GE · Industrials(electronic & other electrical equipment (no computer equip)) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-31
General Electric Co reported revenue of $45.9 billion in fiscal 2025, after shrinking 9.3% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin widened from 6.4% in 2016 to 21.8%, and it earned 21.0% on its invested capital in the latest year. Of the $52.8 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 72.6% went to buybacks and 56.9% back into the business; the share count fell 6.4%. On the accounting screens, it passes 5 of 8 Piotroski tests and its Altman Z'' of 2.97 is in the safe zone; none of the six cross-checks between its statements fires.
Revenue, fiscal 202545.9B-9.3% a year over 9 years
Operating margin21.8%gross margin —
Return on invested capital21.0%9.1% on average over 5 years
Free cash flow after stock pay6.9B15.1% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA0.9×net debt 9.8B
Piotroski F-score5/8tests of improvement passed
Share counts are in today's shares. The SEC's filings restate only recent years after a split, so these jumps were read as splits and the older years scaled to match — otherwise per-share figures would compare different units:
1-for-8 before fiscal 2019.
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
-50.0B050.0B100.0B150.0B
2016Revenue 110.2BOperating income 7.0B
2017Revenue 111.0BOperating income -11.3B
2018Revenue 113.5BOperating income -21.0B
2019Revenue 90.2BOperating income -54.0M
2020Revenue 75.8BOperating income 6.0B
2021Revenue 56.5BOperating income -5.7B
2022Revenue 29.1BOperating income 1.5B
2023Revenue 35.3BOperating income 10.4B
2024Revenue 38.7BOperating income 7.6B
2025Revenue 45.9BOperating income 10.0B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
+16.3%
-9.6%
-9.3%
Operating income
+87.3%
+10.9%
+4.0%
Net income
+195.9%
+8.8%
+1.7%
Earnings per share
+198.9%
+9.4%
+2.4%
Free cash flow per share
+18.1%
+30.2%
—
Dividend per share
+32.8%
+18.1%
-17.5%
Shares
-1.0%
-0.5%
-0.7%
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 · 7.8%
-60.0%-40.0%-20.0%-0.0%20.0%40.0%
2016Return on invested capital 5.8%
2017Return on invested capital -17.7%
2018Return on invested capital -48.2%
2019Return on invested capital -1.2%
2020Return on invested capital 13.6%
2021Return on invested capital -14.4%
2022Return on invested capital 3.6%
2023Return on invested capital 19.1%
2024Return on invested capital 16.4%
2025Return on invested capital 21.0%
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Economic profit
Economic profit
-30.0B-20.0B-10.0B010.0B
2016Economic profit -1.9B
2017Economic profit -20.4B
2018Economic profit -24.5B
2019Economic profit -4.6B
2020Economic profit 2.4B
2021Economic profit -9.9B
2022Economic profit -1.6B
2023Economic profit 5.6B
2024Economic profit 3.5B
2025Economic profit 5.4B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
(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
46.6%
Return on assets
6.7%
Asset turnover
0.35×
Research & development
3.4% of revenue
Overheads (SG&A)
8.9% 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
-30.0B-20.0B-10.0B010.0B
2016Net income 7.5BFree cash flow -6.0B
2017Net income -8.5BFree cash flow -88.0M
2018Net income -22.4BFree cash flow -1.6BAfter stock-based pay -2.0B
2019Net income -5.0BFree cash flow 6.5BAfter stock-based pay 6.1B
2020Net income 5.7BFree cash flow 2.0BAfter stock-based pay 1.6B
2021Net income -6.3BFree cash flow 2.2BAfter stock-based pay 1.9B
2022Net income 336.0MFree cash flow 4.5BAfter stock-based pay 4.4B
2023Net income 9.5BFree cash flow 4.3BAfter stock-based pay 4.1B
2024Net income 6.6BFree cash flow 3.7BAfter stock-based pay 3.4B
2025Net income 8.7BFree cash flow 7.3BAfter stock-based pay 6.9B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2016–2025
52.8B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 57%30.1B
Acquisitions 11%5.8B
Dividends 52%27.5B
Share buybacks 73%38.3B
More than it generated: funded with cash or new debt -92%-48.8B
Over the same years it paid 2.3B in stock. The share count fell 6.4%. 36.0B of the buybacks went beyond offsetting that dilution.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$-30.00$-20.00$-10.00$0.00$10.00
2016Earnings per share $6.57Free cash flow per share $-5.29Dividend per share $7.72
2017Earnings per share $-7.81Free cash flow per share $-0.08Dividend per share $7.97
