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Life-cycle map
How the stage is determined
The six stages come from Damodaran's The Corporate Life Cycle. He describes them qualitatively; the thresholds below are set by Sharpefolio. Operating margin is measured on the trailing four quarters (the latest fiscal year when four back-to-back quarters are not available); revenue growth on the latest fiscal year (the trailing four quarters vs the year before when eight back-to-back quarters are available). Each determination is a rule output shown with its basis and evidence.
- Revenue under $100M → ① (same basis as operating margin)
- Negative operating margin and revenue growth ≥ 15% → ②
- Revenue growth ≥ 25% → ③
- Revenue growth ≥ 8% → ④
- Revenue down two fiscal years in a row → ⑥
- Everything else → ⑤
- Growth within 3 points of a threshold, or operating margin within 2 points of zero, puts the name between two stages; for declines only the falling side counts
Banks, insurers, capital markets, mortgage finance and financial conglomerates are financial; gold, silver, copper, steel, oil & gas producers and similar are commodity; REITs are their own group. Each is valued with its own model and stays off the curve.
Stage map
Scroll sideways to see all six stages
Shares heldOptions onlyWatchlist
①
Start-up
The story, the market size, access to funding
②
Young growth
Unit economics, chance of failure, cash burn, dilution
③
High growth
Margin path, reinvestment efficiency
④
Mature growth
Whether new investment earns more than its cost of capital
⑤
Mature stable
Moat, cash returned, no empire-building
⑥
Decline
Divestitures, debt paydown, liquidation value
None
None
None
None
Off the curve
Cannot classifyARM (Watchlist)
Name by name
| Name | Held as | Stage determination (rule) | Evidence | Previous FY | Latest quarter YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CRWV (Options) CoreWeave, Inc. | Options | Between ② Young growth and ③ High growth |
| ③ High growth FY ending 2024-12-31 | No data |
| ZS (Watchlist) Zscaler, Inc. | Watchlist | Between ② Young growth and ④ Mature growth |
| Between ② Young growth and ③ High growth FY ending 2024-07-31 | No data |
| BE (Watchlist) Bloom Energy Corp. | Watchlist | ③ High growth |
| Between ④ Mature growth and ⑤ Mature stable FY ending 2024-12-31 | No data |
| NVDA (Shares + Options) NVIDIA Corp. | Shares + Options | ③ High growth Cyclical |
| ③ High growth FY ending 2026-01-25 | +30.6% 2026-07-26 |
| VEEV (Shares) Veeva Systems Inc. | Shares | ④ Mature growth |
| ④ Mature growth FY ending 2025-01-31 | No data |
| AAPL (Shares) Apple Inc. | Shares | Between ④ Mature growth and ⑤ Mature stable |
| ⑤ Mature stable FY ending 2024-09-27 | +9.0% 2026-06-27 |
| JPM (Watchlist) JPMorgan Chase & Co. | Watchlist | Financial |
| — | No data |
| NEM (Watchlist) Newmont Corporation | Watchlist | Commodity |
| — | No data |
| O (Watchlist) Realty Income Corporation | Watchlist | REIT |
| — | No data |
| ARM (Watchlist) Arm Holdings plc | Watchlist | Cannot classify Cyclical |
| — | No data |
| QQQ (Shares) Invesco QQQ Trust | Shares | Not applicable (fund) |
| — | — |
| TLT (Shares) iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF | Shares | Not applicable (fund) |
| — | — |
| VNQ (Shares) Vanguard Real Estate ETF | Shares | Not applicable (fund) |
| — | — |
| VOO (Shares + Options) Vanguard S&P 500 ETF | Shares + Options | Not applicable (fund) |
| — | — |
What to watch
② Young growth
Unit economics, chance of failure, cash burn, dilution
CRWV (Options)Between ② Young growth and ③ High growth
- Revenue growth+167%2025-12-31
