F · Consumer discretionary(motor vehicles & passenger car bodies) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-31
Ford Motor Co reported revenue of $187.3 billion in fiscal 2025, after growing 1.7% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin narrowed from 2.0% in 2018 to -4.9%. Of the $131.2 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 45.7% went back into the business and 14.8% to dividends. On the accounting screens, it passes 3 of 8 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of 0.38 is in the distress zone and its Beneish M-score is below the -1.78 line; 2 of the six cross-checks between its statements fire.
Revenue, fiscal 2025187.3B+1.7% a year over 9 years
Operating margin-4.9%gross margin 6.8%
Return on invested capital—
Free cash flow after stock pay12.0B6.4% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA—net debt —
Piotroski F-score3/8tests 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
-50.0B050.0B100.0B150.0B200.0B
2018Revenue 160.3BOperating income 3.2B
2019
2019Revenue 155.9BOperating income 574.0M
2020
2020Revenue 127.1BOperating income -4.4B
2021Revenue 136.3BOperating income 4.5B
2022Revenue 158.1BOperating income 6.3B
2023Revenue 176.2BOperating income 5.5B
2024Revenue 185.0BOperating income 5.2B
2025Revenue 187.3BOperating income -9.2B
2018201920192020202020212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
+5.8%
+8.1%
+1.7%
Free cash flow per share
—
-7.6%
+6.3%
Dividend per share
+14.5%
+38.0%
+0.4%
Shares
-0.3%
+0.0%
-0.1%
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%
-20.0%-10.0%0.0%10.0%20.0%
2018Return on invested capital 7.5%
2019
2019Return on invested capital 3.6%
2020
2020Return on invested capital -16.3%
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2018201920192020202020212022202320242025
Economic profit
Economic profit
-10.0B-7.5B-5.0B-2.5B0
2018Economic profit -995.1M
2019
2019Economic profit -2.2B
2020
2020Economic profit -8.2B
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2018201920192020202020212022202320242025
(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
-22.7%
Return on assets
-2.8%
Asset turnover
0.65×
Research & development
5.0% of revenue
Overheads (SG&A)
5.8% 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
-10.0B010.0B20.0B
2018Net income 3.7BFree cash flow 7.2BAfter stock-based pay 7.0B
2019
2019Net income 84.0MFree cash flow 10.0BAfter stock-based pay 9.8B
2020
2020Net income -1.3BFree cash flow 18.5BAfter stock-based pay 18.3B
2021Net income 17.9BFree cash flow 9.6BAfter stock-based pay 9.3B
2022Net income -2.0BFree cash flow -13.0MAfter stock-based pay -349.0M
2023Net income 4.3BFree cash flow 6.7BAfter stock-based pay 6.2B
2024Net income 5.9BFree cash flow 6.7BAfter stock-based pay 6.2B
2025Net income -8.2BFree cash flow 12.5BAfter stock-based pay 12.0B
2018201920192020202020212022202320242025
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2018–2025
131.2B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 46%60.0B
Acquisitions 0%0
Dividends 15%19.4B
Share buybacks 1%1.6B
Kept, or used to pay down debt 38%50.2B
Over the same years it paid 2.7B in stock. The share count barely moved. The buybacks did not even cover what was handed out in stock.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$-4.00$-2.00$0.00$2.00$4.00$6.00
2018Earnings per share $0.92Free cash flow per share $1.81Dividend per share $0.73
2019
2019Earnings per share $0.02Free cash flow per share $2.50Dividend per share $0.60
2020
2020Earnings per share $-0.32Free cash flow per share $4.66Dividend per share $0.15
2021Earnings per share $4.45Free cash flow per share $2.37Dividend per share $0.10
2022Earnings per share $-0.49Free cash flow per share $-0.00Dividend per share $0.50
2023Earnings per share $1.08Free cash flow per share $1.65Dividend per share $1.24
2024Earnings per share $1.46Free cash flow per share $1.68Dividend per share $0.78
2025Earnings per share $-2.05Free cash flow per share $3.13Dividend per share $0.75
2018201920192020202020212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
4.0B4.0B4.0B4.0B4.0B4.1B
2018Diluted shares 4.0B
2019
2019Diluted shares 4.0B
2020
2020Diluted shares 4.0B
2021Diluted shares 4.0B
2022Diluted shares 4.0B
2023Diluted shares 4.0B
2024Diluted shares 4.0B
2025Diluted shares 4.0B
2018201920192020202020212022202320242025
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
-30.0B-20.0B-10.0B0
2018Net debt -16.1B
2019
2019Net debt -17.0B
2020
2020Net debt -25.0B
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2018201920192020202020212022202320242025
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
—
Interest coverage
-7× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
1.07 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
— collects in 30d
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.
