DXCM · Health care(surgical & medical instruments & apparatus) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-31
Dexcom Inc reported revenue of $4.7 billion in fiscal 2025, after growing 26.2% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin widened from -11.1% in 2016 to 19.6%. Of the $5.4 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 48.5% went to buybacks and 42.6% back into the business; the share count rose 19.8%. On the accounting screens, it passes 7 of 8 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of 4.98 is in the safe zone and its Beneish M-score is below the -1.78 line; none of the six cross-checks between its statements fires.
Revenue, fiscal 20254.7B+26.2% a year over 9 years
Operating margin19.6%gross margin 60.1%
Return on invested capital—
Free cash flow after stock pay917.6M19.7% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA—net debt —
Piotroski F-score7/8tests 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:
5-for-1 before fiscal 2020.
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
-2.0B02.0B4.0B6.0B
2016Revenue 573.3MOperating income -63.9M
2017Revenue 718.5MOperating income -42.5M
2018Revenue 1.0BOperating income -186.3M
2019Revenue 1.5BOperating income 142.3M
2020Revenue 1.9BOperating income 299.5M
2021Revenue 2.4BOperating income 265.8M
2022Revenue 2.9BOperating income 391.2M
2023Revenue 3.6BOperating income 597.7M
2024Revenue 4.0BOperating income 600.0M
2025Revenue 4.7BOperating income 911.8M
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
+17.0%
+19.3%
+26.2%
Operating income
+32.6%
+24.9%
—
Net income
+34.8%
+8.8%
—
Earnings per share
+37.2%
+9.5%
—
Free cash flow per share
+55.0%
+32.2%
+130.0%
Shares
-1.7%
-0.7%
+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 · 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
30.5%
Return on assets
13.2%
Asset turnover
0.74×
Research & development
12.9% of revenue
Overheads (SG&A)
27.7% 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
-500.0M0500.0M1.0B1.5B
2016Net income -65.6MFree cash flow 500,000After stock-based pay -110.3M
2017Net income -50.2MFree cash flow 26.0MAfter stock-based pay -80.2M
2018Net income -127.1MFree cash flow 56.1MAfter stock-based pay -45.8M
2019Net income 101.1MFree cash flow 134.5MAfter stock-based pay 31.8M
2020Net income 549.7MFree cash flow 276.6MAfter stock-based pay 157.2M
2021Net income 216.9MFree cash flow 53.3MAfter stock-based pay -60.1M
2022Net income 341.2MFree cash flow 304.7MAfter stock-based pay 178.2M
2023Net income 541.5MFree cash flow 511.9MAfter stock-based pay 361.1M
2024Net income 576.2MFree cash flow 630.7MAfter stock-based pay 460.3M
2025Net income 836.3MFree cash flow 1.1BAfter stock-based pay 917.6M
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2016–2025
5.4B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 43%2.3B
Acquisitions 1%45.7M
Dividends 0%0
Share buybacks 49%2.6B
Kept, or used to pay down debt 8%429.4M
Over the same years it paid 1.3B in stock. The share count rose 19.8%. 1.3B of the buybacks went beyond offsetting that dilution.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$-1.00$0.00$1.00$2.00$3.00
2016Earnings per share $-0.19Free cash flow per share $0.00
2017Earnings per share $-0.12Free cash flow per share $0.06
2018Earnings per share $-0.29Free cash flow per share $0.13
2019Earnings per share $0.22Free cash flow per share $0.29
2020Earnings per share $1.31Free cash flow per share $0.66
2021Earnings per share $0.51Free cash flow per share $0.12
2022Earnings per share $0.80Free cash flow per share $0.71
2023Earnings per share $1.27Free cash flow per share $1.20
2024Earnings per share $1.40Free cash flow per share $1.53
2025Earnings per share $2.06Free cash flow per share $2.66
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
300.0M350.0M400.0M450.0M500.0M
2016Diluted shares 338.4M
2017Diluted shares 431.5M
2018Diluted shares 441.0M
2019Diluted shares 461.5M
2020Diluted shares 420.4M
2021Diluted shares 428.8M
2022Diluted shares 427.5M
2023Diluted shares 425.5M
2024Diluted shares 412.7M
2025Diluted shares 405.5M
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 ÷ EBITDA
—
Interest coverage
64× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
1.88 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
— collects in 95d
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.
