# DocuSign (DOCU.US)

Canonical: https://gigainvestors.com/s/DOCU

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:28:04.537Z. Financial observations: FY2016–FY2027.

Listing currency: USD. Reporting currency: USD.

## Verdict

Not a wonderful business

Quality tests for Buy: not passed (profit record: fail; earnings resilience is evidence only). Published buy qualification: no.

Share price: $77.52 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

Estimated value: low $10.01 per share, central $11.90 per share, high $13.27 per share. Buy at or below the central value $11.90 per share. Valuation as of 2026-10-16T07:28:04.537Z; scenarios are not confidence intervals.

Expected annual return: 3.8% at the stated quote. About 3.8% a year at today's price (required return 10.0%). required return 10.0% a year (10% floor; US 10-year bond 5.1% + 4 points).

## Checklist

### understandable: fail

- 0 revenue declines in the last 10 years (informational)

- more than 2 net loss years

- negative average operating margin

- operating margin variation exceeds 0.35

- Financial history: 10 years

- Years with declining revenue: 0

- Years with a net loss: 6

- Operating margin variation: 2.50×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2018: -0.10×

- FY2019: -0.61×

- FY2020: -0.20×

- FY2021: -0.12×

- FY2022: -0.03×

- FY2023: -0.03×

- FY2024: 0.01×

- FY2025: 0.07×

- FY2026: 0.09×

- LTM to Jul 2026: 0.12×

### moat: fail

- Years with nonpositive invested capital use equity plus debt and leases; positive earnings with no positive capital are shown above 100%.

- ROIC median below threshold

- ROIC worst years below threshold (more than 1 bad year allowed)

- ROIC, median of available years: -9.5%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: -116.6%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: -1.1 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 78.3%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 79.4%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 3

- Capital spending / revenue: 3.5%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: -16.9%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2018: -14.7%

- FY2019: -176.5%

- FY2020: -44.5%

- FY2021: -116.6%

- FY2022: -4.2%

- FY2023: -57.8%

- FY2024: 2.0%

- FY2025: 28.2%

- FY2026: 34.2%

- LTM to Jul 2026: 45.3%

### economics: pass

- Owner earnings / net income, 5-yr: 1.04×

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: $1.3B

- Net income, five-year total: $1.3B

- Return on incremental invested capital: 89.0%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: -1.3 pp

- Working capital / revenue, change between three-year averages: -9.8 pp

- Working capital / revenue, final three-year average: 15.2%

Chart: Annual owner cash / profit; fiscal year observations.

- FY2022: 0.71×

- FY2023: 0.91×

- FY2024: 1.04×

- FY2025: 1.01×

- FY2026: 1.03×

### management: fail

- Historical market-dollar context (not the management verdict): 2019 to 2026 (7 years)

- potential debt-funded buybacks (informational)

- buybacks leaned toward cheaper years (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: -14.7% vs 28.2%

- Per-share earnings: -0.89 to 1.48 (three-year endpoint medians)

- five-year and ten-year diluted share growth both above threshold

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 10-year annual growth: 22.3%

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: 2.4%

- Market cap gain: $2.0B

- Cumulative retained earnings: -$928M

- Diluted shares, 10-year annual growth: 22.3%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: 2.4%

- $1 test, starting fiscal year: FY2019

- $1 test, ending fiscal year: FY2026

- Per-share value change: $2.37

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: -$0.89

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: $1.48

- Buybacks concentrated in cheaper years (correlation): 0.74

- Average buyback yield: 2.2%

- Buyback history: 8 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: Yes

- Acquisition spending: $565M

- Cumulative net income, 10 years: $238M

- ROIC, first three-year median: -14.7%

- ROIC, last three-year median: 28.2%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: -$0.89

- FY2018: -$0.31

- FY2019: -$3.16

- FY2020: -$1.18

- FY2021: -$1.31

- FY2022: -$0.36

- FY2023: -$0.49

- FY2024: $0.35

- FY2025: $5.08

- FY2026: $1.48

### accounting: pass

- stock compensation exceeds 15% of operating cash flow

- Sloan accruals: -20.2%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 1.10×

- Restructuring years, last five: 1

- Stock compensation / operating cash flow: 53.4%

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Operating cash / earnings: 3.77×

- Accounting red flags: 1

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 0.27×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: -22.0%

- FY2018: -17.3%

- FY2019: -31.1%

- FY2020: -17.1%

- FY2021: -23.1%

- FY2022: -22.7%

- FY2023: -20.1%

- FY2024: -30.5%

- FY2025: 1.3%

- FY2026: -20.2%

## Holders

- [Richard Pzena](https://gigainvestors.com/PIM): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

## Price story

Down 72% since Oct 2021 · "DocuSign shares fall despite Q1 beat as guidance disappoints investors" (finance.yahoo.com, Jun 2026) · sales +4.4%