2018Earnings per share $-20.58Free cash flow per share $-1.52Dividend per share $4.12
2019Earnings per share $-4.56Free cash flow per share $5.97Dividend per share $0.59
2020Earnings per share $5.21Free cash flow per share $1.82Dividend per share $0.59
2021Earnings per share $-5.77Free cash flow per share $2.03Dividend per share $0.52
2022Earnings per share $0.31Free cash flow per share $4.13Dividend per share $0.58
2023Earnings per share $8.63Free cash flow per share $3.94Dividend per share $0.54
2024Earnings per share $5.99Free cash flow per share $3.36Dividend per share $0.92
2025Earnings per share $8.15Free cash flow per share $6.80Dividend per share $1.36
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
1.1B1.1B1.1B1.1B1.1B1.2B
2016Diluted shares 1.1B
2017Diluted shares 1.1B
2018Diluted shares 1.1B
2019Diluted shares 1.1B
2020Diluted shares 1.1B
2021Diluted shares 1.1B
2022Diluted shares 1.1B
2023Diluted shares 1.1B
2024Diluted shares 1.1B
2025Diluted shares 1.1B
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
-40.0B-20.0B020.0B
2016Net debt -17.4B
2017Net debt -19.3B
2018Net debt -18.3B
2019Net debt -12.2B
2020Net debt -31.8B
2021Net debt -11.4B
2022Net debt -12.1B
2023Net debt 6.8B
2024Net debt 7.7B
2025Net debt 9.8B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
0.9×
Interest coverage
— operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
1.04 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
— collects in 94d
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 beforepassed
✕Profit backed by cashOperating cash flow above net income (low accruals)failed
✕Less long-term debtLong-term debt as a share of assets fellfailed
✕More liquidCurrent ratio higher than a year beforefailed
✓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 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?
2.97safe zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets 0.01 × 6.56+0.08
Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.67 × 3.26+2.20
Operating income ÷ assets 0.08 × 6.72+0.52
Equity ÷ liabilities 0.17 × 1.05+0.18
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$188.56discounted at 7.8% a year · 58% 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
23.1×
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA
19.4×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue
4.6×
Free cash flow yield
3.4%
From cash flows to a value per share
10 years of cash flow, today89.3B
Everything after, today121.8B
The whole business211.1B
Minus net debt-9.8B
What belongs to shareholders201.4B
Divided among 1.1B shares: <strong>$188.56</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
-5.0B05.0B10.0B15.0B
2016
2017
2018Reported -2.0B
2019Reported 6.1B
2020Reported 1.6B
2021Reported 1.9B
2022Reported 4.4B
2023Reported 4.1B
2024Reported 3.4B
2025Reported 6.9B
2026Projected 14.3B
2027Projected 13.7B
2028Projected 13.3B
2029Projected 12.9B
2030Projected 12.7B
2031Projected 12.6B
2032Projected 12.6B
2033Projected 12.7B
2034Projected 12.9B
2035Projected 13.2B
2016201820202022202420262028203020322034
Year by year
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
Revenue
43.6B
41.7B
40.4B
39.3B
38.7B
38.4B
38.4B
38.7B
39.3B
40.3B
Growth
-5.0%
-4.2%
-3.3%
-2.5%
-1.7%
-0.8%
0.0%
0.8%
1.7%
2.5%
Cash margin
32.8%
32.8%
32.8%
32.8%
32.8%
32.8%
32.8%
32.8%
32.8%
32.8%
Free cash flow
14.3B
13.7B
13.3B
12.9B
12.7B
12.6B
12.6B
12.7B
12.9B
13.2B
Worth today
13.3B
11.8B
10.6B
9.6B
8.7B
8.0B
7.5B
7.0B
6.6B
6.3B
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%
6.8%
195
212
233
259
294
7.3%
178
192
208
229
255
7.8%
164
175
189
205
225
8.3%
151
161
172
186
202
8.8%
141
149
158
169
182
Year-one growth and the final margin
margin ↓ · growth →
-9.0%
-7.0%
-5.0%
-3.0%
-1.0%
26.3%
131
144
158
173
189
29.6%
144
158
173
190
208
32.8%
156
172
189
207
227
36.1%
169
186
204
224
245
39.4%
181
200
219
241
264
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%, 4.9%, 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$136.32
Median$189.05
90th percentile$278.67
$200.00$300.00$400.00
Half of the simulations land between <b>$158.34</b> and <b>$229.16</b>; one in ten below $136.32, one in ten above $278.67.
Does the long run make sense?
27.0×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 27.0 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.
58%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.