Donnelley Financial Solutions
DFIN on NYSE. Donnelley Financial Solutions sells software and filing services to public companies and investment funds. Market value $1.2bn.
Price checks use the past 12 months to June 2026. Quality checks use five annual reports, the latest for the year to December 2025.
Should I look at this?
Worth a closer look
Why it could be worth it
What to watch out for
This is not advice. Check the numbers below.
For every $100 of what the whole company costs, it produced $12.50 of spare cash in the past 12 months. A savings account pays about $4.
You pay 9.5 years of operating profit for the business. The average large US company costs around 18.
Each dollar kept in the business earns 21 cents a year. Above 10 is good.
Quality score: 80 of 100. Price score: 82 of 100. Our list needs 70 on quality and 60 on price.
$49.57 a share, 37% above its 1-year low
Over the past year the price has ranged from $36.11 to $56.26.
Pays no dividend
Prices from Tuesday’s close (6 October).
Five years of cash, in billions
| Revenue | |||||
| Revenue | $993m | $834m | $797m | $782m | $767m |
| Operating margin | |||||
| Operating margin | 22.1% | 17.4% | 13.8% | 17.5% | 18.4% |
| Debt to equity | |||||
| Debt to equity | 0.35 | 0.54 | 0.33 | 0.29 | 0.46 |
| Shares outstanding | |||||
| Shares outstanding | 0.03bn | 0.03bn | 0.03bn | 0.03bn | 0.02bn |
Health checks
- Free cash flow positive5 of 5 years
- Accounting looks honest (Beneish)Nothing unusual
- Financial strength (Piotroski)8 of 9
- Profit backed by cash (accruals)No
- Debt0.46× equity
- Revenue growth, five yearsShrinking, 3.0% a year
- Buying back its own sharesYes, 16% fewer since 2021
The quarter to June 2026
How the business did, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Sales: $224 million last quarter, up 3% on a year ago.
- Profit: $36 million, about the same as a year ago.
- It keeps 19 cents of each $1 of sales as operating profit, up from 17 cents a year earlier.
- Spare cash over the past 12 months: $152 million, up from $109 million.
- 10% fewer shares than a year ago. Each share owns a bit more of the company.
- Debt is $179 million more than cash, up from $158 million a year ago.
- Sales grew on a year ago in 3 of the last 4 quarters.
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $180m |
| December 2024 | $156m |
| March 2025 | $201m |
| June 2025 | $218m |
| September 2025 | $175m |
| December 2025 | $173m |
| March 2026 | $206m |
| June 2026 | $224m |
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $9m |
| December 2024 | $6m |
| March 2025 | $31m |
| June 2025 | $36m |
| September 2025 | -$41m |
| December 2025 | $6m |
| March 2026 | $34m |
| June 2026 | $36m |
From the company's quarterly reports to the SEC.
Dates
- Next results (estimated)
- n/a
- Last annual report (10-K)
- 17 February 2026
- Next quarterly (estimated, 10-Q)
- 29 October 2026
Who owns it
4 long-term investors we follow own it, down from 5 last quarter. 246 funds in all.
- LSV Asset ManagementJosef Lakonishok
- Value
- $155,000
- Share of fund
- <0.1%
| Fund | Value | Share of that fund | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royce & AssociatesChuck Royce | $18m | 0.1% | Cut |
| Mawer Investment ManagementMawer team | $15m | <0.1% | Cut |
| Marathon Asset ManagementNeil Ostrer | $5m | 0.2% | Cut |
| LSV Asset ManagementJosef Lakonishok | $155,000 | <0.1% |
Sold out this quarter
Largest holders overall
- BlackRock$165m
- State Street$50mAdded
- Vanguard Capital Management$44mCut
- Alberta Investment Management$44mAdded
- Morgan Stanley$34mCut
- Rice Hall James & Associates$33m
- Dimensional Fund Advisors LP$29m
- Geode Capital Management$27m
- William Blair Investment Management$27mAdded
- Fuller & Thaler Asset Management$26mAdded
From 13F filings for the quarter ended 30 June 2026.
Big holders and activists
1 investor owns more than 5%.
- BlackRock, Inc.Passive investor15.2%+1.4 ptsSince 31 March 2026
- Vanguard Capital ManagementPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 30 June 2026
- Mawer Investment ManagementPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 31 March 2025
- The Vanguard GroupPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 13 March 2026
| Holder | Stake | Since | |
|---|---|---|---|
BlackRock, Inc. Passive investor | 15.2%+1.4 pts | 31 March 2026 | |
Vanguard Capital Management Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 30 June 2026 | |
Mawer Investment Management Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 31 March 2025 | |
The Vanguard Group Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 13 March 2026 |
From Schedule 13D and 13G filings: anyone owning more than 5% must file one.
