Perma FIX Environmental Services
PESI on Nasdaq. Perma-Fix treats and manages nuclear waste for government and industrial clients. Market value $329m.
Price checks use the past 12 months to June 2026. Some use the latest annual report instead, as marked. Quality checks use five annual reports, the latest for the year to December 2025.
Should I look at this?
Look carefully before going further
Why it could be worth it
Read the warning sign in its own filings
This is not advice. Check the numbers below.
For every $100 of what the whole company costs, it produced $-4.71 of spare cash last year. A savings account pays about $4.
The filings do not give us enough to work this out.
Each dollar kept in the business earns -14 cents a year. Above 10 is good.
Quality score: 24 of 100. Price score: 0 of 100. Our list needs 70 on quality and 60 on price.
$15.47 a share, 80% above its 1-year low
Over the past year the price has ranged from $8.58 to $21.32.
Pays no dividend
Prices from Tuesday’s close (6 October).
Five years of cash, in billions
| Revenue | |||||
| Revenue | $61m | $60m | $90m | $59m | $642,000 |
| Operating margin | |||||
| Operating margin | -11.1% | -9.0% | 0.8% | -26.5% | -1827.9% |
| Debt to equity | |||||
| Debt to equity | 0.05 | 0.04 | 0.10 | 0.05 | 0.06 |
| Shares outstanding | |||||
| Shares outstanding | 0.01bn | 0.01bn | 0.02bn | 0.02bn | 0.02bn |
Health checks
- Free cash flow positive1 of 5 years
- Accounting checksSkipped: company is not yet profitable
- Debt0.06× equity
- Revenue growth, five yearsShrinking, 63.3% a year
- Buying back its own sharesNo, 59% more shares since 2021
The quarter to June 2026
How the business did, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Sales: $13 million last quarter, down 12% on a year ago.
- A loss of $6 million, compared with a loss of $3 million a year ago.
- It loses 33 cents on each $1 of sales, compared with 21 cents a year earlier.
- 8% more shares than a year ago. Each share owns a bit less of the company.
- It has $17 million more cash than debt, down from $20 million a year ago.
- Sales grew on a year ago in 2 of the last 4 quarters.
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $17m |
| December 2024 | $15m |
| March 2025 | $14m |
| June 2025 | $15m |
| September 2025 | $17m |
| December 2025 | $16m |
| March 2026 | $11m |
| June 2026 | $13m |
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | -$9m |
| December 2024 | -$3m |
| March 2025 | -$4m |
| June 2025 | -$3m |
| September 2025 | -$2m |
| December 2025 | -$6m |
| March 2026 | -$7m |
| June 2026 | -$6m |
From the company's quarterly reports to the SEC.
Dates
- Next results (estimated)
- n/a
- Last annual report (10-K)
- 24 March 2026
- Next quarterly (estimated, 10-Q)
- 11 November 2026
Who owns it
2 long-term investors we follow own it, down from 3 last quarter. 89 funds in all.
- Heartland AdvisorsBill Nasgovitz
- Value
- $6m
- Share of fund
- 0.3%
| Fund | Value | Share of that fund | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diamond Hill Capital ManagementRic Dillon (founder) | $9m | <0.1% | Added |
| Heartland AdvisorsBill Nasgovitz | $6m | 0.3% |
Sold out this quarter
Largest holders overall
- BlackRock$18mAdded
- MAK Capital One$15mAdded
- Vanguard Capital Management$12mAdded
- Prescott Group Capital Management, L.L.C.$11m
- Diamond Hill Capital Management$9mAdded
- Kennedy Capital Management$9mNew
- Potomac Capital Management$7mAdded
- Geode Capital Management$7mAdded
- Heartland Advisors$6m
- State Street$5mAdded
From 13F filings for the quarter ended 30 June 2026.
Big holders and activists
2 investors own more than 5%.
- HOLD Alapkezelo Zrt.Passive investor10.6%+5.5 ptsSince 25 August 2026
- MAK CAPITAL ONE LLCPassive investorat least 4.8%−0.7 pts(filed with 2 related holders)Since 24 August 2026
- The Vanguard GroupPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 13 March 2026
| Holder | Stake | Since | |
|---|---|---|---|
HOLD Alapkezelo Zrt. Passive investor | 10.6%+5.5 pts | 25 August 2026 | |
MAK CAPITAL ONE LLC Passive investor | at least 4.8%−0.7 pts (filed with 2 related holders) | 24 August 2026 | |
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
No insider bought or sold on the open market in the last 12 months.
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.
2 serious warning signs in Perma FIX Environmental Services’ filings.
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 24 Mar 2026, plus the 10-Q filed 12 Aug 2026 and 5 later 8-Ks.
Doubt it can keep going
SeriousThe company or its auditor warned it may not have enough money to last the next year.
“Accordingly, substantial doubt continues to exist about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern for one year following the date the accompanying Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements are issued.”
Show the full paragraph
A significant portion of the projected revenues and cash flows underlying management’s forecast depends on the timing and volume of waste shipments and project activity directed by U.S. government customers. Because these customers do not provide binding assurances regarding the timing or volume of future work, and such activity is subject to appropriations, procurement processes, operational considerations and other factors outside the Company’s control, management could not conclude that its plans are probable of effectively mitigating the conditions giving rise to substantial doubt. Accordingly, substantial doubt continues to exist about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern for one year following the date the accompanying Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements are issued.
From the 10-Q filed 12 August 2026, Part I, Item 1. Financial Statements. Read it in the filing
Weak checks on its own accounts
SeriousThe company said its checks on its own accounts did not work at the end of its latest quarter. Mistakes could slip into the numbers.
“Based on this recent assessment, our Principal Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer have concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) of the Exchange Act) were not effective as of June 30, 2026 due to a material weakness in our internal controls over financial reporting identified for the year ended December 31, 2025, as set forth below.”
Show the full paragraph
We maintain disclosure controls and procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our periodic reports filed with the SEC is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the rules and forms of the SEC and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management. As of the end of the period covered by this report, we conducted an evaluation with the participation of our Principal Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer. Based on this recent assessment, our Principal Executive Officer and Principal Financial Officer have concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) of the Exchange Act) were not effective as of June 30, 2026 due to a material weakness in our internal controls over financial reporting identified for the year ended December 31, 2025, as set forth below.
From the 10-Q filed 12 August 2026, Part I, Item 4. Controls and Procedures. Read it in the filing
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: 63.3% 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.