AVY · Materials(converted paper & paperboard prods (no contaners/boxes)) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-31
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Avery Dennison Corp reported revenue of $8.9 billion in fiscal 2025, after growing 3.3% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin widened from 9.9% in 2017 to 12.0%, and it earned 13.2% on its invested capital in the latest year. Of the $7.3 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 32.8% went to buybacks and 27.8% back into the business; the share count fell 13.1%. On the accounting screens, it passes 5 of 9 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of 3.49 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 20258.9B+3.3% a year over 9 years
Operating margin12.0%gross margin 28.8%
Return on invested capital13.2%14.1% on average over 5 years
Free cash flow after stock pay684.5M7.7% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA2.5×net debt 3.5B
Piotroski F-score5/9tests 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
02.5B5.0B7.5B10.0B
2017Revenue 6.6BOperating income 652.5M
2017
2018Revenue 7.2BOperating income 613.3M
2019Revenue 7.1BOperating income 325.3M
2021Revenue 7.0BOperating income 807.3M
2022Revenue 8.4BOperating income 1.1B
2022Revenue 9.0BOperating income 1.1B
2023Revenue 8.4BOperating income 813.7M
2024Revenue 8.8BOperating income 1.1B
2025Revenue 8.9BOperating income 1.1B
2017201720182019202120222022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
-0.7%
+4.9%
+3.3%
Operating income
-0.7%
+5.6%
+5.5%
Net income
-3.1%
+4.4%
+10.4%
Earnings per share
-1.6%
+5.9%
+12.2%
Free cash flow per share
+3.1%
+6.8%
+6.8%
Dividend per share
+8.2%
+9.5%
+8.8%
Shares
-1.6%
-1.4%
-1.5%
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.
Return on invested capitalCost of capital today · 6.3%
0%10%20%30%
2017Return on invested capital 24.0%
2017
2018Return on invested capital 17.9%
2019Return on invested capital 8.1%
2021Return on invested capital 17.1%
2022Return on invested capital 15.9%
2022Return on invested capital 16.0%
2023Return on invested capital 11.0%
2024Return on invested capital 14.5%
2025Return on invested capital 13.2%
2017201720182019202120222022202320242025
Economic profit
Economic profit
0200M400M600M
2017Economic profit 230.4M
2017
2018Economic profit 336.7M
2019Economic profit 55.4M
2021Economic profit 387.9M
2022Economic profit 481.4M
2022Economic profit 498.8M
2023Economic profit 252.1M
2024Economic profit 448.7M
2025Economic profit 414.1M
2017201720182019202120222022202320242025
(return on capital − cost of capital) × capital invested: the profit left after paying for the money used. Today's cost of capital is applied to every year, since a past one cannot be rebuilt honestly.
Return on equity
30.7%
Return on assets
7.8%
Asset turnover
1.01×
Research & development
1.5% of revenue
Overheads (SG&A)
16.1% 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
0200M400M600M800M
2017Net income 281.8MFree cash flow 455.2MAfter stock-based pay 425.0M
2017
2018Net income 467.4MFree cash flow 231.2MAfter stock-based pay 196.9M
2019Net income 303.6MFree cash flow 527.1MAfter stock-based pay 492.6M
2021Net income 555.9MFree cash flow 549.9MAfter stock-based pay 525.9M
2022Net income 740.1MFree cash flow 791.8MAfter stock-based pay 754.6M
2022Net income 757.1MFree cash flow 682.9MAfter stock-based pay 635.5M
2023Net income 503.0MFree cash flow 560.7MAfter stock-based pay 538.4M
2024Net income 704.9MFree cash flow 730.0MAfter stock-based pay 701.3M
2025Net income 688.0MFree cash flow 712.4MAfter stock-based pay 684.5M
2017201720182019202120222022202320242025
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2017–2025
7.3B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 28%2.0B
Acquisitions 0%0
Dividends 28%2.0B
Share buybacks 33%2.4B
Kept, or used to pay down debt 12%859.8M
Over the same years it paid 286.5M in stock. The share count fell 13.1%. 2.1B of the buybacks went beyond offsetting that dilution.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$0.0$2.5$5.0$7.5$10.0
2017Earnings per share $3.13Free cash flow per share $5.05Dividend per share $1.73
2017
2018Earnings per share $5.28Free cash flow per share $2.61Dividend per share $1.98
2019Earnings per share $3.57Free cash flow per share $6.20Dividend per share $2.23
2021Earnings per share $6.61Free cash flow per share $6.54Dividend per share $2.34
2022Earnings per share $8.83Free cash flow per share $9.45Dividend per share $2.63
2022Earnings per share $9.21Free cash flow per share $8.31Dividend per share $2.91
2023Earnings per share $6.20Free cash flow per share $6.91Dividend per share $3.17
2024Earnings per share $8.73Free cash flow per share $9.05Dividend per share $3.44
2025Earnings per share $8.79Free cash flow per share $9.10Dividend per share $3.68
2017201720182019202120222022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
75M80M85M90M95M
2017Diluted shares 90.1M
2017
2018Diluted shares 88.6M
2019Diluted shares 85.0M
2021Diluted shares 84.1M
2022Diluted shares 83.8M
2022Diluted shares 82.2M
2023Diluted shares 81.1M
2024Diluted shares 80.7M
2025Diluted shares 78.3M
2017201720182019202120222022202320242025
Debt and liquidity
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
01B2B3B4B
2017Net debt 41.0M
2017
2018Net debt 1.7B
2019Net debt 1.7B
2021Net debt 1.8B
2022Net debt 2.9B
2022Net debt 2.9B
2023Net debt 3.0B
2024Net debt 2.8B
2025Net debt 3.5B
2017201720182019202120222022202320242025
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
2.5×
Interest coverage
8× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
1.13 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
45 days collects in 62d, stock 56d, pays in 73d
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.
