BMY · Health care(pharmaceutical preparations) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-31
Bristol Myers Squibb Co reported revenue of $48.2 billion in fiscal 2025, after growing 7.0% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin widened from 21.5% in 2019 to 23.3%, and it earned 13.4% on its invested capital in the latest year. Of the $94.7 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 74.6% went to acquisitions and 32.1% to dividends; the share count rose 19.1%. On the accounting screens, it passes 8 of 9 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of 2.16 is in the grey zone and its Beneish M-score is below the -1.78 line; 1 of the six cross-checks between its statements fires.
Revenue, fiscal 202548.2B+7.0% a year over 9 years
Operating margin23.3%gross margin 71.1%
Return on invested capital13.4%7.4% on average over 5 years
Free cash flow after stock pay12.3B25.5% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA2.3×net debt 34.6B
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
-20.0B020.0B40.0B60.0B
2019Revenue 26.1BOperating income 5.6B
2020
2020
2020
2020Revenue 42.5BOperating income -5.5B
2021Revenue 46.4BOperating income 9.4B
2022Revenue 46.2BOperating income 8.9B
2023Revenue 45.0BOperating income 9.6B
2024Revenue 48.3BOperating income -6.4B
2025Revenue 48.2BOperating income 11.2B
2019202020202020202020212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
+1.4%
+2.5%
+7.0%
Operating income
+7.8%
—
+8.0%
Net income
+3.7%
—
+8.3%
Earnings per share
+5.5%
—
+6.2%
Free cash flow per share
+4.2%
+1.4%
+4.3%
Dividend per share
+4.6%
+6.5%
+5.2%
Shares
-1.7%
-2.0%
+2.0%
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 · 5.7%
-20.0%-10.0%0.0%10.0%20.0%
2019Return on invested capital 4.0%
2020
2020
2020
2020Return on invested capital -8.1%
2021Return on invested capital 10.2%
2022Return on invested capital 10.5%
2023Return on invested capital 13.3%
2024Return on invested capital -10.4%
2025Return on invested capital 13.4%
2019202020202020202020212022202320242025
Economic profit
Economic profit
-15.0B-10.0B-5.0B05.0B10.0B
2019Economic profit -1.7B
2020
2020
2020
2020Economic profit -12.2B
2021Economic profit 3.6B
2022Economic profit 3.3B
2023Economic profit 5.2B
2024Economic profit -10.6B
2025Economic profit 4.8B
2019202020202020202020212022202320242025
(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
38.2%
Return on assets
7.8%
Asset turnover
0.54×
Research & development
20.6% of revenue
Overheads (SG&A)
15.1% 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
-10.0B010.0B20.0B
2019Net income 3.4BFree cash flow 7.4BAfter stock-based pay 6.9B
2020
2020
2020
2020Net income -9.0BFree cash flow 13.3BAfter stock-based pay 12.5B
2021Net income 7.0BFree cash flow 15.2BAfter stock-based pay 14.7B
2022Net income 6.3BFree cash flow 11.9BAfter stock-based pay 11.5B
2023Net income 8.0BFree cash flow 12.7BAfter stock-based pay 12.1B
2024Net income -8.9BFree cash flow 13.9BAfter stock-based pay 13.4B
2025Net income 7.1BFree cash flow 12.8BAfter stock-based pay 12.3B
2019202020202020202020212022202320242025
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2019–2025
94.7B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 8%7.4B
Acquisitions 75%70.7B
Dividends 32%30.4B
Share buybacks 30%28.3B
More than it generated: funded with cash or new debt -44%-42.1B
Over the same years it paid 3.8B in stock. The share count rose 19.1%. 24.5B of the buybacks went beyond offsetting that dilution.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$-5.00$0.00$5.00$10.00
2019Earnings per share $2.01Free cash flow per share $4.31Dividend per share $1.56
2020
2020
2020
2020Earnings per share $-3.99Free cash flow per share $5.89Dividend per share $1.80
2021Earnings per share $3.12Free cash flow per share $6.79Dividend per share $1.96
2022Earnings per share $2.95Free cash flow per share $5.57Dividend per share $2.16
2023Earnings per share $3.86Free cash flow per share $6.09Dividend per share $2.28
2024Earnings per share $-4.41Free cash flow per share $6.88Dividend per share $2.40
2025Earnings per share $3.46Free cash flow per share $6.30Dividend per share $2.47
2019202020202020202020212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
1.6B1.8B2.0B2.2B2.4B
2019Diluted shares 1.7B
2020
2020
2020
2020Diluted shares 2.3B
2021Diluted shares 2.2B
2022Diluted shares 2.1B
2023Diluted shares 2.1B
2024Diluted shares 2.0B
2025Diluted shares 2.0B
2019202020202020202020212022202320242025
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
010.0B20.0B30.0B40.0B
2019Net debt 33.8B
2020Net debt 30.3B
2020Net debt 26.2B
2020Net debt 25.2B
2020Net debt 35.8B
2021Net debt 30.4B
2022Net debt 29.8B
2023Net debt 28.1B
2024Net debt 39.1B
2025Net debt 34.6B
2019202020202020202020212022202320242025
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
2.3×
Interest coverage
6× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
1.26 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
49 days collects in 73d, stock 70d, pays in 94d
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 fellpassed
✓More liquidCurrent ratio higher than a year beforepassed
✕No new sharesShare count did not growfailed
✓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?
