FE · Utilities(electric services) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-31
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Firstenergy Corp reported revenue of $15.1 billion in fiscal 2025, after growing 3.9% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin narrowed from 19.2% in 2016 to 14.6%, and it earned 13.6% on its invested capital in the latest year. Of the $26.0 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 118.8% went back into the business and 31.8% to dividends; the share count rose 35.7%. On the accounting screens, it passes 6 of 8 Piotroski tests and its Altman Z'' of 0.31 is in the distress zone; none of the six cross-checks between its statements fires.
Revenue, fiscal 202515.1B+3.9% a year over 9 years
Operating margin14.6%gross margin —
Return on invested capital13.6%12.3% on average over 5 years
Free cash flow-1.0B-6.7% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA0.2×net debt 666.0M
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
05.0B10.0B15.0B20.0B
2016Revenue 10.7BOperating income 2.1B
2017Revenue 10.9BOperating income 2.4B
2018Revenue 10.9BOperating income 2.5B
2019Revenue 10.8BOperating income 2.5B
2020Revenue 10.7BOperating income 2.2B
2021Revenue 11.1BOperating income 1.7B
2022Revenue 12.5BOperating income 1.9B
2023Revenue 12.9BOperating income 2.3B
2024Revenue 13.5BOperating income 2.4B
2025Revenue 15.1BOperating income 2.2B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
+6.6%
+7.1%
+3.9%
Operating income
+4.9%
+0.4%
+0.8%
Net income
+35.9%
-1.1%
—
Earnings per share
+35.5%
-2.3%
—
Dividend per share
+4.1%
+2.5%
+2.3%
Shares
+0.3%
+1.3%
+3.4%
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.
GrossOperatingNetFree cash flow
-75.0%-50.0%-25.0%0.0%25.0%
2016Operating 19.2%Net -57.7%Free cash flow 5.1%
2017Operating 22.2%Net -15.8%Free cash flow 11.2%
2018Operating 22.9%Net 12.3%Free cash flow -11.6%
2019Operating 23.2%Net 8.4%Free cash flow -1.8%
2020Operating 20.2%Net 10.1%Free cash flow -11.5%
2021Operating 15.5%Net 11.5%Free cash flow 2.9%
2022Operating 15.3%Net 3.3%Free cash flow -1.3%
2023Operating 17.6%Net 8.6%Free cash flow -15.3%
2024Operating 17.6%Net 7.3%Free cash flow -8.5%
2025Operating 14.6%Net 6.8%Free cash flow -6.7%
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Return on invested capital
Return on invested capital
-20.0%-10.0%0.0%10.0%20.0%30.0%
2016Return on invested capital 13.2%
2017Return on invested capital -11.0%
2018Return on invested capital 23.1%
2019Return on invested capital 27.6%
2020Return on invested capital 26.0%
2021Return on invested capital 13.3%
2022Return on invested capital 5.5%
2023Return on invested capital 15.9%
2024Return on invested capital 13.2%
2025Return on invested capital 13.6%
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Economic profit
Needs a cost of capital, which comes from the valuation below.
Return on equity
8.2%
Return on assets
1.8%
Asset turnover
0.27×
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
-8.0B-6.0B-4.0B-2.0B02.0B
2016Net income -6.2BFree cash flow 548.0M
2017Net income -1.7BFree cash flow 1.2B
2018Net income 1.3BFree cash flow -1.3BAfter stock-based pay -1.3B
2019Net income 912.0MFree cash flow -198.0MAfter stock-based pay -198.0M
2020Net income 1.1BFree cash flow -1.2BAfter stock-based pay -1.2B
2021Net income 1.3BFree cash flow 324.0M
2022Net income 406.0MFree cash flow -165.0M
2023Net income 1.1BFree cash flow -2.0B
2024Net income 978.0MFree cash flow -1.1B
2025Net income 1.0BFree cash flow -1.0B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2016–2025
26.0B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 119%30.8B
Acquisitions 0%0
Dividends 32%8.3B
Share buybacks 0%0
More than it generated: funded with cash or new debt -51%-13.1B
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$-15.00$-10.00$-5.00$0.00$5.00
2016Earnings per share $-14.50Free cash flow per share $1.29Dividend per share $1.43
2017Earnings per share $-3.88Free cash flow per share $2.75Dividend per share $1.44
2018Earnings per share $2.73Free cash flow per share $-2.56Dividend per share $1.44
2019Earnings per share $1.68Free cash flow per share $-0.37Dividend per share $1.50
2020Earnings per share $1.99Free cash flow per share $-2.27Dividend per share $1.56
2021Earnings per share $2.35Free cash flow per share $0.59Dividend per share $1.55
2022Earnings per share $0.71Free cash flow per share $-0.29Dividend per share $1.56
2023Earnings per share $1.92Free cash flow per share $-3.43Dividend per share $1.58
2024Earnings per share $1.69Free cash flow per share $-1.97Dividend per share $1.68
2025Earnings per share $1.76Free cash flow per share $-1.74Dividend per share $1.76
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
400.0M450.0M500.0M550.0M600.0M
2016Diluted shares 426.0M
2017Diluted shares 444.0M
2018Diluted shares 494.0M
2019Diluted shares 542.0M
2020Diluted shares 543.0M
2021Diluted shares 546.0M
2022Diluted shares 572.0M
2023Diluted shares 574.0M
2024Diluted shares 577.0M
2025Diluted shares 578.0M
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
-2.0B-1.0B01.0B2.0B
2016Net debt 1.5B
2017Net debt -30.0M
2018Net debt 136.0M
2019Net debt -247.0M
2020Net debt -1.6B
2021Net debt 144.0M
2022Net debt 191.0M
2023Net debt 1.1B
2024Net debt 866.0M
2025Net debt 666.0M
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
0.2×
Interest coverage
2× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
0.57 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
— collects in 42d
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 growfailed
–Better gross marginGross margin higher than a year before — not reportedno data
✓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?
0.31distress zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets -0.04 × 6.56-0.27
Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.00 × 3.26+0.00
Operating income ÷ assets 0.04 × 6.72+0.27
Equity ÷ liabilities 0.30 × 1.05+0.31
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.
With a free cash flow margin at or below zero in year ten, the business never generates cash for its owners and a DCF says nothing useful. Set a positive margin for year ten to see what it would take.
What it has filed lately
The last twelve months at the SEC, most important first: annual and quarterly reports, events, large holders and insiders.
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—none in the period
Under pre-arranged plans—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.