B | $1.28B | $1.33B | $1.39B | $1.44B |
| Operating Income (EBIT) | $304.4M | $304.2M | $316.4M | $329.1M | $342.4M | $356.1M | $370.5M |
| Stock-Based Compensation (SBC) | $42.3M | $42.2M | $43.9M | $45.7M | $47.5M | $49.4M | $51.4M |
| Unlevered Free Cash Flow (FCF) | $364.7M | $364.9M | $379.5M | $394.8M | $410.7M | $427.2M | $444.4M |
| SBC-Adjusted True Cash Flow | $322.4M | $322.6M | $335.6M | $349.1M | $363.1M | $377.7M | $392.9M |
Software & Cloud Services Peer Comparables & Rule of 40 Regression
Rule of 40 vs. EV / Revenue Multiple Regression
OLS Fit: EV/Rev = -6.6 + 0.37 × (Rule of 40) · R² = 69%Stocks below the gold regression line trade at a discount relative to their Rule of 40 compounding efficiency.
| Company | Ticker | Market Cap | TTM Revenue | Gross Margin | FCF Margin | Rule of 40 | SBC % Rev | EV / Rev |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ASGN Incorporated | ASGN | $2.10B | $4.10B | 28.9% | 8.9% | 12.9% | 1.0% | 0.7× |
| ServiceNow | NOW | $152.61B | $10.98B | 79.2% | 31.1% | 54.2% | 15.9% | 13.9× |
| Workday, Inc. | WDAY | $50.35B | $8.00B | 75.0% | 27.4% | 43.9% | 19.0% | 6.4× |
| Salesforce | CRM | $217.10B | $37.90B | 77.2% | 32.8% | 42.8% | 8.4% | 5.8× |
| Datadog | DDOG | $46.05B | $2.68B | 80.8% | 31.1% | 57.7% | 21.3% | 17.4× |
| Snowflake Inc. | SNOW | $71.79B | $3.63B | 66.5% | 25.2% | 57.7% | 40.8% | 20.0× |
| Hubspot | HUBS | $19.89B | $2.63B | 85.0% | 21.3% | 52.7% | 19.2% | 7.7× |
| Peer Cohort Median Benchmark (N=6) | 78.2% | 29.2% | 53.5% | 19.1% | 10.8× | |||
EV / Revenue Multiple Compression Stress Test
| Multiple Scenario | EV / Revenue | Implied Enterprise Value | Implied Equity Value | Implied Share Price | Delta vs Current |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Current Multiple | 0.7× | $2.99B | $2.10B | $47.81 | 0.0% |
| -20% Multiple Compression | 0.6× | $2.40B | $1.50B | $34.17 | -20.0% |
| -35% Multiple Compression | 0.5× | $1.95B | $1.05B | $23.95 | -35.0% |
| Software Baseline Floor (5.0× EV/Rev) | 5.0× | $20.50B | $19.60B | $446.30 | +584.5% |
Frequently Asked Questions: ASGN Incorporated (ASGN) Valuation
What is ASGN Incorporated (ASGN)'s intrinsic DCF valuation and implied share price?
Based on audited SEC 10-K/10-Q filings and a 5-year 3-statement discounted cash flow (DCF) model, ASGN Incorporated (ASGN) has a Base Case implied value of $100.71 per share (with a Bear Case of $51.73 and a Bull Case of $153.82), compared to its current price of $47.81. The model discounts projected free cash flows at a 10.0% WACC and a 2.5% terminal growth rate.
What is ASGN Incorporated (ASGN)'s Rule of 40 score and Free Cash Flow margin?
ASGN Incorporated achieves a Rule of 40 score of 12.9%, combining a 4.0% revenue growth run-rate with a 8.9% TTM free cash flow margin on $4.10B in trailing twelve-month revenue. In the Software & Cloud Services peer cohort, the median Rule of 40 benchmark is 53.5%.
What revenue growth rate is priced into ASGN stock according to Reverse-DCF analysis?
At $47.81 per share (Enterprise Value of $2.99B), our Reverse-DCF solver indicates the market is pricing in a 5-year implied revenue CAGR of -9.0%, compared to ASGN Incorporated's historical CAGR of 4.0%. Overall market expectations are rated as "Substantial Margin of Safety".
How does ASGN Incorporated compare to Software & Cloud Services software peers?
ASGN Incorporated (ASGN) earns an institutional Software Quality Score of 67/100 (Grade B+ — Quality Software Operator). Across its Software & Cloud Services peer group (NOW, WDAY, CRM, DDOG, SNOW), the cohort trades at a median EV/TTM Revenue multiple of 10.8× and a median gross margin of 78.2%.
How does Stock-Based Compensation (SBC) impact ASGN Incorporated (ASGN)'s valuation?
ASGN Incorporated recorded $42.3M in TTM stock-based compensation (1.0% of revenue). When treating SBC as a cash-equivalent compensation expense, ASGN Incorporated's SBC-adjusted free cash flow yield is 15.3%, scoring 25/25 on our Shareholder Dilution Friction pillar.
