# Universal Technical Institute (UTI.US)

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

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:32:47.440Z. Financial observations: FY2000–FY2026.

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: $20.50 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

Estimated value: low $10.85 per share, central $12.38 per share, high $14.38 per share. Buy at or below the central value $12.38 per share. Valuation as of 2026-10-16T07:32:47.440Z; scenarios are not confidence intervals.

Expected annual return: 7.2% at the stated quote. About 7.2% 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

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

- more than 2 net loss years

- operating margin variation exceeds 0.35

- Financial history: 10 years

- Years with declining revenue: 3

- Years with a net loss: 3

- Operating margin variation: 2.76×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: -0.01×

- FY2018: -0.11×

- FY2019: -0.02×

- FY2020: -0.01×

- FY2021: 0.04×

- FY2022: 0.05×

- FY2023: 0.04×

- FY2024: 0.08×

- FY2025: 0.10×

- LTM to Jun 2026: 0.05×

### moat: fail

- ROIC median below threshold

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

- ROIC, median of available years: 4.8%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: -7.6%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: -1.4 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 47.8%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 49.2%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 0

- Capital spending / revenue: 5.8%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: 2.2%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: -2.3%

- FY2018: -27.2%

- FY2019: -7.6%

- FY2020: -1.4%

- FY2021: 5.9%

- FY2022: 7.1%

- FY2023: 3.7%

- FY2024: 12.1%

- FY2025: 15.2%

- LTM to Jun 2026: 6.6%

### economics: pass

- Owner earnings / net income, 5-yr: 1.17×

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: $185M

- Net income, five-year total: $158M

- Return on incremental invested capital: 1504.8%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: 0.0 pp

- Working capital / revenue, change between three-year averages: 0.7 pp

- Working capital / revenue, final three-year average: 1.9%

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

- FY2021: 0.02×

- FY2022: 1.00×

- FY2023: 1.00×

- FY2024: 1.64×

- FY2025: 1.23×

### management: fail

- Historical market-dollar context (not the management verdict): 2017 to 2025 (8 years)

- buybacks unrelated to price (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: -27.2% vs 12.1%

- Per-share earnings: -0.38 to 0.83 (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: 8.6%

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: 13.1%

- Market cap gain: $1.7B

- Cumulative retained earnings: $132M

- Diluted shares, 10-year annual growth: 8.6%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: 13.1%

- $1 test, starting fiscal year: FY2017

- $1 test, ending fiscal year: FY2025

- Per-share value change: $1.20

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: -$0.38

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: $0.83

- Buybacks concentrated in cheaper years (correlation): -0.19

- Average buyback yield: 0.5%

- Buyback history: 8 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: No

- Acquisition spending: $44M

- Cumulative net income, 10 years: $69M

- ROIC, first three-year median: -27.2%

- ROIC, last three-year median: 12.1%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -$1.96

- FY2017: -$0.33

- FY2018: -$1.30

- FY2019: -$0.31

- FY2020: $0.27

- FY2021: $0.44

- FY2022: $0.77

- FY2023: $0.36

- FY2024: $0.83

- FY2025: $1.13

### accounting: pass

- Sloan accruals: -4.2%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 1.24×

- Restructuring years, last five: 0

- Stock compensation / operating cash flow: 9.4%

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Operating cash / earnings: 1.54×

- Accounting red flags: 0

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 0.14×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -18.5%

- FY2017: 0.7%

- FY2018: -6.8%

- FY2019: -10.9%

- FY2020: -0.7%

- FY2021: -7.9%

- FY2022: -3.7%

- FY2023: -5.0%

- FY2024: -5.9%

- FY2025: -4.2%

## Holders

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

## Price story

Down 52% since Jun 2026 · "Universal Technical Institute (UTI) Cuts 2026 Outlook As Investors Revisit The Valuation Case" (finance.yahoo.com, Oct 2026) · sales +5.7%

Story as of 2026-10-16T09:59:46.804Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

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

- 2025-05-09: UTI Q1 Earnings Call: Program Expansion and Skilled Trades Demand Drive Outperformance ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/uti-q1-earnings-call-program-194720288.html))

- 2026-10-09: Universal Technical Institute (UTI) Cuts 2026 Outlook As Investors Revisit The Valuation Case ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/universal-technical-institute-uti-cuts-002712111.html))

### Sales · FY2025–2026

sales +5.7%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1261654/000126165425000025/uti-20250930.htm; observed 2025-11-26.