Story as of 2026-10-16T09:58:38.986Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

Price needs cash profits to grow 33.4% a year for ten years

- 2025-04-28: DocuSign (NasdaqGS:DOCU) Jumps 15% In A Week Driven By AI Contract Agents Initiative ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/docusign-nasdaqgs-docu-jumps-15-175117864.html))

- 2025-06-06: DocuSign (DOCU) Drops After Billings Guidance Disappoints Despite Q1 Beat ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/docusign-docu-drops-billings-guidance-165129562.html))

- 2025-12-05: DocuSign's 'Solid' Q3 Earnings Overshadowed by 'Conservative' Outlook, Wedbush Says ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/docusign-apos-apos-solid-apos-162438768.html))

- 2026-03-17: Docusign beats estimates as AI platform drives growth ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/docusign-beats-estimates-ai-platform-205856664.html))

- 2026-06-05: DocuSign shares fall despite Q1 beat as guidance disappoints investors ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/docusign-shares-fall-despite-q1-143500632.html))

- 2026-09-04: DOCU Q2 Deep Dive: AI Platform Expansion and Margin Gains Shape Outlook ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/docu-q2-deep-dive-ai-211810159.html))

### Sales · FY2026–2027

sales +4.4%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1261333/000126133326000021/docu-20260131.htm; observed 2026-03-18.

- FY2018: $519M 

- FY2019: $701M 

- FY2020: $974M 

- FY2021: $1.5B 

- FY2022: $2.1B 

- FY2023: $2.5B 

- FY2024: $2.8B 

- FY2025: $3.0B 

- FY2026: $3.2B 

- FY2027: $3.4B 

### Gross margin · FY2027

gross margin 79.5%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1261333/000126133326000021/docu-20260131.htm; observed 2026-03-18.

- FY2018: 77.2% 

- FY2019: 72.5% 

- FY2020: 75.0% 

- FY2021: 74.9% 

- FY2022: 77.9% 

- FY2023: 78.7% 

- FY2024: 79.3% 

- FY2025: 79.1% 

- FY2026: 79.4% 

- FY2027: 79.5% 

## Owner memo

Memo as of 2026-10-16T08:06:05.509Z.

### How it makes money

Operates in software application; annual sales are USD 3.2 billion.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1261333/000126133326000021/docu-20260131.htm (filed 2026-03-18); FY2026: revenue 3219500000; grossProfit 2556438000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); DOCU.US: DocuSign, Inc. provides electronic signature solution in the United States and internationally. The company offers AI-powered intelligent agreement management (IAM) platform to optimize the gain intelligence and automation across the entire agreement lifecycle; and provides e-signature solution that enables sending and signing of agreements on various devices; Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM), which automates workflows across the entire agreement process; and Document Generation streamlines the process of generating new, custom agreements. It also provides Identify, a signer-identification option for checking government-issued IDs; Standards-Based Signatures, which support signatures that involve digital certificates; Monitor that uses advanced analytics; Notary which enables notaries public to conduct remote online notarization transactions; and Web Forms. In addition, the company offers Real Estate for eSignature that provides a way for brokers and agents to manage the entire real estate transaction digitally. eSignature and CLM are Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP), an authorized version of DocuSign eSignature for U.S. federal government agencies; and life sciences modules that support compliance with the electronic signature practices. The company sells its products through direct and partner-assisted sales, and digital self-service purchasing. DocuSign, Inc. was incorporated in 2003 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 79.1% to 79.4% during 2024–26; it lost 9.5% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-18); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 79.3%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-18); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 79.1%.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1261333/000126133326000021/docu-20260131.htm (filed 2026-03-18); FY2026: grossProfit / revenue = 79.4%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-18); 10-year return on capital observations [[2018,-0.1469729723889037],[2019,-1.7650350863401725],[2020,-0.4446748830661113],[2021,-1.1655842116876283],[2022,-0.04222762741700598],[2023,-0.5781306321284874],[2024,0.019627670300574628],[2025,0.28194811696599187],[2026,0.34174708211216864],[2027,0.4531348225101919]]; median -0.09460029990295483. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Where the cash goes

Paid dividends in 2 of 10 years; bought back USD 869.1 million of shares.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-18); FY2024: growth capex 0; upkeep 92391000; owner earnings 76651000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-18); FY2025: growth capex 0; upkeep 96988000; owner earnings 1078701000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1261333/000126133326000021/docu-20260131.htm (filed 2026-03-18); FY2026: growth capex 0; upkeep 106445000; owner earnings 318721000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-18); Dividend observations: [[2017,0],[2018,0],[2019,0],[2020,0],[2021,318299000],[2022,316715000],[2023,0],[2024,0],[2025,0],[2026,0]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1261333/000126133326000021/docu-20260131.htm (filed 2026-03-18); FY2026: cash repurchases 869086000 USD.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 0.5% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); DOCU.US SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 0.528 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-16.