- Operating margin (distance to profit)-0.9%2025-12-31
- Free cash flow margin (cash burn)-141%2025-12-31
- Stock-based pay as a share of revenue12.3%2025-12-31
- Share count change (1 yr)
- Failure risk: funding, debt maturities, customer concentration
- Latest quarter revenue YoY
- Capex as a share of revenue201%2025-12-31
Software additions
- Net revenue retention
- Remaining performance obligations (RPO)
ZS (Watchlist)Between ② Young growth and ④ Mature growth
- Revenue growth+23.0%2025-07-31
- Operating margin (distance to profit)-1.5%2025-07-31
- Free cash flow margin (cash burn)30.0%2025-07-31
- Stock-based pay as a share of revenue22.5%2025-07-31
- Share count change (1 yr)
- Failure risk: funding, debt maturities, customer concentration
- Return on new investment vs cost of capital
- Capex as a share of revenue7.5%2025-07-31
- Buybacks as a share of free cash flow
- Latest quarter revenue YoY
Software additions
- Net revenue retention
- Remaining performance obligations (RPO)
③ High growth
Margin path, reinvestment efficiency
NVDA (Shares + Options)③ High growthCyclical
- Revenue growth+65.4%2026-01-25
- Latest quarter revenue YoY+30.6%2026-07-26
- Operating margin path64.0%TTM·2026-07-26FY to 2026-01-25: 60.0%
- Capex as a share of revenue2.9%2026-01-25
- Stock-based pay as a share of revenue3.0%2026-01-25
- Share count change (1 yr)
Semiconductors additions
- Chip contract prices
- Customers' capex guidance
- Customer concentration
Cyclical additions
Semiconductors is a cyclical industry. Latest fiscal-year operating margin 60.0%; average over 4 fiscal years 48.0%.
- Value on a through-cycle average margin
- Industry capex (when supply catches up)
- Inventory days
BE (Watchlist)③ High growth
- Revenue growth+37.4%2025-12-31
- Latest quarter revenue YoY
- Operating margin path4.0%2025-12-31
- Capex as a share of revenue3.0%2025-12-31
- Stock-based pay as a share of revenue5.0%2025-12-31
- Share count change (1 yr)
④ Mature growth
Whether new investment earns more than its cost of capital
AAPL (Shares)Between ④ Mature growth and ⑤ Mature stable
- Return on new investment vs cost of capital
- Capex as a share of revenue3.1%2025-09-27
- Free cash flow margin23.7%2025-09-27
- Buybacks as a share of free cash flow91.8%2025-09-27
- Share count change (1 yr)
- Latest quarter revenue YoY+9.0%2026-06-27
- Dividends as a share of free cash flow15.6%2025-09-27
- Can the operating margin hold32.0%2025-09-27
- Moat and pricing power
- Buying growth through acquisitions
VEEV (Shares)④ Mature growth
- Return on new investment vs cost of capital
- Capex as a share of revenue0.6%2026-01-31
- Free cash flow margin40.0%2026-01-31
- Buybacks as a share of free cash flow
- Share count change (1 yr)
- Latest quarter revenue YoY
Financial
Equity models: ROE vs cost of equity, book value
JPM (Watchlist)Financial
- ROE vs cost of equity
- Book value per share growth
- Regulatory capital (e.g. CET1)
- Credit losses and provisions
- Dividends as a share of free cash flow
Banks additions
- Net interest margin
- Deposit costs
Commodity
Value follows the commodity price; use normalized, through-cycle earnings
NEM (Watchlist)Commodity
- Commodity price
- Unit costs
- Reserve life
- Policy and geopolitical risk where it operates
Precious metals additions
- All-in sustaining cost (AISC)
- Production guidance
- Real interest rates
REIT
AFFO, payout constraint, cap rates
O (Watchlist)REIT
- Operating cash flow
- Dividends as a share of operating cash flow
- Share count change (1 yr)
- AFFO per share
- Occupancy
- Tenant credit
- Cap rate vs cost of capital
Market data provided by Yahoo Finance. May be delayed up to 15 minutes.