CNA · Financials(fire, marine & casualty insurance) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-31
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CNA Financial Corp reported revenue of $1.6 billion in fiscal 2025. Of the $16.0 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 45.3% went to dividends. On the accounting screens, it passes 6 of 7 Piotroski tests; none of the six cross-checks between its statements fires.
Revenue, fiscal 20251.6B
Operating margin111.3%gross margin —
Return on invested capital9.5%8.7% on average over 5 years
Free cash flow after stock pay2.4B149.8% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA1.4×net debt 2.5B
Piotroski F-score6/7tests 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
00.5B1.0B1.5B2.0B
2018
2018Revenue 1.0BOperating income 1.1B
2019
2019Revenue 1.2BOperating income 1.4B
2020Revenue 1.3BOperating income 943.0M
2021Revenue 1.4BOperating income 1.6B
2022Revenue 1.6BOperating income 926.0M
2023Revenue 1.6BOperating income 1.6B
2024Revenue 1.6BOperating income 1.3B
2025Revenue 1.6BOperating income 1.8B
2018201820192019202020212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
+0.1%
+4.7%
—
Operating income
+23.8%
+13.2%
—
Net income
+23.3%
+13.1%
—
Earnings per share
+23.3%
+13.1%
—
Free cash flow per share
-0.6%
+6.5%
—
Dividend per share
+2.2%
+2.0%
—
Shares
-0.0%
+0.0%
—
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 · 9.0%
0%5%10%15%
2018
2018Return on invested capital 6.7%
2019
2019Return on invested capital 7.4%
2020Return on invested capital 5.1%
2021Return on invested capital 9.2%
2022Return on invested capital 6.8%
2023Return on invested capital 10.1%
2024Return on invested capital 7.9%
2025Return on invested capital 9.5%
2018201820192019202020212022202320242025
Economic profit
Economic profit
-800M-600M-400M-200M0200M
2018
2018Economic profit -323.6M
2019
2019Economic profit -235.7M
2020Economic profit -603.4M
2021Economic profit 23.7M
2022Economic profit -245.6M
2023Economic profit 140.6M
2024Economic profit -151.6M
2025Economic profit 68.9M
2018201820192019202020212022202320242025
(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
11.0%
Return on assets
1.8%
Asset turnover
0.02×
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
01B2B3B
2018
2018Net income 813.0MFree cash flow 1.1BAfter stock-based pay 1.1B
2019
2019Net income 1.0BFree cash flow 1.1BAfter stock-based pay 1.1B
2020Net income 690.0MFree cash flow 1.8BAfter stock-based pay 1.7B
2021Net income 1.2BFree cash flow 2.0BAfter stock-based pay 1.9B
2022Net income 682.0MFree cash flow 2.5BAfter stock-based pay 2.4B
2023Net income 1.2BFree cash flow 2.2BAfter stock-based pay 2.2B
2024Net income 959.0MFree cash flow 2.5BAfter stock-based pay 2.4B
2025Net income 1.3BFree cash flow 2.4BAfter stock-based pay 2.4B
2018201820192019202020212022202320242025
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2018–2025
16.0B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 3%497.0M
Acquisitions 0%0
Dividends 45%7.2B
Share buybacks 1%176.0M
Kept, or used to pay down debt 51%8.1B
Over the same years it paid 292.0M in stock. The buybacks did not even cover what was handed out in stock.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$0.0$2.5$5.0$7.5$10.0
2018
2018Earnings per share $2.98Free cash flow per share $4.14Dividend per share $3.29
2019
2019Earnings per share $3.67Free cash flow per share $4.09Dividend per share $3.41
2020Earnings per share $2.53Free cash flow per share $6.43Dividend per share $3.49
2021Earnings per share $4.34Free cash flow per share $7.23Dividend per share $2.28
2022Earnings per share $2.50Free cash flow per share $8.99Dividend per share $3.60
2023Earnings per share $4.43Free cash flow per share $8.06Dividend per share $2.89
2024Earnings per share $3.52Free cash flow per share $9.08Dividend per share $3.76
2025Earnings per share $4.69Free cash flow per share $8.83Dividend per share $3.84
2018201820192019202020212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
272.2M272.4M272.6M272.8M
2018
2018Diluted shares 272.5M
2019
2019Diluted shares 272.5M
2020Diluted shares 272.4M
2021Diluted shares 272.8M
2022Diluted shares 272.5M
2023Diluted shares 272.2M
2024Diluted shares 272.7M
2025Diluted shares 272.4M
2018201820192019202020212022202320242025
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
01B2B3B
2018
2018Net debt 2.4B
2019
2019Net debt 2.4B
2020Net debt 2.4B
2021Net debt 2.2B
2022Net debt 2.3B
2023Net debt 2.7B
2024Net debt 2.5B
2025Net debt 2.5B
2018201820192019202020212022202320242025
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
1.4×
Interest coverage
13× 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.
