EXPE · Industrials(transportation services) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-31
Expedia Group, Inc. reported revenue of $14.7 billion in fiscal 2025. Of the $15.8 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 49.7% went to buybacks and 35.9% back into the business. On the accounting screens, it passes 6 of 8 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of -0.40 is in the distress zone and its Beneish M-score is below the -1.78 line; 1 of the six cross-checks between its statements fires.
Revenue, fiscal 202514.7B
Operating margin12.7%gross margin —
Return on invested capital20.6%11.1% on average over 5 years
Free cash flow after stock pay2.7B18.4% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA0.3×net debt 748.0M
Piotroski F-score6/8tests 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
-5.0B05.0B10.0B15.0B
2019
2019
2019Revenue 12.1BOperating income 903.0M
2020
2020Revenue 5.2BOperating income -2.7B
2021Revenue 8.6BOperating income 186.0M
2022Revenue 11.7BOperating income 1.1B
2023Revenue 12.8BOperating income 1.0B
2024Revenue 13.7BOperating income 1.3B
2025Revenue 14.7BOperating income 1.9B
2019201920192020202020212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
+8.1%
+23.2%
—
Operating income
+19.9%
—
—
Net income
+54.3%
—
—
Earnings per share
+65.2%
—
—
Free cash flow per share
+11.1%
—
—
Dividend per share
—
+34.9%
—
Shares
-6.6%
-1.4%
—
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 · 5.3%
-40.0%-20.0%0.0%20.0%40.0%
2019
2019
2019Return on invested capital 7.5%
2020
2020Return on invested capital -31.7%
2021Return on invested capital 4.2%
2022Return on invested capital 8.1%
2023Return on invested capital 9.0%
2024Return on invested capital 13.4%
2025Return on invested capital 20.6%
2019201920192020202020212022202320242025
Economic profit
Economic profit
-4.0B-2.0B02.0B
2019
2019
2019Economic profit 198.0M
2020
2020Economic profit -3.6B
2021Economic profit -107.3M
2022Economic profit 243.3M
2023Economic profit 288.5M
2024Economic profit 635.4M
2025Economic profit 1.1B
2019201920192020202020212022202320242025
(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
100.8%
Return on assets
5.3%
Asset turnover
0.60×
Overheads (SG&A)
5.2% 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
-6.0B-4.0B-2.0B02.0B4.0B
2019
2019
2019Net income 565.0MFree cash flow 1.6BAfter stock-based pay 1.4B
2020
2020Net income -2.6BFree cash flow -4.6BAfter stock-based pay -4.8B
2021Net income 12.0MFree cash flow 3.1BAfter stock-based pay 2.7B
2022Net income 352.0MFree cash flow 2.8BAfter stock-based pay 2.4B
2023Net income 797.0MFree cash flow 1.8BAfter stock-based pay 1.4B
2024Net income 1.2BFree cash flow 2.3BAfter stock-based pay 1.9B
2025Net income 1.3BFree cash flow 3.1BAfter stock-based pay 2.7B
2019201920192020202020212022202320242025
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2019–2025
15.8B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 36%5.7B
Acquisitions 1%80.0M
Dividends 4%591.0M
Share buybacks 50%7.8B
Kept, or used to pay down debt 10%1.6B
Over the same years it paid 2.5B in stock. 5.3B of the buybacks went beyond offsetting that dilution.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$-40.00$-20.00$0.00$20.00$40.00
2019
2019
2019Earnings per share $3.77Free cash flow per share $10.72Dividend per share $1.30
2020
2020Earnings per share $-18.47Free cash flow per share $-32.75Dividend per share $0.34
2021Earnings per share $0.08Free cash flow per share $20.54
2022Earnings per share $2.18Free cash flow per share $17.17
2023Earnings per share $5.31Free cash flow per share $12.27Dividend per share $0.00
2024Earnings per share $8.95Free cash flow per share $16.89Dividend per share $0.00
2025Earnings per share $9.81Free cash flow per share $23.57Dividend per share $1.52
2019201920192020202020212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
130.0M140.0M150.0M160.0M170.0M
2019
2019
2019Diluted shares 149.9M
2020
2020Diluted shares 141.4M
2021Diluted shares 149.7M
2022Diluted shares 161.8M
2023Diluted shares 150.2M
2024Diluted shares 137.9M
2025Diluted shares 131.9M
2019201920192020202020212022202320242025
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
02.0B4.0B6.0B
2019
2019
2019Net debt 1.6B
2020
2020Net debt 4.9B
2021Net debt 4.3B
2022Net debt 2.1B
2023Net debt 2.0B
2024Net debt 2.1B
2025Net debt 748.0M
2019201920192020202020212022202320242025
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
0.3×
Interest coverage
6× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
0.73 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
— collects in 103d
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 8 tests passed
✓ProfitableReturn on assets above zeropassed
✓Cash from operationsOperating cash flow above zeropassed
✕Profitability improvedReturn on assets higher than a year beforefailed
✓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 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?