- FY2017: $324M 

- FY2018: $317M 

- FY2019: $332M 

- FY2020: $301M 

- FY2021: $335M 

- FY2022: $419M 

- FY2023: $607M 

- FY2024: $733M 

- FY2025: $836M 

- FY2026: $884M 

### Gross margin · FY2026

gross margin 49.2%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1261654/000126165425000025/uti-20250930.htm; observed 2025-11-26.

- FY2017: 44.2% 

- FY2018: 42.4% 

- FY2019: 46.2% 

- FY2020: 48.2% 

- FY2021: 50.2% 

- FY2022: 50.5% 

- FY2023: 45.7% 

- FY2024: 47.5% 

- FY2025: 49.7% 

- FY2026: 49.2% 

## Owner memo

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

### How it makes money

Operates in education & training services; annual sales are USD 835.6 million.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1261654/000126165425000025/uti-20250930.htm (filed 2025-11-26); FY2025: revenue 835616000; grossProfit 415125000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-15); UTI.US: Universal Technical Institute, Inc. provides transportation, skilled trades, and healthcare education programs in the United States. It operates in two segments, UTI and Concorde. The company offers certificate, diploma, or degree programs. It also provides manufacturer specific advanced training programs, including student paid electives at its campuses; and manufacturer or dealer sponsored training at various campuses and dedicated training centers. The company serves students, partners, and communities by providing education and support services in various fields. Universal Technical Institute, Inc. was founded in 1965 and is based in Phoenix, Arizona.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 45.7% to 49.7% during 2023–25; it earns 4.8% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-26); FY2023: grossProfit / revenue = 45.7%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-26); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 47.5%.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1261654/000126165425000025/uti-20250930.htm (filed 2025-11-26); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 49.7%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-26); 10-year return on capital observations [[2017,-0.023243164771352527],[2018,-0.2722660791574258],[2019,-0.07575595186883151],[2020,-0.014479798481986014],[2021,0.058681187279307094],[2022,0.07148996539571265],[2023,0.036852616619262354],[2024,0.12064339847287767],[2025,0.1524536309147835],[2026,0.06639016997883249]]; median 0.04776690194928472. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Where the cash goes

Paid dividends in 9 of 10 years; bought back USD 4.8 million of shares.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-26); FY2019: growth capex 0; upkeep 6453000; owner earnings 1583000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-26); FY2020: growth capex 0; upkeep 9262000; cash acquisitions 0; owner earnings 34823000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-26); FY2021: growth capex 17622345.644813135; upkeep 43963654.355186865; cash acquisitions 0; owner earnings 249345.64481313527. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 70.67436713410287.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-26); FY2022: growth capex 46680000; upkeep 32777000; cash acquisitions 26514000; owner earnings 25848000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 2.8317084493964715.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-26); FY2023: growth capex 10866000; upkeep 45819000; cash acquisitions 16381000; owner earnings 12322000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 2.2112481739977277.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-26); FY2024: growth capex 0; upkeep 24298000; cash acquisitions 0; owner earnings 68888000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1261654/000126165425000025/uti-20250930.htm (filed 2025-11-26); FY2025: growth capex 0; upkeep 41978000; cash acquisitions 0; owner earnings 77825000. Growth capex plus acquisitions / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-26); Dividend observations: [[2016,2881000],[2017,5250000],[2018,5250000],[2019,5250000],[2020,5264000],[2021,5250000],[2022,5159000],[2023,5069000],[2024,1097000],[2025,0]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1261654/000126165425000025/uti-20250930.htm (filed 2025-11-26); FY2025: cash repurchases 4755000 USD.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 2.5% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-15); UTI.US SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 2.496 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-15.

### What the price says

The price assumes cash profits grow 7.3% yearly over ten years.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2025-11-26); Ten-year compound average after fade. Initial solved rate 0.09167298912069699. Price 20.5; FX 1; discount 0.1; same standard ten-year fade to terminal 0.03. FY2015 owner earnings/share -0.7985322455003895 → FY2025 1.3993526926188977. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