6of 7 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 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 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.
None of the six cross-checks fires for the latest year: receivables and inventory move with revenue, profit turns into cash, investment keeps up with depreciation, the tax rate is ordinary and debt is moderate.
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$64.17discounted at 9.0% a year · 55% 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
13.7×
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA
11.0×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue
12.7×
Free cash flow yield
13.5%
From cash flows to a value per share
10 years of cash flow, today9.1B
Everything after, today11.0B
The whole business20.0B
Minus net debt-2.5B
What belongs to shareholders17.5B
Divided among 272.4M shares: <strong>$64.17</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
01B2B3B
2018
2018Reported 1.1B
2019
2019Reported 1.1B
2020Reported 1.7B
2021Reported 1.9B
2022Reported 2.4B
2023Reported 2.2B
2024Reported 2.4B
2025Reported 2.4B
2026Projected 1.2B
2027Projected 1.3B
2028Projected 1.3B
2029Projected 1.4B
2030Projected 1.4B
2031Projected 1.5B
2032Projected 1.5B
2033Projected 1.6B
2034Projected 1.6B
2035Projected 1.7B
2018201920202022202420262028203020322034
Year by year
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
Revenue
1.6B
1.7B
1.8B
1.9B
1.9B
2.0B
2.1B
2.1B
2.2B
2.2B
Growth
4.5%
4.3%
4.1%
3.8%
3.6%
3.4%
3.2%
2.9%
2.7%
2.5%
Cash margin
74.3%
74.3%
74.3%
74.3%
74.3%
74.3%
74.3%
74.3%
74.3%
74.3%
Free cash flow
1.2B
1.3B
1.3B
1.4B
1.4B
1.5B
1.5B
1.6B
1.6B
1.7B
Worth today
1.1B
1.1B
1.0B
976.4M
928.0M
880.1M
832.9M
786.5M
741.1M
696.8M
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%
8.0%
67
72
78
85
93
8.5%
61
65
70
76
83
9.0%
56
60
64
69
75
9.5%
52
55
59
63
68
10.0%
48
51
54
58
62
Year-one growth and the final margin
margin ↓ · growth →
0.5%
2.5%
4.5%
6.5%
8.5%
59.4%
43
48
53
58
64
66.8%
48
53
58
64
70
74.3%
53
58
64
70
77
81.7%
58
64
70
77
84
89.1%
62
69
76
83
91
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%, 11.1%, 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$45.66
Median$63.06
90th percentile$88.29
$50.00$75.00$100.00$125.00
Half of the simulations land between <b>$53.02</b> and <b>$74.98</b>; one in ten below $45.66, one in ten above $88.29.
Does the long run make sense?
10.1×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 10.1 times that year's EBITDA.
16%To grow 2.5% forever while reinvesting 15% of its after-tax operating profit, the business must earn 16% on the new capital — it has earned 9% on average over the last five years.
55%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$1.8M3 sale(s) by 3 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.