2.16grey zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets 0.07 × 6.56+0.44
Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.19 × 3.26+0.61
Operating income ÷ assets 0.12 × 6.72+0.84
Equity ÷ liabilities 0.26 × 1.05+0.27
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?
-2.68below the -1.78 line
-1.78
Receivables vs sales 1.07+0.98
Gross margin slipping 1.00+0.53
Soft assets 0.98+0.40
Sales growth 1.00+0.89
Slower depreciation 1.65+0.19
Overheads vs sales 0.87-0.15
Profit not in cash -0.08-0.37
Leverage rising 0.95-0.31
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 (1,311M) is well below depreciation (4,011M).
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$128.34discounted at 5.7% a year · 73% 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
37.1×
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA
19.5×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue
6.1×
Free cash flow yield
4.7%
From cash flows to a value per share
10 years of cash flow, today79.4B
Everything after, today216.9B
The whole business296.3B
Minus net debt-34.6B
What belongs to shareholders261.7B
Divided among 2.0B shares: <strong>$128.34</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
05.0B10.0B15.0B
2019Reported 6.9B
2020
2020
2020
2020Reported 12.5B
2021Reported 14.7B
2022Reported 11.5B
2023Reported 12.1B
2024Reported 13.4B
2025Reported 12.3B
2026Projected 9.6B
2027Projected 9.9B
2028Projected 10.1B
2029Projected 10.4B
2030Projected 10.6B
2031Projected 10.9B
2032Projected 11.2B
2033Projected 11.4B
2034Projected 11.7B
2035Projected 12.0B
2019202020202022202420262028203020322034
Year by year
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
Revenue
49.4B
50.6B
51.9B
53.2B
54.5B
55.9B
57.3B
58.7B
60.2B
61.7B
Growth
2.5%
2.5%
2.5%
2.5%
2.5%
2.5%
2.5%
2.5%
2.5%
2.5%
Cash margin
19.5%
19.5%
19.5%
19.5%
19.5%
19.5%
19.5%
19.5%
19.5%
19.5%
Free cash flow
9.6B
9.9B
10.1B
10.4B
10.6B
10.9B
11.2B
11.4B
11.7B
12.0B
Worth today
9.1B
8.8B
8.5B
8.3B
8.0B
7.8B
7.5B
7.3B
7.1B
6.9B
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%
4.8%
133
158
193
248
347
5.2%
113
131
155
189
243
5.7%
98
111
128
152
186
6.2%
86
96
109
126
149
6.8%
76
84
94
107
123
Year-one growth and the final margin
margin ↓ · growth →
-1.5%
0.5%
2.5%
4.5%
6.5%
15.6%
83
93
103
114
126
17.5%
94
104
116
128
141
19.5%
104
116
128
142
157
21.4%
115
127
141
156
172
23.4%
125
139
154
170
187
All the inputs moving at once
4,872 valuations, each with growth, final margin, discount rate and growth forever drawn at random around the values on the left (spreads of 3.0%, 2.9%, 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$77.83
Median$127.30
90th percentile$232.31
$100.00$200.00$300.00$400.00
Half of the simulations land between <b>$97.74</b> and <b>$171.65</b>; one in ten below $77.83, one in ten above $232.31.
Does the long run make sense?
19.5×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 19.5 times that year's EBITDA.
Free growthIn year 10 free cash flow is at or above after-tax operating profit, yet the model grows 2.5% forever. Growth needs reinvestment; this assumes it comes for free, which flatters the terminal value.
73%of the value comes from after year 10. The more of it, the more the answer depends on the part nobody can see.
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.