7of 8 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 fell — not reportedno data
✓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 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?
4.98safe zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets 0.30 × 6.56+1.96
Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.38 × 3.26+1.25
Operating income ÷ assets 0.14 × 6.72+0.97
Equity ÷ liabilities 0.76 × 1.05+0.80
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?
-2.64below the -1.78 line
-1.78
Receivables vs sales 1.05+0.96
Gross margin slipping 1.01+0.53
Soft assets 1.00 (not reported, set to 1)+0.40
Sales growth 1.16+1.03
Slower depreciation 1.00 (not reported, set to 1)+0.12
Overheads vs sales 0.87-0.15
Profit not in cash -0.10-0.45
Leverage rising 0.75-0.24
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.
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$0.84discounted at 10.2% a year · 54% 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
0.4×
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA
0.3×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue
0.1×
Free cash flow yield
269.5%
From cash flows to a value per share
10 years of cash flow, today155.4M
Everything after, today185.0M
The whole business340.4M
Minus net debt-0
What belongs to shareholders340.4M
Divided among 405.5M shares: <strong>$0.84</strong> each.
The projection next to its history
Reported free cash flow after stock pay, then the model's. A projection that looks nothing like the past needs a reason.
ReportedProjected
-500.0M0500.0M1.0B
2016Reported -110.3M
2017Reported -80.2M
2018Reported -45.8M
2019Reported 31.8M
2020Reported 157.2M
2021Reported -60.1M
2022Reported 178.2M
2023Reported 361.1M
2024Reported 460.3M
2025Reported 917.6M
2026Projected 15.6M
2027Projected 18.3M
2028Projected 21.2M
2029Projected 24.1M
2030Projected 27.0M
2031Projected 29.7M
2032Projected 32.1M
2033Projected 34.2M
2034Projected 35.7M
2035Projected 36.5M
2016201820202022202420262028203020322034
Year by year
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
Revenue
5.6B
6.6B
7.6B
8.6B
9.7B
10.6B
11.5B
12.2B
12.8B
13.1B
Growth
19.5%
17.6%
15.7%
13.8%
11.9%
10.1%
8.2%
6.3%
4.4%
2.5%
Cash margin
0.3%
0.3%
0.3%
0.3%
0.3%
0.3%
0.3%
0.3%
0.3%
0.3%
Free cash flow
15.6M
18.3M
21.2M
24.1M
27.0M
29.7M
32.1M
34.2M
35.7M
36.5M
Worth today
14.1M
15.1M
15.8M
16.4M
16.6M
16.6M
16.3M
15.7M
14.9M
13.9M
If the least-known inputs move
Value per share as two inputs change at a time. Neighbouring cells that differ a lot are the conclusion: the value depends on numbers nobody knows to a point.
The discount rate and growth forever
discount ↓ · forever →
1.5%
2.0%
2.5%
3.0%
3.5%
9.2%
1
1
1
1
1
9.7%
1
1
1
1
1
10.2%
1
1
1
1
1
10.7%
1
1
1
1
1
11.2%
1
1
1
1
1
Year-one growth and the final margin
margin ↓ · growth →
15.5%
17.5%
19.5%
21.5%
23.5%
0.2%
1
1
1
1
1
0.2%
1
1
1
1
1
0.3%
1
1
1
1
1
0.3%
1
1
1
1
1
0.3%
1
1
1
1
1
All the inputs moving at once
5,000 valuations, each with growth, final margin, discount rate and growth forever drawn at random around the values on the left (spreads of 3.0%, 2.0%, 1.0% and 0.5%). Not a probability — the spreads are assumptions too — but an honest picture of how wide the answer is.
10th percentile$-5.37
Median$0.90
90th percentile$7.08
$-10.00$0.00$10.00
Half of the simulations land between <b>$-2.26</b> and <b>$4.16</b>; one in ten below $-5.37, one in ten above $7.08.
Does the long run make sense?
0.1×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 0.1 times that year's EBITDA.
3%To grow 2.5% forever while reinvesting 98% of its after-tax operating profit, the business must earn 3% on the new capital.
54%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: 6.68% × (1 − 23.2%) = <strong>5.13%</strong>.
Weighted by how much of each the company uses (book value (no price given)): <strong>10.18%</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.
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.