# InterDigital (IDCC.US)

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

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:29:16.065Z. Financial observations: FY1996–FY2026.

Listing currency: USD. Reporting currency: USD.

## Verdict

A wonderful business at too high a price

Quality tests for Buy: pass (profit record: pass; earnings resilience is evidence only). Published buy qualification: no.

Share price: $328.06 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

Estimated value: low $192.73 per share, central $213.45 per share, high $241.02 per share. Buy at or below the central value $213.45 per share. Valuation as of 2026-10-16T07:29:16.065Z; scenarios are not confidence intervals.

Expected annual return: 7.1% at the stated quote. About 7.1% 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

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

- operating margin variation exceeds 0.35

- Financial history: 10 years

- Years with declining revenue: 4

- Years with a net loss: 0

- Operating margin variation: 0.48×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: 0.57×

- FY2018: 0.20×

- FY2019: 0.12×

- FY2020: 0.15×

- FY2021: 0.17×

- FY2022: 0.33×

- FY2023: 0.40×

- FY2024: 0.51×

- FY2025: 0.55×

- LTM to Jun 2026: 0.44×

### moat: pass

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

- ROIC, median of available years: 59.0%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: 17.0%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: 0.1 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 80.4%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 80.3%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 1

- Capital spending / revenue: 8.6%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: 92.5%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: >100%

- FY2017: 17.0%

- FY2018: 19.6%

- FY2019: 8.9%

- FY2020: 25.6%

- FY2021: 23.1%

- FY2022: 92.3%

- FY2023: >100%

- FY2024: 99.9%

- FY2025: >100%

### economics: pass

- Owner earnings / net income, 5-yr: 1.21×

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: $1.4B

- Net income, five-year total: $1.1B

- Return on incremental invested capital: >100%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: -0.6 pp

- Working capital / revenue, change between three-year averages: -5.2 pp

- Working capital / revenue, final three-year average: 20.1%

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

- FY2021: 1.72×

- FY2022: 1.38×

- FY2023: 1.15×

- FY2024: 1.18×

- FY2025: 1.15×

### management: pass

- Historical market-dollar context (not the management verdict): 2016 to 2025 (9 years)

- potential debt-funded buybacks (informational)

- buybacks leaned toward cheaper years (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: 19.6% vs 112.0%

- Per-share earnings: 4.87 to 11.80 (three-year endpoint medians)

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 10-year annual growth: -0.6%

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: 2.1%

- Market cap gain: $5.0B

- Cumulative retained earnings: $992M

- Diluted shares, 10-year annual growth: -0.6%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: 2.1%

- $1 test, starting fiscal year: FY2016

- $1 test, ending fiscal year: FY2025

- Per-share value growth: 11.7%

- Per-share value change: $6.92

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: $4.87

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: $11.80

- Buybacks concentrated in cheaper years (correlation): 0.13

- Average buyback yield: 4.0%

- Buyback history: 10 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: Yes

- Acquisition spending: $213M

- Cumulative net income, 10 years: $1.7B

- ROIC, first three-year median: 19.6%

- ROIC, last three-year median: >100%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: $8.78

- FY2017: $4.87

- FY2018: $1.81

- FY2019: $0.66

- FY2020: $1.44

- FY2021: $1.77

- FY2022: $3.07

- FY2023: $7.62

- FY2024: $12.07

- FY2025: $11.80

### accounting: pass

- Sloan accruals: -6.7%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 0.56×

- Restructuring years, last five: 2

- Stock compensation / operating cash flow: 7.9%

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Operating cash / earnings: 1.34×

- Accounting red flags: 0

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 0.31×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -7.0%

- FY2017: -7.6%

- FY2018: -5.1%

- FY2019: -4.2%

- FY2020: -7.3%

- FY2021: -4.5%

- FY2022: -10.1%

- FY2023: 0.0%

- FY2024: 4.7%

- FY2025: -6.7%

## Holders

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

## Price story

Price needs cash profits to grow 7.3% a year for ten years · "InterDigital Eyes $1B Recurring Revenue as Patent Licensing Gains Momentum" (finance.yahoo.com, Aug 2026) · sales -5.5%

Story as of 2026-10-16T09:58:56.155Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

Price needs cash profits to grow 7.3% a year for ten years

- 2025-05-02: InterDigital Inc (IDCC) Q1 2025 Earnings Call Highlights: Strong Licensing Deals Propel Revenue ... ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/interdigital-inc-idcc-q1-2025-071257534.html))

- 2025-07-31: InterDigital Q2 Adjusted Earnings, Revenue Increase; 2025 Guidance Raised ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/interdigital-q2-adjusted-earnings-revenue-131408110.html))

- 2025-08-01: IDCC Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates, Revenues Surge Y/Y, Guidance Up ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/idcc-q2-earnings-beat-estimates-142400929.html))

- 2025-09-22: InterDigital Raises Q3 Outlook; Signs New License Deal With Chinese Smartphone Vendor ([nasdaq.com](https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/interdigital-raises-q3-outlook-signs-new-license-deal-chinese-smartphone-vendor))

- 2026-02-02: InterDigital LG Deal Extends Royalties Beyond Smartphones Into Consumer Electronics ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/interdigital-lg-deal-extends-royalties-231912274.html))

- 2026-08-26: InterDigital Eyes $1B Recurring Revenue as Patent Licensing Gains Momentum ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/articles/interdigital-eyes-1b-recurring-revenue-150500130.html))

### Sales · FY2025–2026

sales -5.5%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1405495/000140549526000011/idcc-20251231.htm; observed 2026-02-05.

