CFR · Financials(national commercial banks) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-31
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CULLEN/FROST Bankers, Inc. reported revenue of $121.6 million in fiscal 2025, after shrinking 21.9% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin widened from 31.4% in 2016 to 2062.9%. Of the $5.8 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 33.2% went to dividends and 18.4% back into the business. On the accounting screens, it passes 5 of 6 Piotroski tests; 1 of the six cross-checks between its statements fires.
Revenue, fiscal 2025121.6M-21.9% a year over 9 years
Operating margin2062.9%gross margin —
Return on invested capital—
Free cash flow after stock pay102.6M84.4% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA—net debt —
Piotroski F-score5/6tests 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
01B2B3B
2016Revenue 1.1BOperating income 353.5M
2017Revenue 1.2BOperating income 434.9M
2018Revenue 85.2MOperating income 602.0M
2019Revenue 89.0MOperating income 629.2M
2020Revenue 80.9MOperating income 396.4M
2021Revenue 83.3MOperating income 513.4M
2022Revenue 91.9MOperating income 853.3M
2023Revenue 93.5MOperating income 1.4B
2024Revenue 106.2MOperating income 2.3B
2025Revenue 121.6MOperating income 2.5B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
+9.8%
+8.5%
-21.9%
Operating income
+43.2%
+44.6%
+24.3%
Net income
+3.8%
+14.4%
+8.8%
Earnings per share
+4.1%
+14.0%
+8.6%
Free cash flow per share
-40.9%
-21.8%
-11.7%
Dividend per share
+7.0%
+6.8%
+7.1%
Shares
-0.2%
+0.3%
+0.2%
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 · 10.2%
0%5%10%15%
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Economic profit
Needs a cost of capital, which comes from the valuation below.
Return on equity
14.2%
Return on assets
1.2%
Asset turnover
0.00×
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
00.25B0.50B0.75B1.00B
2016Net income 304.3MFree cash flow 384.2MAfter stock-based pay 372.4M
2017Net income 364.1MFree cash flow 504.0MAfter stock-based pay 491.0M
2018Net income 454.9MFree cash flow 483.1MAfter stock-based pay 469.2M
2019Net income 443.6MFree cash flow 427.4MAfter stock-based pay 411.4M
2020Net income 331.2MFree cash flow 428.8MAfter stock-based pay 414.9M
2021Net income 443.1MFree cash flow 582.4MAfter stock-based pay 569.7M
2022Net income 579.1MFree cash flow 620.1MAfter stock-based pay 601.8M
2023Net income 598.0MFree cash flow 320.2MAfter stock-based pay 295.6M
2024Net income 582.5MFree cash flow 861.8MAfter stock-based pay 842.0M
2025Net income 648.6MFree cash flow 127.3MAfter stock-based pay 102.6M
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2016–2025
5.8B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 18%1.1B
Acquisitions 0%1.2M
Dividends 33%1.9B
Share buybacks 10%558.1M
Kept, or used to pay down debt 39%2.2B
Over the same years it paid 168.8M in stock. The share count rose 1.8%. 389.3M of the buybacks went beyond offsetting that dilution.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$0$5$10$15
2016Earnings per share $4.83Free cash flow per share $6.10Dividend per share $2.14
2017Earnings per share $5.63Free cash flow per share $7.79Dividend per share $2.23
2018Earnings per share $7.03Free cash flow per share $7.47Dividend per share $2.56
2019Earnings per share $6.99Free cash flow per share $6.74Dividend per share $2.79
2020Earnings per share $5.26Free cash flow per share $6.81Dividend per share $2.87
2021Earnings per share $6.91Free cash flow per share $9.09Dividend per share $2.95
2022Earnings per share $8.98Free cash flow per share $9.61Dividend per share $3.25
2023Earnings per share $9.28Free cash flow per share $4.97Dividend per share $3.61
2024Earnings per share $9.07Free cash flow per share $13.41Dividend per share $3.77
2025Earnings per share $10.12Free cash flow per share $1.99Dividend per share $3.98
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
62.5M63.0M63.5M64.0M64.5M65.0M
2016Diluted shares 63.0M
2017Diluted shares 64.7M
2018Diluted shares 64.7M
2019Diluted shares 63.4M
2020Diluted shares 63.0M
2021Diluted shares 64.1M
2022Diluted shares 64.5M
2023Diluted shares 64.4M
2024Diluted shares 64.3M
2025Diluted shares 64.1M
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
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 ÷ EBITDA
—
Interest coverage
1× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
— current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
—
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 6 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)failed
–Less long-term debtLong-term debt as a share of assets fell — not reportedno data
–More liquidCurrent ratio higher than a year before — not reportedno data
✓No new sharesShare count did not growpassed
–Better gross marginGross margin higher than a year before — not reportedno data
✓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?
