FERG · Industrials(wholesale-hardware & plumbing & heating equipment & supplies) · 5 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-07-31
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Ferguson Enterprises Inc. reported revenue of $30.8 billion in fiscal 2025. Of the $7.7 billion its operations generated over 5 years, 52.7% went to buybacks and 33.0% to dividends. On the accounting screens, it passes 6 of 9 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of 4.27 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 202530.8B
Operating margin8.5%gross margin 30.7%
Return on invested capital20.0%20.9% on average over 3 years
Free cash flow after stock pay1.6B5.1% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA1.2×net debt 3.5B
Piotroski F-score6/9tests 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
010B20B30B40B
2021
2022Revenue 28.6BOperating income 2.8B
2023Revenue 29.7BOperating income 2.7B
2024Revenue 29.6BOperating income 2.7B
2025Revenue 30.8BOperating income 2.6B
20212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
4 yrs
Revenue
+2.5%
—
Operating income
-2.6%
—
Net income
-4.4%
—
Earnings per share
-1.3%
—
Free cash flow per share
+27.0%
—
Dividend per share
-0.0%
—
Shares
-3.1%
—
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 · 7.7%
0%10%20%30%
2021
2022
2023Return on invested capital 23.2%
2024Return on invested capital 19.6%
2025Return on invested capital 20.0%
20212022202320242025
Economic profit
Economic profit
00.5B1.0B1.5B
2021
2022
2023Economic profit 1.4B
2024Economic profit 1.1B
2025Economic profit 1.2B
20212022202320242025
(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
31.8%
Return on assets
10.5%
Asset turnover
1.74×
Overheads (SG&A)
20.7% 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
01B2B3B
2021
2022Net income 2.1BFree cash flow 859.0MAfter stock-based pay 802.0M
2023Net income 1.9BFree cash flow 2.3BAfter stock-based pay 2.2B
2024Net income 1.7BFree cash flow 1.5BAfter stock-based pay 1.5B
2025Net income 1.9BFree cash flow 1.6BAfter stock-based pay 1.6B
20212022202320242025
Where 5 years of operating cash went, 2021–2025
7.7B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 18%1.4B
Acquisitions 24%1.8B
Dividends 33%2.5B
Share buybacks 53%4.0B
More than it generated: funded with cash or new debt -28%-2.1B
Over the same years it paid 185.0M in stock. 3.9B of the buybacks went beyond offsetting that dilution.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$0$5$10$15
2021
2022Earnings per share $9.69Free cash flow per share $3.92Dividend per share $2.46
2023Earnings per share $9.12Free cash flow per share $11.01Dividend per share $3.43
2024Earnings per share $8.53Free cash flow per share $7.38Dividend per share $3.85
2025Earnings per share $9.32Free cash flow per share $8.05Dividend per share $2.45
20212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
195M200M205M210M215M220M
2021
2022Diluted shares 218.9M
2023Diluted shares 207.2M
2024Diluted shares 203.5M
2025Diluted shares 199.2M
20212022202320242025
Debt and liquidity
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
01B2B3B4B
2021
2022
2023Net debt 3.2B
2024Net debt 3.4B
2025Net debt 3.5B
20212022202320242025
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
1.2×
Interest coverage
14× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
1.68 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
63 days collects in 47d, stock 77d, pays in 61d
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 9 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 beforefailed
✓No new sharesShare count did not growpassed
✓Better gross marginGross margin higher than a year beforepassed
✕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?
4.27safe zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets 0.23 × 6.56+1.52
Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.38 × 3.26+1.25
Operating income ÷ assets 0.15 × 6.72+0.99
Equity ÷ liabilities 0.49 × 1.05+0.51
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?
-2.42below the -1.78 line
-1.78
Receivables vs sales 1.06+0.98
Gross margin slipping 1.00+0.53
Soft assets 0.99+0.40
Sales growth 1.04+0.93
Slower depreciation 0.95+0.11
Overheads vs sales 1.02-0.17
Profit not in cash -0.00-0.01
Leverage rising 1.02-0.33
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$148.79discounted at 7.7% a year · 61% 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
16.0×
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA
11.1×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue
1.1×
Free cash flow yield
5.3%
From cash flows to a value per share
10 years of cash flow, today12.9B
Everything after, today20.2B
The whole business33.1B
Minus net debt-3.5B
What belongs to shareholders29.6B
Divided among 199.2M shares: <strong>$148.79</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
01B2B3B
2021
2022Reported 802.0M
2023Reported 2.2B
2024Reported 1.5B
2025Reported 1.6B
2026Projected 1.7B
2027Projected 1.8B
2028Projected 1.8B
2029Projected 1.8B
2030Projected 1.9B
2031Projected 1.9B
2032Projected 2.0B
2033Projected 2.0B
2034Projected 2.1B
2035Projected 2.1B
20212023202520272029203120332035
Year by year
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
Revenue
31.5B
32.3B
33.1B
34.0B
34.8B
35.7B
36.6B
37.5B
38.4B
39.4B
Growth
2.5%
2.5%
2.5%
2.5%
2.5%
2.5%
2.5%
2.5%
2.5%
2.5%
Cash margin
5.4%
5.4%
5.4%
5.4%
5.4%
5.4%
5.4%
5.4%
5.4%
5.4%
Free cash flow
1.7B
1.8B
1.8B
1.8B
1.9B
1.9B
2.0B
2.0B
2.1B
2.1B
Worth today
1.6B
1.5B
1.4B
1.4B
1.3B
1.2B
1.2B
1.1B
1.1B
1.0B
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%
6.7%
154
170
189
213
244
7.2%
139
152
167
185
209
7.7%
126
137
149
164
182
8.2%
116
124
134
146
160
8.7%
106
113
122
132
143
Year-one growth and the final margin
margin ↓ · growth →
-1.5%
0.5%
2.5%
4.5%
6.5%
4.3%
100
110
122
134
147
4.9%
111
123
135
149
164
5.4%
122
135
149
164
180
6.0%
133
147
162
178
196
6.5%
144
159
176
193
212
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$78.98
Median$148.42
90th percentile$253.35
$100.00$200.00$300.00$400.00
Half of the simulations land between <b>$110.08</b> and <b>$197.23</b>; one in ten below $78.98, one in ten above $253.35.
Does the long run make sense?
11.1×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 11.1 times that year's EBITDA.
15%To grow 2.5% forever while reinvesting 16% of its after-tax operating profit, the business must earn 15% on the new capital — it has earned 21% on average over the last five years.
61%of the value comes from after year 10. The more of it, the more the answer depends on the part nobody can see.
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$1.2M1 sale(s) by 1 insider(s)
Under pre-arranged plans0%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.