FLEX · Technology(printed circuit boards) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2026-03-31
Flex Ltd. reported revenue of $27.9 billion in fiscal 2026, after growing 1.8% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin widened from 2.0% in 2017 to 4.9%, and it earned 11.8% on its invested capital in the latest year. On the accounting screens, it passes 6 of 9 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of 2.34 is in the grey zone and its Beneish M-score is below the -1.78 line; 1 of the six cross-checks between its statements fires.
Revenue, fiscal 202627.9B+1.8% a year over 9 years
Operating margin4.9%gross margin 9.4%
Return on invested capital11.8%9.8% on average over 5 years
Free cash flow after stock pay910.0M3.3% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA0.7×net debt 1.4B
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
010.0B20.0B30.0B
2017Revenue 23.9BOperating income 478.8M
2018Revenue 25.4BOperating income 644.0M
2019Revenue 26.2BOperating income 328.0M
2020Revenue 24.2BOperating income 415.0M
2021Revenue 24.1BOperating income 795.0M
2022Revenue 24.6BOperating income 890.0M
2023Revenue 28.5BOperating income 1.0B
2024Revenue 26.4BOperating income 853.0M
2025Revenue 25.8BOperating income 1.2B
2026Revenue 27.9BOperating income 1.4B
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
-0.7%
+3.0%
+1.8%
Operating income
+10.4%
+11.5%
+12.4%
Net income
+3.5%
+7.5%
+11.9%
Earnings per share
+10.7%
+14.0%
+16.6%
Free cash flow per share
+59.8%
—
—
Shares
-6.5%
-5.7%
-4.0%
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 · 7.6%
0.0%5.0%10.0%15.0%
2017Return on invested capital 7.4%
2018Return on invested capital 8.9%
2019Return on invested capital 2.8%
2020Return on invested capital 4.1%
2021Return on invested capital 9.5%
2022Return on invested capital 9.7%
2023Return on invested capital 9.5%
2024Return on invested capital 6.9%
2025Return on invested capital 11.0%
2026Return on invested capital 11.8%
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Economic profit
Economic profit
-400.0M-200.0M0200.0M400.0M
2017Economic profit -12.3M
2018Economic profit 77.4M
2019Economic profit -290.0M
2020Economic profit -200.7M
2021Economic profit 134.5M
2022Economic profit 172.9M
2023Economic profit 174.0M
2024Economic profit -62.7M
2025Economic profit 297.5M
2026Economic profit 377.9M
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
17.1%
Return on assets
4.0%
Asset turnover
1.27×
Overheads (SG&A)
3.8% 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
-6.0B-4.0B-2.0B02.0B
2017Net income 319.6MFree cash flow -4.3BAfter stock-based pay -4.4B
2018Net income 428.5MFree cash flow -4.4BAfter stock-based pay -4.5B
2019Net income 93.0MFree cash flow -3.7BAfter stock-based pay -3.8B
2020Net income 88.0MFree cash flow -2.0BAfter stock-based pay -2.1B
2021Net income 613.0MFree cash flow -207.0MAfter stock-based pay -286.0M
2022Net income 936.0MFree cash flow 581.0MAfter stock-based pay 490.0M
2023Net income 793.0MFree cash flow 315.0MAfter stock-based pay 182.0M
2024Net income 1.0BFree cash flow 796.0MAfter stock-based pay 644.0M
2025Net income 838.0MFree cash flow 1.1BAfter stock-based pay 942.0M
2026Net income 880.0MFree cash flow 1.1BAfter stock-based pay 910.0M
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$-10.00$-5.00$0.00$5.00
2017Earnings per share $0.59Free cash flow per share $-7.96
2018Earnings per share $0.80Free cash flow per share $-8.25
2019Earnings per share $0.18Free cash flow per share $-6.98
2020Earnings per share $0.17Free cash flow per share $-3.90
2021Earnings per share $1.21Free cash flow per share $-0.41
2022Earnings per share $1.94Free cash flow per share $1.20
2023Earnings per share $1.72Free cash flow per share $0.68
2024Earnings per share $2.28Free cash flow per share $1.80
2025Earnings per share $2.11Free cash flow per share $2.68
2026Earnings per share $2.33Free cash flow per share $2.78
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
350.0M400.0M450.0M500.0M550.0M
2017Diluted shares 546.2M
2018Diluted shares 536.6M
2019Diluted shares 530.0M
2020Diluted shares 512.0M
2021Diluted shares 506.0M
2022Diluted shares 483.0M
2023Diluted shares 462.0M
2024Diluted shares 441.0M
2025Diluted shares 398.0M
2026Diluted shares 378.0M
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
0500.0M1.0B1.5B
2017Net debt 1.1B
2018Net debt 1.5B
2019Net debt 1.4B
2020Net debt 915.0M
2021Net debt 1.1B
2022Net debt 1.2B
2023Net debt 530.0M
2024Net debt 787.0M
2025Net debt 1.4B
2026Net debt 1.4B
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
0.7×
Interest coverage
7× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
1.36 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
29 days collects in 61d, stock 84d, pays in 116d
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 fellfailed
✓More liquidCurrent ratio higher than a year beforepassed
✓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?