-0.40distress zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets -0.18 × 6.56-1.20
Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.07 × 3.26+0.23
Operating income ÷ assets 0.08 × 6.72+0.51
Equity ÷ liabilities 0.06 × 1.05+0.06
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?
-2.76below the -1.78 line
-1.78
Receivables vs sales 1.20+1.11
Gross margin slipping 1.00 (not reported, set to 1)+0.53
Soft assets 0.88+0.36
Sales growth 1.08+0.96
Slower depreciation 0.97+0.11
Overheads vs sales 0.88-0.15
Profit not in cash -0.11-0.49
Leverage rising 1.03-0.34
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.
Receivables are growing 30% against revenue growing 8%.
Benign
A shift towards larger customers on longer terms, or sales concentrated at the end of the period.
Worrying
Sales are being made on looser credit, or revenue has been booked that may never be collected.
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.
81% of the value comes from after year 10: this valuation rests mostly on the long run, which is exactly what is least known.
Value per share, with these assumptions$13.34discounted at 5.3% a year · 81% 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
1.4×
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA
0.9×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue
0.2×
Free cash flow yield
154.1%
From cash flows to a value per share
10 years of cash flow, today483.9M
Everything after, today2.0B
The whole business2.5B
Minus net debt-748.0M
What belongs to shareholders1.8B
Divided among 131.9M shares: <strong>$13.34</strong> each.
The projection next to its history
Reported free cash flow after stock pay, then the model's. A projection that looks nothing like the past needs a reason.
ReportedProjected
-6.0B-4.0B-2.0B02.0B4.0B
2019
2019
2019Reported 1.4B
2020
2020Reported -4.8B
2021Reported 2.7B
2022Reported 2.4B
2023Reported 1.4B
2024Reported 1.9B
2025Reported 2.7B
2026Projected 34.3M
2027Projected 41.4M
2028Projected 49.0M
2029Projected 57.0M
2030Projected 64.9M
2031Projected 72.4M
2032Projected 79.2M
2033Projected 84.8M
2034Projected 88.8M
2035Projected 91.0M
2019201920202022202420262028203020322034
Year by year
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
Revenue
18.1B
21.9B
25.9B
30.1B
34.3B
38.3B
41.8B
44.8B
46.9B
48.1B
Growth
23.0%
20.7%
18.4%
16.2%
13.9%
11.6%
9.3%
7.1%
4.8%
2.5%
Cash margin
0.2%
0.2%
0.2%
0.2%
0.2%
0.2%
0.2%
0.2%
0.2%
0.2%
Free cash flow
34.3M
41.4M
49.0M
57.0M
64.9M
72.4M
79.2M
84.8M
88.8M
91.0M
Worth today
32.6M
37.4M
42.0M
46.4M
50.2M
53.2M
55.3M
56.2M
56.0M
54.5M
If the least-known inputs move
Value per share as two inputs change at a time. Neighbouring cells that differ a lot are the conclusion: the value depends on numbers nobody knows to a point.
The discount rate and growth forever
discount ↓ · forever →
1.5%
2.0%
2.5%
3.0%
3.5%
4.3%
14
18
25
36
63
4.8%
11
14
18
24
35
5.3%
9
11
13
17
23
5.8%
7
8
10
13
17
6.3%
5
7
8
10
13
Year-one growth and the final margin
margin ↓ · growth →
19.0%
21.0%
23.0%
25.0%
27.0%
0.1%
7
8
10
11
12
0.2%
9
10
12
13
15
0.2%
10
12
13
15
17
0.2%
12
14
15
17
19
0.2%
14
15
17
19
21
All the inputs moving at once
4,705 valuations, each with growth, final margin, discount rate and growth forever drawn at random around the values on the left (spreads of 3.0%, 2.0%, 1.0% and 0.5%). Not a probability — the spreads are assumptions too — but an honest picture of how wide the answer is.
10th percentile$-241.31
Median$15.08
90th percentile$271.45
$-500.00$0.00$500.00
Half of the simulations land between <b>$-105.23</b> and <b>$135.75</b>; one in ten below $-241.31, one in ten above $271.45.
Does the long run make sense?
0.4×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 0.4 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 — it has earned 11% on average over the last five years.
81%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.