- FY2017: $533M 

- FY2018: $307M 

- FY2019: $319M 

- FY2020: $359M 

- FY2021: $425M 

- FY2022: $458M 

- FY2023: $550M 

- FY2024: $869M 

- FY2025: $834M 

- FY2026: $788M 

### Gross margin · FY2025

gross margin 80.3%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1405495/000140549526000011/idcc-20251231.htm; observed 2026-02-05.

- FY2016: 82.9% 

- FY2017: 79.1% 

- FY2018: 59.6% 

- FY2019: 51.4% 

- FY2020: 52.6% 

- FY2021: 84.8% 

- FY2022: 84.4% 

- FY2023: 85.6% 

- FY2024: 80.5% 

- FY2025: 80.3% 

## Owner memo

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

### How it makes money

Operates in software application; annual sales are USD 834 million.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1405495/000140549526000011/idcc-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-05); FY2025: revenue 834015000; grossProfit 669673000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 80.3% to 85.6% during 2023–25; it earns 59% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-05); FY2023: grossProfit / revenue = 85.6%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-05); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 80.5%.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1405495/000140549526000011/idcc-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-05); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 80.3%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-05); 10-year return on capital observations [[2016,5.478985886609685],[2017,0.17034696682188438],[2018,0.1955824824086688],[2019,0.08902288490219075],[2020,0.25612122675233756],[2021,0.23139439632975137],[2022,0.923090782375567],[2023,1.1204690516411122],[2024,0.9986868323177853],[2025,1.239424604898113]]; median 0.5896060045639523. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Can it raise prices

Kept about a 84% gross margin through 2022 cost inflation.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1405495/000140549526000011/idcc-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-05); Gross margin observations: [[2021,0.8480873700368351],[2022,0.8439931497573144],[2023,0.8555335997146953]]; range within 2 percentage points.

### Where the cash goes

Paid dividends in 10 of 10 years; bought back USD 102.3 million of shares.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-05); FY2016: growth capex 0; upkeep 43440000; owner earnings 318314000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-05); FY2017: growth capex 0; upkeep 37004000; owner earnings 194342000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-05); FY2018: growth capex 0; upkeep 36895000; owner earnings 93081000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-05); FY2019: growth capex 0; upkeep 37990000; owner earnings 60032000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-05); FY2020: growth capex 0; upkeep 42408000; owner earnings 83434000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-05); FY2021: growth capex 0; upkeep 38277000; owner earnings 95211000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-05); FY2022: growth capex 0; upkeep 42753000; owner earnings 129511000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-05); FY2023: growth capex 0; upkeep 44626000; owner earnings 247235000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-05); FY2024: growth capex 0; upkeep 5849000; owner earnings 422678000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1405495/000140549526000011/idcc-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-05); FY2025: growth capex 0; upkeep 15888000; owner earnings 468287000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-05); Dividend observations: [[2016,31135000],[2017,43255000],[2018,48468000],[2019,44580000],[2020,43072000],[2021,43058000],[2022,42306000],[2023,39454000],[2024,41799000],[2025,60682000]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1405495/000140549526000011/idcc-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-05); FY2025: cash repurchases 102319000 USD.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 1.7% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); IDCC.US SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 1.667 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-16.

### What the price says

The price assumes cash profits grow 7.3% yearly over ten years; actual growth was 15.3%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-05); Ten-year compound average after fade. Initial solved rate 0.09225735744553887. Price 328.06; FX 1; discount 0.1; same standard ten-year fade to terminal 0.03. FY2015 owner earnings/share 3.269752900200203 → FY2025 13.583773278412718. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