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

- 2016-10: $1.52 per share

- 2016-11: $2.51 per share

- 2016-12: $2.91 per share

- 2017-01: $3.21 per share

- 2017-02: $3.47 per share

- 2017-03: $3.45 per share

- 2017-04: $3.62 per share

- 2017-05: $3.67 per share

- 2017-06: $3.57 per share

- 2017-07: $3.56 per share

- 2017-08: $3.54 per share

- 2017-09: $3.47 per share

- 2017-10: $3.33 per share

- 2017-11: $3.68 per share

- 2017-12: $2.40 per share

- 2018-01: $2.78 per share

- 2018-02: $2.70 per share

- 2018-03: $2.94 per share

- 2018-04: $3.13 per share

- 2018-05: $3.13 per share

- 2018-06: $3.15 per share

- 2018-07: $3.25 per share

- 2018-08: $2.72 per share

- 2018-09: $2.66 per share

- 2018-10: $2.63 per share

- 2018-11: $3.22 per share

- 2018-12: $3.65 per share

- 2019-01: $3.42 per share

- 2019-02: $3.49 per share

- 2019-03: $3.41 per share

- 2019-04: $3.39 per share

- 2019-05: $3.39 per share

- 2019-06: $3.43 per share

- 2019-07: $3.68 per share

- 2019-08: $5.74 per share

- 2019-09: $5.44 per share

- 2019-10: $5.92 per share

- 2019-11: $5.87 per share

- 2019-12: $7.71 per share

- 2020-01: $7.69 per share

- 2020-02: $7.40 per share

- 2020-03: $5.95 per share

- 2020-04: $6.43 per share

- 2020-05: $7.41 per share

- 2020-06: $6.95 per share

- 2020-07: $7.43 per share

- 2020-08: $7.05 per share

- 2020-09: $5.08 per share

- 2020-10: $4.59 per share

- 2020-11: $6.56 per share

- 2020-12: $6.46 per share

- 2021-01: $6.08 per share

- 2021-02: $6.13 per share

- 2021-03: $5.84 per share

- 2021-04: $5.63 per share

- 2021-05: $6.05 per share

- 2021-06: $6.49 per share

- 2021-07: $6.08 per share

- 2021-08: $6.97 per share

- 2021-09: $6.76 per share

- 2021-10: $7.04 per share

- 2021-11: $8.40 per share

- 2021-12: $7.82 per share

- 2022-01: $7.26 per share

- 2022-02: $8.64 per share

- 2022-03: $8.85 per share

- 2022-04: $10.36 per share

- 2022-05: $9.08 per share

- 2022-06: $7.13 per share

- 2022-07: $8.04 per share

- 2022-08: $6.86 per share

- 2022-09: $5.44 per share

- 2022-10: $6.90 per share

- 2022-11: $7.24 per share

- 2022-12: $6.72 per share

- 2023-01: $7.58 per share

- 2023-02: $7.26 per share

- 2023-03: $7.38 per share

- 2023-04: $7.06 per share

- 2023-05: $6.43 per share

- 2023-06: $6.91 per share

- 2023-07: $7.28 per share

- 2023-08: $7.97 per share

- 2023-09: $8.38 per share

- 2023-10: $8.73 per share

- 2023-11: $11.67 per share

- 2023-12: $12.52 per share

- 2024-01: $14.12 per share

- 2024-02: $15.04 per share

- 2024-03: $15.94 per share

- 2024-04: $15.22 per share

- 2024-05: $15.81 per share

- 2024-06: $15.73 per share

- 2024-07: $18.94 per share

- 2024-08: $17.45 per share

- 2024-09: $16.26 per share

- 2024-10: $16.64 per share

- 2024-11: $25.87 per share

- 2024-12: $25.71 per share

- 2025-01: $27.43 per share

- 2025-02: $28.24 per share

- 2025-03: $25.68 per share

- 2025-04: $28.06 per share

- 2025-05: $35.53 per share

- 2025-06: $33.89 per share

- 2025-07: $32.22 per share

- 2025-08: $26.59 per share

- 2025-09: $32.55 per share

- 2025-10: $29.72 per share

- 2025-11: $23.02 per share

- 2025-12: $26.13 per share

- 2026-01: $27.83 per share

- 2026-02: $36.20 per share

- 2026-03: $36.10 per share

- 2026-04: $37.53 per share

- 2026-05: $37.41 per share

- 2026-06: $42.77 per share

- 2026-07: $39.31 per share

- 2026-08: $21.13 per share

- 2026-09: $18.67 per share

- 2026-10: $20.50 per share

## Annual estimated value (USD per share)

- FY2016: low $4.33 per share, central $4.92 per share, high $5.72 per share

- FY2021: low $0.08 per share, central $0.09 per share, high $0.11 per share

- FY2022: low $0.65 per share, central $0.74 per share, high $0.86 per share

- FY2023: low $3.91 per share, central $4.44 per share, high $5.16 per share

- FY2024: low $9.72 per share, central $11.06 per share, high $12.85 per share

- FY2025: low $10.16 per share, central $11.60 per share, high $13.47 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/1261654/000126165425000025/uti-20250930.htm); period 2025-09-30, filed 2025-11-26.

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.