The accounts lack a line it needs (retained earnings, current assets or liabilities).
Beneish M-score
Do the accounts resemble those of companies that manipulated their earnings?
The accounts lack too many of the lines it needs.
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.
Reported profit comfortably exceeds the cash generated (649M against 274M).
Benign
Growth consuming working capital, or the seasonality of the year-end.
Worrying
Profit held up by accounting entries that do not turn into money.
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$490.63discounted at 10.2% a year · 51% 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
48.5×
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA
12.1×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue
258.7×
Free cash flow yield
0.3%
From cash flows to a value per share
10 years of cash flow, today15.6B
Everything after, today15.9B
The whole business31.4B
Minus net debt-0
What belongs to shareholders31.4B
Divided among 64.1M shares: <strong>$490.63</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
01B2B3B4B
2016Reported 372.4M
2017Reported 491.0M
2018Reported 469.2M
2019Reported 411.4M
2020Reported 414.9M
2021Reported 569.7M
2022Reported 601.8M
2023Reported 295.6M
2024Reported 842.0M
2025Reported 102.6M
2026Projected 2.0B
2027Projected 2.2B
2028Projected 2.3B
2029Projected 2.5B
2030Projected 2.6B
2031Projected 2.8B
2032Projected 2.9B
2033Projected 3.0B
2034Projected 3.1B
2035Projected 3.2B
2016201820202022202420262028203020322034
Year by year
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
Revenue
131.9M
142.2M
152.4M
162.3M
171.8M
180.7M
188.8M
196.1M
202.3M
207.3M
Growth
8.5%
7.8%
7.2%
6.5%
5.8%
5.2%
4.5%
3.8%
3.2%
2.5%
Cash margin
1534.2%
1534.2%
1534.2%
1534.2%
1534.2%
1534.2%
1534.2%
1534.2%
1534.2%
1534.2%
Free cash flow
2.0B
2.2B
2.3B
2.5B
2.6B
2.8B
2.9B
3.0B
3.1B
3.2B
Worth today
1.8B
1.8B
1.7B
1.7B
1.6B
1.5B
1.5B
1.4B
1.3B
1.2B
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%
9.2%
507
534
566
603
646
9.7%
475
499
526
557
593
10.2%
446
467
491
517
548
10.7%
421
439
460
483
509
11.2%
398
414
432
453
475
Year-one growth and the final margin
margin ↓ · growth →
4.5%
6.5%
8.5%
10.5%
12.5%
1227.3%
356
385
416
450
486
1380.8%
387
419
453
491
530
1534.2%
418
453
491
531
575
1687.6%
449
487
528
572
619
1841.0%
480
521
565
612
663
All the inputs moving at once
5,000 valuations, each with growth, final margin, discount rate and growth forever drawn at random around the values on the left (spreads of 3.0%, 230.1%, 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$122.12
Median$138.28
90th percentile$157.73
$120.00$140.00$160.00
Half of the simulations land between <b>$129.69</b> and <b>$147.88</b>; one in ten below $122.12, one in ten above $157.73.
Does the long run make sense?
9.5×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 9.5 times that year's EBITDA.
22%To grow 2.5% forever while reinvesting 12% of its after-tax operating profit, the business must earn 22% on the new capital.
51%of the value comes from after year 10. The more of it, the more the answer depends on the part nobody can see.
What lenders charge, after the tax saving on interest: 6.74% × (1 − 16.0%) = <strong>5.66%</strong>.
Weighted by how much of each the company uses (book value (no price given)): <strong>10.24%</strong>, the rate every future cash flow is discounted at.
What it has filed lately
The last twelve months at the SEC, most important first: annual and quarterly reports, events, large holders and insiders.
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$124,1201 sale(s) by 1 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.