WEX Inc. (WEX) DCF Valuation & Fundamental Primer
WEX Inc. (WEX) currently trades at $148.98 with an enterprise value of $7.30B. Our proprietary institutional model rates WEX Inc. at 58/100 (Grade: B · Mixed Fundamental Profile). The current market price prices in an implied 5-year revenue CAGR of 20.2% vs. historical growth of 13.9% (Fairly Priced to Fundamentals).
Institutional fundamental teardown of WEX Inc. (WEX) covering SEC 10-K/10-Q cash flow conversion, SBC dilution friction, and Reverse-DCF valuation hurdles.
WEX Inc. (WEX) 3-Scenario DCF Valuation Range
Stress-test WEX'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: $148.98).
| WACC \ Terminal | 1.5% | 2.0% | 2.5% | 3.0% | 3.5% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8.5% | $113.52 -24% | $128.32 -14% | $145.58 -2% | $165.99 +11% | $190.47 +28% |
| 9.3% | $89.42 -40% | $101.07 -32% | $114.46 -23% | $129.98 -13% | $148.21 -1% |
| 10.0% | $69.60 -53% | $78.97 -47% | $89.59 -40% | $101.73 -32% | $115.73 -22% |
| 10.8% | $53.02 -64% | $60.68 -59% | $69.27 -54% | $78.97 -47% | $90.01 -40% |
| 11.5% | $38.95 -74% | $45.30 -70% | $52.36 -65% | $60.25 -60% | $69.13 -54% |
Institutional Software Quality Scorecard (58/100 · Grade B)
Viable recurring software business but carries notable dilution, lower margins, or higher leverage.
Positive FCF but lower conversion efficiency due to capex or timing
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
- Low dilution friction: SBC is only 4.3% of revenue
Key Operational & Dilution Risks
- Lower software gross margins (60.5%), indicating higher hosting or service delivery drag
Reverse-DCF Solver: What Growth is Priced Into WEX?
Market implies 20.2% annual revenue growth over next 5 years (25.5% dilution-adjusted), in line with company run-rate.
Headline Reverse-DCF ignores Stock-Based Compensation (4.3% of revenue) and annual share dilution (0.5%/yr). Accounting for both requires 25.5% 5-year revenue CAGR to justify $148.98/sh on a true per-share economic cash flow basis.
WEX Inc. (WEX) 5-Year Fundamental Forecast
| Statement Line Item | TTM Audited Base | TTM | Y1 | Y2 | Y3 | Y4 | Y5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $2.63B | $2.63B | $2.99B | $3.41B | $3.89B | $4.43B | $5.04B |
| Gross Profit | $1.59B | $1.59B | $1.81B | $2.06B | $2.35B | $2.68B | $3.05B |
| Operating Income (EBIT) | $686.3M | $686.2M | $781.8M | $890.7M | $1.01B | $1.16B | $1.32B |
| Stock-Based Compensation (SBC) | $112.2M | $112.2M | $127.9M | $145.7M | $166.0M | $189.1M | $215.4M |
| Unlevered Free Cash Flow (FCF) | $334.1M | $334.0M | $380.6M | $433.6M | $494.0M | $562.8M | $641.2M |
| SBC-Adjusted True Cash Flow | $221.9M | $221.8M | $252.7M | $287.9M | $328.0M | $373.7M | $425.8M |
Software & Cloud Services Peer Comparables & Rule of 40 Regression
Rule of 40 vs. EV / Revenue Multiple Regression
OLS Fit: EV/Rev = -12.1 + 0.47 × (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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WEX Inc. | WEX | $5.11B | $2.63B | 60.5% | 12.7% | 26.6% | 4.3% | 3.5× |
| 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 | 3.5× | $9.32B | $5.11B | $148.98 | 0.0% |
| -20% Multiple Compression | 2.8× | $7.46B | $3.24B | $94.61 | -20.0% |
| -35% Multiple Compression | 2.3× | $6.06B | $1.85B | $53.83 | -35.0% |
| Software Baseline Floor (5.0× EV/Rev) | 5.0× | $13.14B | $8.93B | $260.38 | +41.0% |
Frequently Asked Questions: WEX Inc. (WEX) Valuation
What is WEX Inc. (WEX)'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, WEX Inc. (WEX) has a Base Case implied value of $90.01 per share (with a Bear Case of -$19.62 and a Bull Case of $230.07), compared to its current price of $148.98. The model discounts projected free cash flows at a 10.0% WACC and a 2.5% terminal growth rate.
What is WEX Inc. (WEX)'s Rule of 40 score and Free Cash Flow margin?
WEX Inc. achieves a Rule of 40 score of 26.6%, combining a 13.9% revenue growth run-rate with a 12.7% TTM free cash flow margin on $2.63B 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 WEX stock according to Reverse-DCF analysis?
At $148.98 per share (Enterprise Value of $9.32B), our Reverse-DCF solver indicates the market is pricing in a 5-year implied revenue CAGR of 20.2%, compared to WEX Inc.'s historical CAGR of 13.9%. Overall market expectations are rated as "Fairly Priced to Fundamentals".
How does WEX Inc. compare to Software & Cloud Services software peers?
WEX Inc. (WEX) earns an institutional Software Quality Score of 58/100 (Grade B — Mixed Fundamental Profile). 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 WEX Inc. (WEX)'s valuation?
WEX Inc. recorded $112.2M in TTM stock-based compensation (4.3% of revenue). When treating SBC as a cash-equivalent compensation expense, WEX Inc.'s SBC-adjusted free cash flow yield is 4.3%, scoring 25/25 on our Shareholder Dilution Friction pillar.
