AMD · Technology(semiconductors & related devices) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-27
Advanced Micro Devices Inc reported revenue of $34.6 billion in fiscal 2025, after growing 26.0% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin widened from -8.6% in 2016 to 10.7%, and it earned 5.4% on its invested capital in the latest year. Of the $21.2 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 40.7% went to buybacks and 17.8% back into the business; the share count rose 95.9%. On the accounting screens, it passes 8 of 9 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of 6.85 is in the safe zone and its Beneish M-score is below the -1.78 line; 1 of the six cross-checks between its statements fires.
Revenue, fiscal 202534.6B+26.0% a year over 9 years
Operating margin10.7%gross margin 49.5%
Return on invested capital5.4%10.1% on average over 5 years
Free cash flow after stock pay5.1B14.7% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDANet cash2.3B more cash than debt
Piotroski F-score8/9tests of improvement passed
Is it growing?
Revenue and the operating income it turns into. Growth that does not reach operating income is growth bought with margin.
RevenueOperating income
-10.0B010.0B20.0B30.0B40.0B
2016Revenue 4.3BOperating income -373.0M
2017Revenue 5.3BOperating income 127.0M
2018Revenue 6.5BOperating income 451.0M
2019Revenue 6.7BOperating income 631.0M
2020Revenue 9.8BOperating income 1.4B
2021Revenue 16.4BOperating income 3.6B
2022Revenue 23.6BOperating income 1.3B
2023Revenue 22.7BOperating income 401.0M
2024Revenue 25.8BOperating income 1.9B
2025Revenue 34.6BOperating income 3.7B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
+13.6%
+28.8%
+26.0%
Operating income
+43.0%
+22.0%
—
Net income
+48.6%
+11.7%
—
Earnings per share
+46.6%
+5.1%
—
Free cash flow per share
+27.6%
+44.9%
+111.8%
Shares
+1.4%
+6.3%
+7.8%
Falling shares are buybacks: each remaining share owns more of the company.
Does it earn more than its capital costs?
Margins say how much of each sale is kept; return on invested capital says how much the business earns on the money it needs to operate. Growth only creates value when that return is above the cost of the capital.
Needs a cost of capital, which comes from the valuation below.
Return on equity
6.9%
Return on assets
5.6%
Asset turnover
0.45×
Research & development
23.4% of revenue
Overheads (SG&A)
12.0% of revenue
Is the profit cash, and where does the cash go?
Net income is an accounting opinion; free cash flow is what was left in the bank after investing. Stock-based pay does not leave the bank — shareholders pay it through dilution — so it is shown taken off as well.
Net incomeFree cash flowAfter stock-based pay
-2.0B02.0B4.0B6.0B8.0B
2016Net income -498.0MFree cash flow 4.0MAfter stock-based pay -82.0M
2017Net income -33.0MFree cash flow -101.0MAfter stock-based pay -198.0M
2018Net income 337.0MFree cash flow -129.0MAfter stock-based pay -266.0M
2019Net income 341.0MFree cash flow 276.0MAfter stock-based pay 79.0M
2020Net income 2.5BFree cash flow 777.0MAfter stock-based pay 503.0M
2021Net income 3.2BFree cash flow 3.2BAfter stock-based pay 2.8B
2022Net income 1.3BFree cash flow 3.1BAfter stock-based pay 2.0B
2023Net income 854.0MFree cash flow 1.1BAfter stock-based pay -263.0M
2024Net income 1.6BFree cash flow 2.4BAfter stock-based pay 998.0M
2025Net income 4.3BFree cash flow 6.7BAfter stock-based pay 5.1B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2016–2025
21.2B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 18%3.8B
Acquisitions 0%0
Dividends 0%0
Share buybacks 41%8.6B
Kept, or used to pay down debt 42%8.8B
Over the same years it paid 6.7B in stock. The share count rose 95.9%. 1.9B of the buybacks went beyond offsetting that dilution.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$-2.00$0.00$2.00$4.00$6.00
2016Earnings per share $-0.60Free cash flow per share $0.00
2017Earnings per share $-0.03Free cash flow per share $-0.11
2018Earnings per share $0.32Free cash flow per share $-0.12
2019Earnings per share $0.30Free cash flow per share $0.25
2020Earnings per share $2.06Free cash flow per share $0.64
2021Earnings per share $2.57Free cash flow per share $2.62
2022Earnings per share $0.84Free cash flow per share $1.98
2023Earnings per share $0.53Free cash flow per share $0.69
2024Earnings per share $1.00Free cash flow per share $1.47
2025Earnings per share $2.65Free cash flow per share $4.12
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
750.0M1.0B1.2B1.5B1.8B
2016Diluted shares 835.0M
2017Diluted shares 952.0M
2018Diluted shares 1.1B
2019Diluted shares 1.1B
2020Diluted shares 1.2B
2021Diluted shares 1.2B
2022Diluted shares 1.6B
2023Diluted shares 1.6B
2024Diluted shares 1.6B
2025Diluted shares 1.6B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
How strong is the balance sheet?