What insiders did
In the last 12 months, 1 insider bought $999,990 of shares on the open market. 3 sold $3m, $503,600 of it under preset trading plans.
- Williams Robert KirkChief People & Intl OfficerSold
- Date
- 3 September 2026
- Shares
- 16,450
- Price
- $48.77
- Value
- $802,191
- BINZ JOSEPH LEODirectorBought
- Date
- 2 September 2026
- Shares
- 5,780
- Price
- $47.75
- Value
- $275,995
- BINZ JOSEPH LEODirectorBought
- Date
- 1 September 2026
- Shares
- 15,000
- Price
- $48.27
- Value
- $723,995
- Leib DanielChief Executive Officer, DirectorSold
- Date
- 19 August 2026
- Shares
- 9,787
- Price
- $50.00
- Value
- $489,350
- Leib DanielChief Executive Officer, DirectorSold
- Date
- 14 August 2026
- Shares
- 213
- Price
- $50.00
- Value
- $10,650
- Johnson Eric JPresident, GICSold
- Date
- 6 March 2026
- Shares
- 20,280
- Price
- $50.16
- Value
- $1m
- Williams Robert KirkChief People & Admin OfficerSold
- Date
- 4 March 2026
- Shares
- 7,684
- Price
- $52.03
- Value
- $399,799
- Williams Robert KirkChief People & Admin OfficerSold
- Date
- 3 March 2026
- Shares
- 4,237
- Price
- $52.29
- Value
- $221,553
- Leib DanielChief Executive Officer, DirectorSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 26 February 2026
- Shares
- 10,000
- Price
- $50.36
- Value
- $503,600
| Date | Who | Did | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 September 2026 | Williams Robert Kirk Chief People & Intl Officer | Sold | 16,450 | $48.77 | $802,191 |
| 2 September 2026 | BINZ JOSEPH LEO Director | Bought | 5,780 | $47.75 | $275,995 |
| 1 September 2026 | BINZ JOSEPH LEO Director | Bought | 15,000 | $48.27 | $723,995 |
| 19 August 2026 | Leib Daniel Chief Executive Officer, Director | Sold | 9,787 | $50.00 | $489,350 |
| 14 August 2026 | Leib Daniel Chief Executive Officer, Director | Sold | 213 | $50.00 | $10,650 |
| 6 March 2026 | Johnson Eric J President, GIC | Sold | 20,280 | $50.16 | $1m |
| 4 March 2026 | Williams Robert Kirk Chief People & Admin Officer | Sold | 7,684 | $52.03 | $399,799 |
| 3 March 2026 | Williams Robert Kirk Chief People & Admin Officer | Sold | 4,237 | $52.29 | $221,553 |
| 26 February 2026 | Leib Daniel Chief Executive Officer, Director | Sold under a preset trading plan | 10,000 | $50.36 | $503,600 |
From Form 4 filings: insiders must report trades in their own company's shares within two days.
Warning signs in its filings
Problems the company itself reported to the SEC, in its own words.
None of the warning signs we check for were found.
We look for five warning signs: doubt it can keep going, weak checks on its own accounts, a notice that its past accounts can't be relied on, a change of auditor, and one customer bringing in a big share of sales. We don't check lawsuits, investigations or debt yet.
We checked the auditor's report, internal controls, restatement notices, auditor changes and big customers in the 10-K filed 17 Feb 2026, plus the 10-Q filed 30 Jul 2026 and 4 later 8-Ks.
A 10-K is the yearly report every US company files with the SEC. An 8-K is a short notice of a big event.
What could go wrong
- Sales have shrunk: 3.0% a year.
Whether the price already reflects the risks is what the deep dive is for.
The deep dive
Everything above is arithmetic on public filings. The deep dive reads the last ten years of annual reports, the proxy statements, and the earnings calls, then argues the case the way Buffett, Klarman, and Hohn would, and checks every claim against the source.
- What the business is worth, as a range, and the margin of safety at today’s price
- Prices to start buying, buy, and buy hard
- The three things that would make this a mistake
- Every number footnoted to the filing it came from
Your first deep dive is free.
Not advice. Numbers on this page come from SEC filings and are updated each night; prices are updated again after the US market closes. The five-year figures are rounded.