3of 8 tests passed
✕ProfitableReturn on assets above zerofailed
✓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 fell — not reportedno data
✕More liquidCurrent ratio higher than a year beforefailed
✓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 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?
0.38distress zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets 0.03 × 6.56+0.20
Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.08 × 3.26+0.25
Operating income ÷ assets -0.03 × 6.72-0.21
Equity ÷ liabilities 0.14 × 1.05+0.15
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?
-2.36below the -1.78 line
-1.78
Receivables vs sales 1.03+0.95
Gross margin slipping 2.10+1.11
Soft assets 1.00 (not reported, set to 1)+0.40
Sales growth 1.01+0.90
Slower depreciation 1.00 (not reported, set to 1)+0.12
Overheads vs sales 1.04-0.18
Profit not in cash -0.10-0.48
Leverage rising 1.06-0.35
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.
Capital spending (8,815M) is well below depreciation (15,974M).
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.
The effective tax rate is -31.0%.
Benign
A favourable geographic mix, or legitimate tax credits.
Worrying
Not sustainable; projecting it forward inflates the valuation.
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$0.49discounted 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
—
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA
0.3×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue
0.0×
Free cash flow yield
614.8%
From cash flows to a value per share
10 years of cash flow, today960.6M
Everything after, today984.3M
The whole business1.9B
Minus net debt-0
What belongs to shareholders1.9B
Divided among 4.0B shares: <strong>$0.49</strong> each.
The projection next to its history
Reported free cash flow after stock pay, then the model's. A projection that looks nothing like the past needs a reason.
ReportedProjected
-5.0B05.0B10.0B15.0B20.0B
2018Reported 7.0B
2019
2019Reported 9.8B
2020
2020Reported 18.3B
2021Reported 9.3B
2022Reported -349.0M
2023Reported 6.2B
2024Reported 6.2B
2025Reported 12.0B
2026Projected 126.1M
2027Projected 135.4M
2028Projected 144.6M
2029Projected 153.5M
2030Projected 162.0M
2031Projected 170.0M
2032Projected 177.4M
2033Projected 184.0M
2034Projected 189.7M
2035Projected 194.4M
2018201920202022202420262028203020322034
Year by year
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
Revenue
202.2B
217.2B
231.9B
246.2B
259.9B
272.7B
284.6B
295.2B
304.3B
311.9B
Growth
8.0%
7.4%
6.8%
6.2%
5.6%
4.9%
4.3%
3.7%
3.1%
2.5%
Cash margin
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
0.1%
Free cash flow
126.1M
135.4M
144.6M
153.5M
162.0M
170.0M
177.4M
184.0M
189.7M
194.4M
Worth today
114.4M
111.5M
108.1M
104.1M
99.8M
95.0M
90.0M
84.7M
79.3M
73.7M
If the least-known inputs move
Value per share as two inputs change at a time. Neighbouring cells that differ a lot are the conclusion: the value depends on numbers nobody knows to a point.
The discount rate and growth forever
discount ↓ · forever →
1.5%
2.0%
2.5%
3.0%
3.5%
9.2%
1
1
1
1
1
9.7%
0
0
1
1
1
10.2%
0
0
0
1
1
10.7%
0
0
0
0
1
11.2%
0
0
0
0
0
Year-one growth and the final margin
margin ↓ · growth →
4.0%
6.0%
8.0%
10.0%
12.0%
0.1%
0
0
0
0
0
0.1%
0
0
0
1
1
0.1%
0
0
0
1
1
0.1%
0
0
1
1
1
0.1%
0
0
1
1
1
All the inputs moving at once
5,000 valuations, each with growth, final margin, discount rate and growth forever drawn at random around the values on the left (spreads of 3.0%, 2.0%, 1.0% and 0.5%). Not a probability — the spreads are assumptions too — but an honest picture of how wide the answer is.
10th percentile$-14.96
Median$0.66
90th percentile$15.88
$-20.00$0.00$20.00
Half of the simulations land between <b>$-7.26</b> and <b>$8.77</b>; one in ten below $-14.96, one in ten above $15.88.
Does the long run make sense?
0.2×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 0.2 times that year's EBITDA.
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: 6.68% × (1 − 0.0%) = <strong>6.68%</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.