Debt is not bad in itself; debt the business cannot service in a bad year is. Net debt is debt minus cash, and below zero the company holds more cash than it owes.
Net debt
-3.0B-2.0B-1.0B01.0B
2016Net debt 171.0M
2017Net debt 210.0M
2018Net debt 172.0M
2019Net debt -980.0M
2020Net debt -1.3B
2021Net debt -2.2B
2022Net debt -2.4B
2023Net debt -1.5B
2024Net debt -2.1B
2025Net debt -2.3B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
-0.5×
Interest coverage
28× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
2.85 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
171 days collects in 67d, stock 165d, pays in 61d
Three classic screens of the accounts
Each asks a different question of the same statements — is it improving, does it look like a company heading for distress, do the accounts resemble ones that were manipulated. None is a verdict; each shows what moves it.
Piotroski F-score
Is the business improving? Nine yes-or-no tests, this year against last.
8of 9 tests passed
✓ProfitableReturn on assets above zeropassed
✓Cash from operationsOperating cash flow above zeropassed
✓Profitability improvedReturn on assets higher than a year beforepassed
✓Profit backed by cashOperating cash flow above net income (low accruals)passed
✕Less long-term debtLong-term debt as a share of assets fellfailed
✓More liquidCurrent ratio higher than a year beforepassed
✓No new sharesShare count did not growpassed
✓Better gross marginGross margin higher than a year beforepassed
✓Sells more per assetAsset turnover higher than a year beforepassed
Where it misleads: it measures change, not level. An excellent business that stood still for a year scores low; a poor one recovering from a disaster scores high.
Altman Z''-score
Does the balance sheet look like those of companies that went bankrupt?
6.85safe zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets 0.23 × 6.56+1.49
Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.09 × 3.26+0.28
Operating income ÷ assets 0.05 × 6.72+0.32
Equity ÷ liabilities 4.52 × 1.05+4.75
Where it misleads: buybacks. A company that returns so much cash that its equity turns small or negative sinks the last two ratios without being anywhere near bankruptcy. Banks and insurers do not fit the model at all.
Beneish M-score
Do the accounts resemble those of companies that manipulated their earnings?
-2.72below the -1.78 line
-1.78
Receivables vs sales 0.76+0.70
Gross margin slipping 1.00+0.53
Soft assets 0.89+0.36
Sales growth 1.34+1.20
Slower depreciation 1.09+0.13
Overheads vs sales 1.13-0.19
Profit not in cash -0.04-0.21
Leverage rising 1.18-0.39
Where it misleads: fast growth and acquisitions. Sales growth carries a heavy weight, so a company growing 50% a year scores like a suspect without having done anything. It is a screen from a 1999 study, not an accusation.
Where the statements disagree
Cross-checks between the income statement, the balance sheet and the cash flow for the latest year, each with the benign reading and the worrying one.
The effective tax rate is 2.5%.
Benign
A favourable geographic mix, or legitimate tax credits.
Worrying
Not sustainable; projecting it forward inflates the valuation.
What is it worth, under which assumptions?
A company is worth the cash it will generate, brought back to today. This model projects revenue with growth that fades over the years, applies a free cash flow margin, and discounts the result at the cost of capital. Every assumption says where it came from, and all of them can be changed.
With a free cash flow margin at or below zero in year ten, the business never generates cash for its owners and a DCF says nothing useful. Set a positive margin for year ten to see what it would take.
What it has filed lately
The last twelve months at the SEC, most important first: annual and quarterly reports, events, large holders and insiders.
Accounts from the company's own SEC filings; lines some companies do not report are shown as a dash rather than estimated. The risk-free rate is the 10-year US Treasury yield. A DCF is a way of making assumptions explicit, not a forecast: it states what the company would be worth if the assumptions held. The scores are screens that point where to look, not verdicts. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell.