FDX · Industrials(air courier services) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2026-05-31
Fedex Corp reported revenue of $94.7 billion in fiscal 2026, after growing 5.1% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin narrowed from 7.6% in 2017 to 5.8%, and it earned 7.5% on its invested capital in the latest year. Of the $73.4 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 73.6% went back into the business and 17.8% to buybacks; the share count fell 11.5%. On the accounting screens, it passes 5 of 8 Piotroski tests and its Altman Z'' of 2.93 is in the safe zone; none of the six cross-checks between its statements fires.
Revenue, fiscal 202694.7B+5.1% a year over 9 years
Operating margin5.8%gross margin —
Return on invested capital7.5%8.7% on average over 5 years
Free cash flow after stock pay4.9B5.2% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA1.1×net debt 10.7B
Piotroski F-score5/8tests 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
025.0B50.0B75.0B100.0B
2017Revenue 60.3BOperating income 4.6B
2018Revenue 65.5BOperating income 4.3B
2019Revenue 69.7BOperating income 4.5B
2020Revenue 69.2BOperating income 2.4B
2021Revenue 84.0BOperating income 5.9B
2022Revenue 93.5BOperating income 6.2B
2023Revenue 90.2BOperating income 4.9B
2024Revenue 87.7BOperating income 5.6B
2025Revenue 87.9BOperating income 5.2B
2026Revenue 94.7BOperating income 5.5B
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
+1.7%
+2.4%
+5.1%
Operating income
+3.6%
-1.4%
+2.0%
Net income
+3.7%
-3.3%
+4.4%
Earnings per share
+6.1%
-1.0%
+5.9%
Free cash flow per share
+27.0%
+6.2%
—
Dividend per share
+7.7%
+17.6%
+15.4%
Shares
-2.3%
-2.3%
-1.3%
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 · 7.5%
0.0%5.0%10.0%15.0%
2017Return on invested capital 9.7%
2018Return on invested capital 11.3%
2019Return on invested capital 10.4%
2020Return on invested capital 4.7%
2021Return on invested capital 10.5%
2022Return on invested capital 10.9%
2023Return on invested capital 7.9%
2024Return on invested capital 8.7%
2025Return on invested capital 8.3%
2026Return on invested capital 7.5%
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Economic profit
Economic profit
-2.0B-1.0B01.0B2.0B
2017Economic profit 668.2M
2018Economic profit 1.4B
2019Economic profit 1.0B
2020Economic profit -1.1B
2021Economic profit 1.3B
2022Economic profit 1.5B
2023Economic profit 199.5M
2024Economic profit 575.5M
2025Economic profit 383.2M
2026Economic profit 6.0M
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
(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
14.0%
Return on assets
4.5%
Asset turnover
0.96×
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
-2.0B02.0B4.0B6.0B
2017Net income 3.0BFree cash flow -186.0MAfter stock-based pay -340.0M
2018Net income 4.6BFree cash flow -989.0MAfter stock-based pay -1.2B
2019Net income 540.0MFree cash flow 123.0MAfter stock-based pay -51.0M
2020Net income 1.3BFree cash flow -771.0MAfter stock-based pay -939.0M
2021Net income 5.2BFree cash flow 4.3BAfter stock-based pay 4.1B
2022Net income 3.8BFree cash flow 3.1BAfter stock-based pay 2.9B
2023Net income 4.0BFree cash flow 2.7BAfter stock-based pay 2.5B
2024Net income 4.3BFree cash flow 3.1BAfter stock-based pay 3.0B
2025Net income 4.1BFree cash flow 3.0BAfter stock-based pay 2.8B
2026Net income 4.4BFree cash flow 5.1BAfter stock-based pay 4.9B
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2017–2026
73.4B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 74%54.0B
Acquisitions 1%473.0M
Dividends 12%9.0B
Share buybacks 18%13.1B
More than it generated: funded with cash or new debt -4%-3.1B
Over the same years it paid 1.7B in stock. The share count fell 11.5%. 11.3B of the buybacks went beyond offsetting that dilution.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$-10.00$0.00$10.00$20.00$30.00
2017Earnings per share $11.10Free cash flow per share $-0.69Dividend per share $1.58
2018Earnings per share $16.81Free cash flow per share $-3.64Dividend per share $1.97
2019Earnings per share $2.04Free cash flow per share $0.46Dividend per share $2.58
2020Earnings per share $4.91Free cash flow per share $-2.94Dividend per share $2.59
2021Earnings per share $19.52Free cash flow per share $15.86Dividend per share $2.56
2022Earnings per share $14.38Free cash flow per share $11.54Dividend per share $2.98
2023Earnings per share $15.52Free cash flow per share $10.45Dividend per share $4.60
2024Earnings per share $17.25Free cash flow per share $12.49Dividend per share $5.02
2025Earnings per share $16.84Free cash flow per share $12.27Dividend per share $5.51
2026Earnings per share $18.55Free cash flow per share $21.41Dividend per share $5.75
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
230.0M240.0M250.0M260.0M270.0M280.0M
2017Diluted shares 270.0M
2018Diluted shares 272.0M
2019Diluted shares 265.0M
2020Diluted shares 262.0M
2021Diluted shares 268.0M
2022Diluted shares 266.0M
2023Diluted shares 256.0M
2024Diluted shares 251.0M
2025Diluted shares 243.0M
2026Diluted shares 239.0M
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
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
05.0B10.0B15.0B20.0B
2017Net debt 10.9B
2018Net debt 13.2B
2019Net debt 15.2B
2020Net debt 16.6B
2021Net debt 12.3B
2022Net debt 12.9B
2023Net debt 12.9B
2024Net debt 13.3B
2025Net debt 13.6B
2026Net debt 10.7B
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
1.1×
Interest coverage
6× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
1.48 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
— collects in 49d
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.
5of 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 fellfailed
✓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?
2.93safe zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets 0.09 × 6.56+0.60
Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.45 × 3.26+1.47
Operating income ÷ assets 0.06 × 6.72+0.37
Equity ÷ liabilities 0.47 × 1.05+0.49
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?
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$244.13discounted at 7.5% a year · 62% 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
13.2×
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA
7.0×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue
0.7×
Free cash flow yield
8.5%
From cash flows to a value per share
10 years of cash flow, today26.2B
Everything after, today42.9B
The whole business69.1B
Minus net debt-10.7B
What belongs to shareholders58.3B
Divided among 239.0M shares: <strong>$244.13</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
-2.0B02.0B4.0B6.0B
2017Reported -340.0M
2018Reported -1.2B
2019Reported -51.0M
2020Reported -939.0M
2021Reported 4.1B
2022Reported 2.9B
2023Reported 2.5B
2024Reported 3.0B
2025Reported 2.8B
2026Reported 4.9B
2027Projected 3.5B
2028Projected 3.5B
2029Projected 3.6B
2030Projected 3.7B
2031Projected 3.8B
2032Projected 3.9B
2033Projected 4.0B
2034Projected 4.1B
2035Projected 4.2B
2036Projected 4.3B
2017201920212023202520272029203120332035
Year by year
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
2036
Revenue
97.1B
99.5B
102.0B
104.6B
107.2B
109.8B
112.6B
115.4B
118.3B
121.2B
Growth
2.5%
2.5%
2.5%
2.5%
2.5%
2.5%
2.5%
2.5%
2.5%
2.5%
Cash margin
3.6%
3.6%
3.6%
3.6%
3.6%
3.6%
3.6%
3.6%
3.6%
3.6%
Free cash flow
3.5B
3.5B
3.6B
3.7B
3.8B
3.9B
4.0B
4.1B
4.2B
4.3B
Worth today
3.2B
3.1B
2.9B
2.8B
2.7B
2.5B
2.4B
2.3B
2.2B
2.1B
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%
6.5%
254
282
316
361
420
7.0%
227
249
276
310
354
7.5%
204
222
244
271
304
8.0%
185
200
218
239
265
8.5%
168
181
196
213
235
Year-one growth and the final margin
margin ↓ · growth →
-1.5%
0.5%
2.5%
4.5%
6.5%
2.8%
159
177
197
218
241
3.2%
178
199
221
244
270
3.6%
198
220
244
270
298
3.9%
217
242
268
296
326
4.3%
237
263
291
322
355
All the inputs moving at once
4,998 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$73.90
Median$243.98
90th percentile$483.06
$0.00$250.00$500.00$750.00
Half of the simulations land between <b>$149.26</b> and <b>$353.32</b>; one in ten below $73.90, one in ten above $483.06.
Does the long run make sense?
7.0×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 7.0 times that year's EBITDA.
13%To grow 2.5% forever while reinvesting 19% of its after-tax operating profit, the business must earn 13% on the new capital — it has earned 9% on average over the last five years.
62%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.