GILD · Health care(biological products, (no diagnostic substances)) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-31
Gilead Sciences, Inc. reported revenue of $29.4 billion in fiscal 2025, after growing 1.3% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin narrowed from 54.1% in 2017 to 34.0%, and it earned 18.3% on its invested capital in the latest year. Of the $86.9 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 58.7% went to acquisitions and 36.1% to dividends; the share count fell 4.9%. On the accounting screens, it passes 8 of 9 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of 3.28 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 202529.4B+1.3% a year over 9 years
Operating margin34.0%gross margin 78.8%
Return on invested capital18.3%12.3% on average over 5 years
Free cash flow after stock pay8.6B29.1% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA1.7×net debt 17.4B
Piotroski F-score8/9tests 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 26.1BOperating income 14.1B
2018
2018Revenue 22.1BOperating income 8.2B
2019Revenue 22.4BOperating income 4.3B
2020Revenue 24.7BOperating income 4.1B
2021Revenue 27.3BOperating income 9.9B
2022Revenue 27.3BOperating income 7.3B
2023Revenue 27.1BOperating income 7.6B
2024Revenue 28.8BOperating income 1.7B
2025Revenue 29.4BOperating income 10.0B
2017201820182019202020212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
+2.6%
+3.6%
+1.3%
Operating income
+11.0%
+19.7%
-3.7%
Net income
+22.8%
+133.3%
+7.0%
Earnings per share
+23.1%
+133.6%
+7.6%
Free cash flow per share
+4.5%
+4.8%
-1.4%
Dividend per share
+2.8%
+3.2%
+4.9%
Shares
-0.2%
-0.1%
-0.6%
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 · 7.2%
0.0%5.0%10.0%15.0%20.0%
2017Return on invested capital 9.0%
2018
2018Return on invested capital 11.8%
2019Return on invested capital 8.7%
2020Return on invested capital 0.4%
2021Return on invested capital 15.6%
2022Return on invested capital 12.4%
2023Return on invested capital 13.0%
2024Return on invested capital 2.5%
2025Return on invested capital 18.3%
2017201820182019202020212022202320242025
Economic profit
Economic profit
-5.0B-2.5B02.5B5.0B7.5B
2017Economic profit 957.7M
2018
2018Economic profit 2.2B
2019Economic profit 721.8M
2020Economic profit -3.4B
2021Economic profit 4.0B
2022Economic profit 2.4B
2023Economic profit 2.8B
2024Economic profit -2.2B
2025Economic profit 5.3B
2017201820182019202020212022202320242025
(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
37.5%
Return on assets
14.4%
Asset turnover
0.50×
Research & development
19.7% of revenue
Overheads (SG&A)
19.6% 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
05.0B10.0B15.0B
2017Net income 4.6BFree cash flow 11.3BAfter stock-based pay 10.7B
2018
2018Net income 5.5BFree cash flow 7.5BAfter stock-based pay 6.6B
2019Net income 5.4BFree cash flow 8.3BAfter stock-based pay 7.7B
2020Net income 123.0MFree cash flow 7.5BAfter stock-based pay 6.9B
2021Net income 6.2BFree cash flow 10.8BAfter stock-based pay 10.2B
2022Net income 4.6BFree cash flow 8.3BAfter stock-based pay 7.7B
2023Net income 5.7BFree cash flow 7.4BAfter stock-based pay 6.7B
2024Net income 480.0MFree cash flow 10.3BAfter stock-based pay 9.5B
2025Net income 8.5BFree cash flow 9.5BAfter stock-based pay 8.6B
2017201820182019202020212022202320242025
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2017–2025
86.9B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 7%6.0B
Acquisitions 59%51.0B
Dividends 36%31.4B
Share buybacks 15%13.2B
More than it generated: funded with cash or new debt -17%-14.7B
Over the same years it paid 6.5B in stock. The share count fell 4.9%. 6.7B of the buybacks went beyond offsetting that dilution.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$0.00$2.50$5.00$7.50$10.00
2017Earnings per share $3.51Free cash flow per share $8.57Dividend per share $2.07
2018
2018Earnings per share $4.17Free cash flow per share $5.72Dividend per share $2.27
2019Earnings per share $4.22Free cash flow per share $6.51Dividend per share $2.52
2020Earnings per share $0.10Free cash flow per share $5.95Dividend per share $2.73
2021Earnings per share $4.93Free cash flow per share $8.56Dividend per share $2.86
2022Earnings per share $3.64Free cash flow per share $6.61Dividend per share $2.94
2023Earnings per share $4.50Free cash flow per share $5.90Dividend per share $3.03
2024Earnings per share $0.38Free cash flow per share $8.21Dividend per share $3.12
2025Earnings per share $6.78Free cash flow per share $7.53Dividend per share $3.19
2017201820182019202020212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
1.2B1.3B1.3B1.3B1.3B
2017Diluted shares 1.3B
2018
2018Diluted shares 1.3B
2019Diluted shares 1.3B
2020Diluted shares 1.3B
2021Diluted shares 1.3B
2022Diluted shares 1.3B
2023Diluted shares 1.3B
2024Diluted shares 1.3B
2025Diluted shares 1.3B
2017201820182019202020212022202320242025
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
010.0B20.0B30.0B
2017Net debt 26.0B
2018
2018Net debt 9.4B
2019Net debt 13.0B
2020Net debt 25.4B
2021Net debt 21.4B
2022Net debt 19.8B
2023Net debt 18.9B
2024Net debt 16.7B
2025Net debt 17.4B
2017201820182019202020212022202320242025
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
1.7×
Interest coverage
10× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
1.55 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
123 days collects in 61d, stock 104d, pays 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.