5of 9 tests passed
✓ProfitableReturn on assets above zeropassed
✓Cash from operationsOperating cash flow above zeropassed
✕Profitability improvedReturn on assets higher than a year beforefailed
✓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 beforefailed
✕Sells more per assetAsset turnover higher than a year beforefailed
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?
3.49safe zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets 0.04 × 6.56+0.25
Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.64 × 3.26+2.07
Operating income ÷ assets 0.12 × 6.72+0.81
Equity ÷ liabilities 0.34 × 1.05+0.36
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?
-2.57below the -1.78 line
-1.78
Receivables vs sales 1.01+0.93
Gross margin slipping 1.01+0.53
Soft assets 1.00 (not reported, set to 1)+0.40
Sales growth 1.01+0.90
Slower depreciation 1.00 (not reported, set to 1)+0.12
Overheads vs sales 0.99-0.17
Profit not in cash -0.02-0.10
Leverage rising 1.03-0.34
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.
Capital spending (169M) is well below depreciation (328M).
Benign
Mature assets, or a business that has become less capital-intensive.
Worrying
Under-investing: today's profit is being held up by consuming tomorrow's capacity.
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.
Value per share, with these assumptions$246.72discounted at 6.3% a year · 70% of it from after year 10
Type a share price on the left to ask the reverse questions: what growth, what margin or what discount rate that price implies.
What the value implies, in the usual multiples
At this model's value
Price ÷ earnings
28.1×
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA
16.4×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue
2.6×
Free cash flow yield
3.5%
From cash flows to a value per share
10 years of cash flow, today6.8B
Everything after, today16.1B
The whole business22.8B
Minus net debt-3.5B
What belongs to shareholders19.3B
Divided among 78.3M shares: <strong>$246.72</strong> each.
The projection next to its history
Reported free cash flow after stock pay, then the model's. A projection that looks nothing like the past needs a reason.
ReportedProjected
00.5B1.0B1.5B
2017Reported 425.0M
2017
2018Reported 196.9M
2019Reported 492.6M
2021Reported 525.9M
2022Reported 754.6M
2022Reported 635.5M
2023Reported 538.4M
2024Reported 701.3M
2025Reported 684.5M
2026Projected 792.2M
2027Projected 829.6M
2028Projected 866.5M
2029Projected 902.6M
2030Projected 937.7M
2031Projected 971.5M
2032Projected 1.0B
2033Projected 1.0B
2034Projected 1.1B
2035Projected 1.1B
2017201820212022202420262028203020322034
Year by year
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
Revenue
9.3B
9.7B
10.2B
10.6B
11.0B
11.4B
11.8B
12.1B
12.5B
12.8B
Growth
5.0%
4.7%
4.4%
4.2%
3.9%
3.6%
3.3%
3.1%
2.8%
2.5%
Cash margin
8.5%
8.5%
8.5%
8.5%
8.5%
8.5%
8.5%
8.5%
8.5%
8.5%
Free cash flow
792.2M
829.6M
866.5M
902.6M
937.7M
971.5M
1.0B
1.0B
1.1B
1.1B
Worth today
745.4M
734.4M
721.7M
707.4M
691.5M
674.1M
655.4M
635.5M
614.5M
592.7M
If the least-known inputs move
Value per share as two inputs change at a time. Neighbouring cells that differ a lot are the conclusion: the value depends on numbers nobody knows to a point.
The discount rate and growth forever
discount ↓ · forever →
1.5%
2.0%
2.5%
3.0%
3.5%
5.3%
257
298
353
432
555
5.8%
222
252
292
346
423
6.3%
193
217
247
286
339
6.8%
170
189
212
242
280
7.3%
151
167
185
208
237
Year-one growth and the final margin
margin ↓ · growth →
1.0%
3.0%
5.0%
7.0%
9.0%
6.8%
158
177
197
218
242
7.7%
179
199
222
246
272
8.5%
199
222
247
273
302
9.4%
220
245
272
301
332
10.2%
241
268
297
328
362
All the inputs moving at once
4,956 valuations, each with growth, final margin, discount rate and growth forever drawn at random around the values on the left (spreads of 3.0%, 2.0%, 1.0% and 0.5%). Not a probability — the spreads are assumptions too — but an honest picture of how wide the answer is.
10th percentile$140.26
Median$244.39
90th percentile$453.92
$200.00$400.00$600.00$800.00
Half of the simulations land between <b>$184.40</b> and <b>$335.57</b>; one in ten below $140.26, one in ten above $453.92.
Does the long run make sense?
14.7×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 14.7 times that year's EBITDA.
58%To grow 2.5% forever while reinvesting 4% of its after-tax operating profit, the business must earn 58% on the new capital — it has earned 14% on average over the last five years.
70%of the value comes from after year 10. The more of it, the more the answer depends on the part nobody can see.
Every Form 4 filed in the last twelve months, read line by line: 6 filings by 6 people. Open-market purchases and sales are counted apart from awards, option exercises and shares withheld for taxes.
Bought on the open market—none in the period
Sold on the open market$962,2092 sale(s) by 2 insider(s)
Under pre-arranged plans0%of the sales followed a 10b5-1 plan set months earlier
A Form 4 says what happened, when, how many shares and at what price. It does not say why: a sale can be diversification, a tax bill or a plan fixed months earlier, and an award is pay, not a purchase. Nothing here is a reason to buy or sell anything.
Which large funds report holding it
From the Form 13F of the 28 institutions followed on this site, as of the end of their last reported quarter. A 13F is filed up to 45 days later and shows only long positions in US-listed shares.
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.