CG · Financials(investment advice) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-31
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Carlyle Group Inc. reported revenue of $4.8 billion in fiscal 2025, after growing 8.6% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin widened from 4.7% in 2016 to 26.8%. On the accounting screens, it passes 1 of 6 Piotroski tests; 2 of the six cross-checks between its statements fire.
Revenue, fiscal 20254.8B+8.6% a year over 9 years
Operating margin26.8%gross margin —
Return on invested capital—
Free cash flow after stock pay-3.7B-78.4% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA—net debt —
Piotroski F-score1/6tests of improvement passed
Share counts are in today's shares. The SEC's filings restate only recent years after a split, so these jumps were read as splits and the older years scaled to match — otherwise per-share figures would compare different units:
3-for-1 before fiscal 2020; 1-for-3 before fiscal 2017.
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
-2.5B02.5B5.0B7.5B10.0B
2016Revenue 2.3BOperating income 106.6M
2017Revenue 3.7BOperating income 1.2B
2018Revenue 2.4BOperating income 442.4M
2019Revenue 3.4BOperating income 1.3B
2020Revenue 2.9BOperating income 674.0M
2021Revenue 8.8BOperating income 4.1B
2022Revenue 4.4BOperating income 1.7B
2023Revenue 3.0BOperating income -477.1M
2024Revenue 5.4BOperating income 1.5B
2025Revenue 4.8BOperating income 1.3B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
+2.5%
+10.2%
+8.6%
Operating income
-8.6%
+13.7%
+31.8%
Net income
-12.9%
+18.4%
+71.2%
Earnings per share
-13.3%
+17.5%
+67.7%
Dividend per share
+3.9%
+6.8%
+12.9%
Shares
+0.5%
+0.7%
+2.1%
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%
0.0%5.0%10.0%15.0%
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
11.5%
Return on assets
2.8%
Asset turnover
0.16×
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
-4.0B-2.0B02.0B4.0B
2016Net income 6.4MFree cash flow -326.0MAfter stock-based pay -660.6M
2017Net income 244.1MFree cash flow -41.1MAfter stock-based pay -361.4M
2018Net income 116.5MFree cash flow -374.8MAfter stock-based pay -614.7M
2019Net income 380.9MFree cash flow 330.8MAfter stock-based pay 190.8M
2020Net income 348.2MFree cash flow -230.4MAfter stock-based pay -335.4M
2021Net income 3.0BFree cash flow 1.7BAfter stock-based pay 1.6B
2022Net income 1.2BFree cash flow -419.9MAfter stock-based pay -573.9M
2023Net income -608.4MFree cash flow 138.3MAfter stock-based pay -110.8M
2024Net income 1.0BFree cash flow -837.2MAfter stock-based pay -1.3B
2025Net income 808.7MFree cash flow -3.4BAfter stock-based pay -3.7B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$-10.00$-5.00$0.00$5.00$10.00
2016Earnings per share $0.02Free cash flow per share $-1.06Dividend per share $0.46
2017Earnings per share $0.81Free cash flow per share $-0.14Dividend per share $0.39
2018Earnings per share $0.34Free cash flow per share $-1.10Dividend per share $0.38
2019Earnings per share $1.04Free cash flow per share $0.90Dividend per share $0.42
2020Earnings per share $0.97Free cash flow per share $-0.64Dividend per share $0.98
2021Earnings per share $8.20Free cash flow per share $4.83Dividend per share $0.98
2022Earnings per share $3.35Free cash flow per share $-1.15Dividend per share $1.21
2023Earnings per share $-1.68Free cash flow per share $0.38Dividend per share $1.38
2024Earnings per share $2.77Free cash flow per share $-2.27Dividend per share $1.37
2025Earnings per share $2.18Free cash flow per share $-9.10Dividend per share $1.36
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
300.0M320.0M340.0M360.0M380.0M
2016Diluted shares 308.5M
2017Diluted shares 300.2M
2018Diluted shares 340.2M
2019Diluted shares 367.9M
2020Diluted shares 358.4M
2021Diluted shares 362.6M
2022Diluted shares 365.7M
2023Diluted shares 361.4M
2024Diluted shares 368.0M
2025Diluted shares 370.9M
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
-600.0M-400.0M-200.0M0
2016Net debt -526.5M
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
—
Interest coverage
10× 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.
1of 6 tests passed
✓ProfitableReturn on assets above zeropassed
✕Cash from operationsOperating cash flow above zerofailed
✕Profitability improvedReturn on assets higher than a year beforefailed
✕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 growfailed
–Better gross marginGross margin higher than a year before — not reportedno data
✕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?
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 (809M against -3,276M).
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.
Capital spending (99M) is well below depreciation (192M).
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$15.79discounted 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
7.2×
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA
4.0×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue
1.2×
Free cash flow yield
-64.0%
From cash flows to a value per share
10 years of cash flow, today2.8B
Everything after, today3.0B
The whole business5.9B
Minus net debt-0
What belongs to shareholders5.9B
Divided among 370.9M shares: <strong>$15.79</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
-4.0B-2.0B02.0B
2016Reported -660.6M
2017Reported -361.4M
2018Reported -614.7M
2019Reported 190.8M
2020Reported -335.4M
2021Reported 1.6B
2022Reported -573.9M
2023Reported -110.8M
2024Reported -1.3B
2025Reported -3.7B
2026Projected 356.5M
2027Projected 389.2M
2028Projected 421.7M
2029Projected 453.3M
2030Projected 483.5M
2031Projected 511.7M
2032Projected 537.3M
2033Projected 559.7M
2034Projected 578.3M
2035Projected 592.8M
2016201820202022202420262028203020322034
Year by year
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
Revenue
5.3B
5.7B
6.2B
6.7B
7.1B
7.5B
7.9B
8.3B
8.5B
8.7B
Growth
10.0%
9.2%
8.3%
7.5%
6.7%
5.8%
5.0%
4.2%
3.3%
2.5%
Cash margin
6.8%
6.8%
6.8%
6.8%
6.8%
6.8%
6.8%
6.8%
6.8%
6.8%
Free cash flow
356.5M
389.2M
421.7M
453.3M
483.5M
511.7M
537.3M
559.7M
578.3M
592.8M
Worth today
323.6M
320.7M
315.3M
307.7M
297.9M
286.2M
272.8M
257.9M
241.9M
225.1M
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%
16
17
18
19
21
9.7%
15
16
17
18
19
10.2%
14
15
16
17
18
10.7%
14
14
15
16
16
11.2%
13
13
14
15
15
Year-one growth and the final margin
margin ↓ · growth →
6.0%
8.0%
10.0%
12.0%
14.0%
5.4%
11
12
13
14
16
6.1%
12
13
15
16
17
6.8%
13
15
16
17
18
7.5%
14
16
17
18
20
8.1%
15
17
18
20
21
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%, 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$10.59
Median$15.76
90th percentile$22.75
$10.00$20.00$30.00
Half of the simulations land between <b>$12.93</b> and <b>$19.12</b>; one in ten below $10.59, one in ten above $22.75.
Does the long run make sense?
2.9×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 2.9 times that year's EBITDA.
4%To grow 2.5% forever while reinvesting 69% of its after-tax operating profit, the business must earn 4% 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: 6.67% × (1 − 18.5%) = <strong>5.44%</strong>.
Weighted by how much of each the company uses (book value (no price given)): <strong>10.17%</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$17.1M1 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.