8of 9 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)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 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?
3.28safe zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets 0.11 × 6.56+0.73
Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.23 × 3.26+0.76
Operating income ÷ assets 0.17 × 6.72+1.14
Equity ÷ liabilities 0.63 × 1.05+0.66
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?
-2.45below the -1.78 line
-1.78
Receivables vs sales 1.09+1.00
Gross margin slipping 0.99+0.52
Soft assets 1.02+0.41
Sales growth 1.02+0.91
Slower depreciation 1.06+0.12
Overheads vs sales 0.93-0.16
Profit not in cash -0.03-0.12
Leverage rising 0.92-0.30
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$63.89discounted at 7.2% a year · 64% 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
9.4×
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA
9.4×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue
3.3×
Free cash flow yield
10.7%
From cash flows to a value per share
10 years of cash flow, today35.0B
Everything after, today62.6B
The whole business97.5B
Minus net debt-17.4B
What belongs to shareholders80.2B
Divided among 1.3B shares: <strong>$63.89</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
05.0B10.0B15.0B
2017Reported 10.7B
2018
2018Reported 6.6B
2019Reported 7.7B
2020Reported 6.9B
2021Reported 10.2B
2022Reported 7.7B
2023Reported 6.7B
2024Reported 9.5B
2025Reported 8.6B
2026Projected 4.4B
2027Projected 4.6B
2028Projected 4.7B
2029Projected 4.9B
2030Projected 5.0B
2031Projected 5.2B
2032Projected 5.3B
2033Projected 5.5B
2034Projected 5.6B
2035Projected 5.8B
2017201820202022202420262028203020322034
Year by year
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
Revenue
30.5B
31.5B
32.5B
33.6B
34.6B
35.6B
36.6B
37.6B
38.6B
39.6B
Growth
3.5%
3.4%
3.3%
3.2%
3.1%
2.9%
2.8%
2.7%
2.6%
2.5%
Cash margin
14.6%
14.6%
14.6%
14.6%
14.6%
14.6%
14.6%
14.6%
14.6%
14.6%
Free cash flow
4.4B
4.6B
4.7B
4.9B
5.0B
5.2B
5.3B
5.5B
5.6B
5.8B
Worth today
4.1B
4.0B
3.8B
3.7B
3.6B
3.4B
3.3B
3.1B
3.0B
2.9B
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%
6.2%
67
75
85
98
117
6.7%
59
65
73
83
96
7.2%
52
58
64
72
82
7.7%
47
51
56
63
70
8.2%
42
46
50
55
61
Year-one growth and the final margin
margin ↓ · growth →
-0.5%
1.5%
3.5%
5.5%
7.5%
11.7%
41
46
51
57
63
13.1%
46
52
57
64
71
14.6%
51
57
64
71
78
16.0%
57
63
70
78
86
17.5%
62
69
77
85
94
All the inputs moving at once
4,997 valuations, each with growth, final margin, discount rate and growth forever drawn at random around the values on the left (spreads of 3.0%, 2.2%, 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$41.63
Median$64.02
90th percentile$104.62
$50.00$100.00$150.00
Half of the simulations land between <b>$51.00</b> and <b>$81.76</b>; one in ten below $41.63, one in ten above $104.62.
Does the long run make sense?
9.0×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 9.0 times that year's EBITDA.
5%To grow 2.5% forever while reinvesting 51% of its after-tax operating profit, the business must earn 5% on the new capital — it has earned 12% on average over the last five years.
64%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.