2.34grey zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets 0.20 × 6.56+1.28
Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.10 × 3.26+0.32
Operating income ÷ assets 0.06 × 6.72+0.42
Equity ÷ liabilities 0.30 × 1.05+0.32
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?
-2.55below the -1.78 line
-1.78
Receivables vs sales 1.18+1.08
Gross margin slipping 0.92+0.48
Soft assets 0.84+0.34
Sales growth 1.08+0.96
Slower depreciation 1.03+0.12
Overheads vs sales 1.08-0.19
Profit not in cash -0.04-0.17
Leverage rising 1.07-0.35
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.
Receivables are growing 27% 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.
Value per share, with these assumptions$83.23discounted at 7.6% 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
35.8×
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA
18.0×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue
1.2×
Free cash flow yield
2.9%
From cash flows to a value per share
10 years of cash flow, today12.6B
Everything after, today20.3B
The whole business32.8B
Minus net debt-1.4B
What belongs to shareholders31.5B
Divided among 378.0M shares: <strong>$83.23</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
2017Reported -4.4B
2018Reported -4.5B
2019Reported -3.8B
2020Reported -2.1B
2021Reported -286.0M
2022Reported 490.0M
2023Reported 182.0M
2024Reported 644.0M
2025Reported 942.0M
2026Reported 910.0M
2027Projected 1.6B
2028Projected 1.7B
2029Projected 1.7B
2030Projected 1.8B
2031Projected 1.8B
2032Projected 1.9B
2033Projected 1.9B
2034Projected 2.0B
2035Projected 2.0B
2036Projected 2.1B
2017201920212023202520272029203120332035
Year by year
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
2036
Revenue
28.8B
29.6B
30.5B
31.3B
32.2B
33.1B
33.9B
34.8B
35.7B
36.6B
Growth
3.0%
2.9%
2.9%
2.8%
2.8%
2.7%
2.7%
2.6%
2.6%
2.5%
Cash margin
5.7%
5.7%
5.7%
5.7%
5.7%
5.7%
5.7%
5.7%
5.7%
5.7%
Free cash flow
1.6B
1.7B
1.7B
1.8B
1.8B
1.9B
1.9B
2.0B
2.0B
2.1B
Worth today
1.5B
1.5B
1.4B
1.3B
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%
6.6%
86
94
105
118
135
7.1%
78
85
93
103
115
7.6%
71
77
83
91
101
8.1%
66
70
75
82
90
8.6%
61
65
69
74
80
Year-one growth and the final margin
margin ↓ · growth →
-1.0%
1.0%
3.0%
5.0%
7.0%
4.6%
58
63
69
75
82
5.1%
64
70
76
83
91
5.7%
69
76
83
91
99
6.3%
75
82
90
99
108
6.9%
81
89
97
106
116
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$48.04
Median$83.10
90th percentile$136.90
$50.00$100.00$150.00$200.00
Half of the simulations land between <b>$63.54</b> and <b>$108.17</b>; one in ten below $48.04, one in ten above $136.90.
Does the long run make sense?
17.6×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 17.6 times that year's EBITDA.
Free growthIn year 10 free cash flow is at or above after-tax operating profit, yet the model grows 2.5% forever. Growth needs reinvestment; this assumes it comes for free, which flatters the terminal value.
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.