### What the price says

The price assumes cash profits grow 33.4% yearly over ten years.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-18); Ten-year compound average after fade. Initial solved rate 0.47874764341650955. Price 77.52; FX 1; discount 0.1; same standard ten-year fade to terminal 0.03. FY2016 owner earnings/share -4.755317630264097 → FY2026 1.5241203531020764. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

## Monthly share-price history (USD per share)

- 2018-04: $38.63 per share

- 2018-05: $49.81 per share

- 2018-06: $52.95 per share

- 2018-07: $53.90 per share

- 2018-08: $62.44 per share

- 2018-09: $52.57 per share

- 2018-10: $41.94 per share

- 2018-11: $41.76 per share

- 2018-12: $40.08 per share

- 2019-01: $49.45 per share

- 2019-02: $55.15 per share

- 2019-03: $51.84 per share

- 2019-04: $56.67 per share

- 2019-05: $56.06 per share

- 2019-06: $49.71 per share

- 2019-07: $51.72 per share

- 2019-08: $46.69 per share

- 2019-09: $61.92 per share

- 2019-10: $66.19 per share

- 2019-11: $71.21 per share

- 2019-12: $74.11 per share

- 2020-01: $78.51 per share

- 2020-02: $86.31 per share

- 2020-03: $92.40 per share

- 2020-04: $104.75 per share

- 2020-05: $139.74 per share

- 2020-06: $172.21 per share

- 2020-07: $216.83 per share

- 2020-08: $223.00 per share

- 2020-09: $215.24 per share

- 2020-10: $202.25 per share

- 2020-11: $227.88 per share

- 2020-12: $222.30 per share

- 2021-01: $232.89 per share

- 2021-02: $226.66 per share

- 2021-03: $202.45 per share

- 2021-04: $222.94 per share

- 2021-05: $201.62 per share

- 2021-06: $279.57 per share

- 2021-07: $298.04 per share

- 2021-08: $296.24 per share

- 2021-09: $257.43 per share

- 2021-10: $278.29 per share

- 2021-11: $246.36 per share

- 2021-12: $152.31 per share

- 2022-01: $125.77 per share

- 2022-02: $118.43 per share

- 2022-03: $107.12 per share

- 2022-04: $81.00 per share

- 2022-05: $83.91 per share

- 2022-06: $57.38 per share

- 2022-07: $63.98 per share

- 2022-08: $58.22 per share

- 2022-09: $53.47 per share

- 2022-10: $48.30 per share

- 2022-11: $47.07 per share

- 2022-12: $55.42 per share

- 2023-01: $60.64 per share

- 2023-02: $61.35 per share

- 2023-03: $58.30 per share

- 2023-04: $49.44 per share

- 2023-05: $56.40 per share

- 2023-06: $51.09 per share

- 2023-07: $53.82 per share

- 2023-08: $50.30 per share

- 2023-09: $42.00 per share

- 2023-10: $38.88 per share

- 2023-11: $43.10 per share

- 2023-12: $59.45 per share

- 2024-01: $60.92 per share

- 2024-02: $53.27 per share

- 2024-03: $59.55 per share

- 2024-04: $56.60 per share

- 2024-05: $54.74 per share

- 2024-06: $53.50 per share

- 2024-07: $55.48 per share

- 2024-08: $59.21 per share

- 2024-09: $62.09 per share

- 2024-10: $69.38 per share

- 2024-11: $79.69 per share

- 2024-12: $89.94 per share

- 2025-01: $96.73 per share

- 2025-02: $83.17 per share

- 2025-03: $81.40 per share

- 2025-04: $81.75 per share

- 2025-05: $88.61 per share

- 2025-06: $77.89 per share

- 2025-07: $75.64 per share

- 2025-08: $76.66 per share

- 2025-09: $72.09 per share

- 2025-10: $73.14 per share

- 2025-11: $69.35 per share

- 2025-12: $68.40 per share

- 2026-01: $52.54 per share

- 2026-02: $45.07 per share

- 2026-03: $47.41 per share

- 2026-04: $45.99 per share

- 2026-05: $52.52 per share

- 2026-06: $44.42 per share

- 2026-07: $54.83 per share

- 2026-08: $66.27 per share

- 2026-09: $67.15 per share

- 2026-10: $77.52 per share

## Annual estimated value (USD per share)

- FY2026: low $9.16 per share, central $10.77 per share, high $11.95 per share

Historical values use today's bond yield for every fiscal year

Historical values use today's FX rate into trading currency for every fiscal year

Historical values use current restated fundamentals and current commodity classification; they are not point-in-time estimates

## Sources

[Original 10-K filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1261333/000126133326000021/docu-20260131.htm); period 2026-01-31, filed 2026-03-18.

Estimates depend on assumptions and are not guarantees or investment advice. Underlying data remains subject to its source licenses; public reading does not grant bulk redistribution rights.