INTC · Technology(semiconductors & related devices) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-27
Intel Corp reported revenue of $52.9 billion in fiscal 2025, after shrinking 1.3% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin narrowed from 22.1% in 2016 to -4.2%, and it earned -0.0% on its invested capital in the latest year. Of the $216.7 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 80.7% went back into the business and 21.8% to buybacks; the share count fell 7.1%. On the accounting screens, it passes 6 of 9 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of 2.92 is in the safe zone and its Beneish M-score is below the -1.78 line; 1 of the six cross-checks between its statements fires.
Revenue, fiscal 202552.9B-1.3% a year over 9 years
Operating margin-4.2%gross margin 34.8%
Return on invested capital-0.0%0.3% on average over 5 years
Free cash flow after stock pay-7.4B-14.0% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA3.8×net debt 32.3B
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
-25.0B025.0B50.0B75.0B100.0B
2016Revenue 59.4BOperating income 13.1B
2017Revenue 62.8BOperating income 18.1B
2018Revenue 70.8BOperating income 23.3B
2019Revenue 72.0BOperating income 22.0B
2020Revenue 77.9BOperating income 23.7B
2021Revenue 79.0BOperating income 19.5B
2022Revenue 63.1BOperating income 2.3B
2023Revenue 54.2BOperating income 93.0M
2024Revenue 53.1BOperating income -11.7B
2025Revenue 52.9BOperating income -2.2B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
-5.7%
-7.5%
-1.3%
Shares
+3.2%
+1.4%
-0.8%
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.
Needs a cost of capital, which comes from the valuation below.
Return on equity
-0.2%
Return on assets
-0.1%
Asset turnover
0.25×
Research & development
26.1% of revenue
Overheads (SG&A)
8.7% 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
-20.0B020.0B40.0B
2016Net income 10.3BFree cash flow 12.2BAfter stock-based pay 10.7B
2017Net income 9.6BFree cash flow 10.3BAfter stock-based pay 9.0B
2018Net income 21.1BFree cash flow 14.3BAfter stock-based pay 12.7B
2019Net income 21.0BFree cash flow 16.9BAfter stock-based pay 15.2B
2020Net income 20.9BFree cash flow 21.6BAfter stock-based pay 19.8B
2021Net income 19.9BFree cash flow 10.7BAfter stock-based pay 8.7B
2022Net income 8.0BFree cash flow -9.4BAfter stock-based pay -12.5B
2023Net income 1.7BFree cash flow -14.3BAfter stock-based pay -17.5B
2024Net income -18.8BFree cash flow -15.7BAfter stock-based pay -19.1B
2025Net income -267.0MFree cash flow -4.9BAfter stock-based pay -7.4B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2016–2025
216.7B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 81%175.0B
Acquisitions 16%33.9B
Dividends 20%43.0B
Share buybacks 22%47.2B
More than it generated: funded with cash or new debt -38%-82.4B
Over the same years it paid 22.1B in stock. The share count fell 7.1%. 25.0B of the buybacks went beyond offsetting that dilution.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$-5.00$-2.50$0.00$2.50$5.00$7.50
2016Earnings per share $2.12Free cash flow per share $2.50Dividend per share $1.01
2017Earnings per share $1.99Free cash flow per share $2.14Dividend per share $1.05
2018Earnings per share $4.48Free cash flow per share $3.03Dividend per share $1.18
2019Earnings per share $4.71Free cash flow per share $3.79Dividend per share $1.25
2020Earnings per share $4.94Free cash flow per share $5.11Dividend per share $1.32
2021Earnings per share $4.86Free cash flow per share $2.62Dividend per share $1.38
2022Earnings per share $1.94Free cash flow per share $-2.28Dividend per share $1.45
2023Earnings per share $0.40Free cash flow per share $-3.39Dividend per share $0.73
2024Earnings per share $-4.38Free cash flow per share $-3.66Dividend per share $0.37
2025Earnings per share $-0.06Free cash flow per share $-1.09Dividend per share $0.00
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
4.0B4.2B4.4B4.6B4.8B5.0B
2016Diluted shares 4.9B
2017Diluted shares 4.8B
2018Diluted shares 4.7B
2019Diluted shares 4.5B
2020Diluted shares 4.2B
2021Diluted shares 4.1B
2022Diluted shares 4.1B
2023Diluted shares 4.2B
2024Diluted shares 4.3B
2025Diluted shares 4.5B
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
020.0B40.0B60.0B
2016Net debt 19.7B
2017Net debt 23.3B
2018Net debt 22.8B
2019Net debt 24.8B
2020Net debt 30.5B
2021Net debt 33.3B
2022Net debt 27.0B
2023Net debt 42.2B
2024Net debt 41.8B
2025Net debt 32.3B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
3.8×
Interest coverage
-2× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
2.02 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
45 days collects in 27d, stock 123d, pays in 105d
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 zerofailed
✓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 beforepassed
✕No new sharesShare count did not growfailed
✓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?
2.92safe zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets 0.15 × 6.56+1.00
Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.23 × 3.26+0.76
Operating income ÷ assets -0.01 × 6.72-0.07
Equity ÷ liabilities 1.18 × 1.05+1.24
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?
-2.56below the -1.78 line
-1.78
Receivables vs sales 1.11+1.02
Gross margin slipping 0.94+0.50
Soft assets 1.00 (not reported, set to 1)+0.40
Sales growth 1.00+0.89
Slower depreciation 1.00 (not reported, set to 1)+0.12
Overheads vs sales 0.84-0.15
Profit not in cash -0.05-0.22
Leverage rising 0.86-0.28
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.
Net debt is 3.8 times EBITDA.
Benign
A stable sector with predictable cash flows and comfortable maturities.
Worrying
Little room if earnings fall; the maturity schedule is what to check.
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.
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.