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

- 2016-10: $70.65 per share

- 2016-11: $79.20 per share

- 2016-12: $91.35 per share

- 2017-01: $93.40 per share

- 2017-02: $84.05 per share

- 2017-03: $86.30 per share

- 2017-04: $89.90 per share

- 2017-05: $81.00 per share

- 2017-06: $77.30 per share

- 2017-07: $72.85 per share

- 2017-08: $71.35 per share

- 2017-09: $73.75 per share

- 2017-10: $73.35 per share

- 2017-11: $76.10 per share

- 2017-12: $76.15 per share

- 2018-01: $78.05 per share

- 2018-02: $71.80 per share

- 2018-03: $73.60 per share

- 2018-04: $74.45 per share

- 2018-05: $78.85 per share

- 2018-06: $80.90 per share

- 2018-07: $82.45 per share

- 2018-08: $82.60 per share

- 2018-09: $80.00 per share

- 2018-10: $70.95 per share

- 2018-11: $75.26 per share

- 2018-12: $66.43 per share

- 2019-01: $72.81 per share

- 2019-02: $69.73 per share

- 2019-03: $65.98 per share

- 2019-04: $65.39 per share

- 2019-05: $63.52 per share

- 2019-06: $64.40 per share

- 2019-07: $64.43 per share

- 2019-08: $49.17 per share

- 2019-09: $52.47 per share

- 2019-10: $53.63 per share

- 2019-11: $56.80 per share

- 2019-12: $54.49 per share

- 2020-01: $55.25 per share

- 2020-02: $52.89 per share

- 2020-03: $44.63 per share

- 2020-04: $57.77 per share

- 2020-05: $54.97 per share

- 2020-06: $56.63 per share

- 2020-07: $60.02 per share

- 2020-08: $61.15 per share

- 2020-09: $57.06 per share

- 2020-10: $55.98 per share

- 2020-11: $59.91 per share

- 2020-12: $60.68 per share

- 2021-01: $64.21 per share

- 2021-02: $63.37 per share

- 2021-03: $63.45 per share

- 2021-04: $69.42 per share

- 2021-05: $80.78 per share

- 2021-06: $73.03 per share

- 2021-07: $65.89 per share

- 2021-08: $72.11 per share

- 2021-09: $67.82 per share

- 2021-10: $66.95 per share

- 2021-11: $67.91 per share

- 2021-12: $71.63 per share

- 2022-01: $69.03 per share

- 2022-02: $64.42 per share

- 2022-03: $63.80 per share

- 2022-04: $56.85 per share

- 2022-05: $65.29 per share

- 2022-06: $60.80 per share

- 2022-07: $61.39 per share

- 2022-08: $50.16 per share

- 2022-09: $40.42 per share

- 2022-10: $49.87 per share

- 2022-11: $50.17 per share

- 2022-12: $49.48 per share

- 2023-01: $69.95 per share

- 2023-02: $72.99 per share

- 2023-03: $72.90 per share

- 2023-04: $67.74 per share

- 2023-05: $83.04 per share

- 2023-06: $96.55 per share

- 2023-07: $92.69 per share

- 2023-08: $86.71 per share

- 2023-09: $80.24 per share

- 2023-10: $75.25 per share

- 2023-11: $99.92 per share

- 2023-12: $108.54 per share

- 2024-01: $105.05 per share

- 2024-02: $107.02 per share

- 2024-03: $106.46 per share

- 2024-04: $98.73 per share

- 2024-05: $113.87 per share

- 2024-06: $116.56 per share

- 2024-07: $122.76 per share

- 2024-08: $138.56 per share

- 2024-09: $141.63 per share

- 2024-10: $150.44 per share

- 2024-11: $195.96 per share

- 2024-12: $193.72 per share

- 2025-01: $182.98 per share

- 2025-02: $213.64 per share

- 2025-03: $206.75 per share

- 2025-04: $201.00 per share

- 2025-05: $217.26 per share

- 2025-06: $224.23 per share

- 2025-07: $258.20 per share

- 2025-08: $271.71 per share

- 2025-09: $345.23 per share

- 2025-10: $361.96 per share

- 2025-11: $357.75 per share

- 2025-12: $318.38 per share

- 2026-01: $326.44 per share

- 2026-02: $366.53 per share

- 2026-03: $302.00 per share

- 2026-04: $296.56 per share

- 2026-05: $252.09 per share

- 2026-06: $283.13 per share

- 2026-07: $304.83 per share

- 2026-08: $335.03 per share

- 2026-09: $326.07 per share

- 2026-10: $328.06 per share

## Annual estimated value (USD per share)

- FY2016: low $93.55 per share, central $118.48 per share, high $134.31 per share

- FY2017: low $86.76 per share, central $110.20 per share, high $123.84 per share

- FY2018: low $55.43 per share, central $59.40 per share, high $64.69 per share

- FY2019: low $62.43 per share, central $67.01 per share, high $73.10 per share

- FY2020: low $67.96 per share, central $73.23 per share, high $80.26 per share

- FY2021: low $64.44 per share, central $69.20 per share, high $75.55 per share

- FY2022: low $77.27 per share, central $82.53 per share, high $89.53 per share

- FY2023: low $85.10 per share, central $91.95 per share, high $101.07 per share

- FY2024: low $122.06 per share, central $134.52 per share, high $151.11 per share

- FY2025: low $154.53 per share, central $170.93 per share, high $192.77 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/1405495/000140549526000011/idcc-20251231.htm); period 2025-12-31, filed 2026-02-05.

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.