JBL · Technology(printed circuit boards) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-08-31
Jabil Inc reported revenue of $29.8 billion in fiscal 2025, after growing 5.1% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin widened from 2.2% in 2017 to 4.0%, and it earned 19.8% on its invested capital in the latest year. Of the $8.1 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 106.4% went back into the business and 79.9% to buybacks; the share count fell 40.3%. On the accounting screens, it passes 5 of 9 Piotroski tests and its Altman Z'' of 1.65 is in the grey zone; 1 of the six cross-checks between its statements fires.
Revenue, fiscal 202529.8B+5.1% a year over 9 years
Operating margin4.0%gross margin 8.9%
Return on invested capital19.8%21.7% on average over 5 years
Free cash flow after stock pay1.1B3.6% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA0.5×net debt 952.0M
Piotroski F-score5/9tests 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
010.0B20.0B30.0B40.0B
2017Revenue 19.1BOperating income 410.2M
2018Revenue 22.1BOperating income 542.2M
2018
2019Revenue 25.3BOperating income 701.0M
2020Revenue 27.3BOperating income 500.0M
2021Revenue 29.3BOperating income 1.1B
2022Revenue 33.5BOperating income 1.4B
2023Revenue 34.7BOperating income 1.5B
2024Revenue 28.9BOperating income 2.0B
2025Revenue 29.8BOperating income 1.2B
2017201820182019202020212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
-3.8%
+1.8%
+5.1%
Operating income
-5.3%
+18.8%
+12.5%
Net income
-13.0%
+64.8%
+19.8%
Earnings per share
-4.9%
+76.3%
+26.9%
Free cash flow per share
+79.0%
+43.0%
—
Dividend per share
-0.8%
+0.2%
+0.1%
Shares
-8.4%
-6.5%
-5.6%
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 · 6.7%
0.0%10.0%20.0%30.0%40.0%
2017Return on invested capital 4.6%
2018Return on invested capital 2.8%
2018
2019Return on invested capital 10.2%
2020Return on invested capital 2.4%
2021Return on invested capital 15.6%
2022Return on invested capital 21.2%
2023Return on invested capital 17.4%
2024Return on invested capital 34.6%
2025Return on invested capital 19.8%
2017201820182019202020212022202320242025
Economic profit
Economic profit
-500.0M0500.0M1.0B1.5B
2017Economic profit -92.8M
2018Economic profit -173.6M
2018
2019Economic profit 154.2M
2020Economic profit -196.3M
2021Economic profit 442.7M
2022Economic profit 768.7M
2023Economic profit 609.9M
2024Economic profit 1.3B
2025Economic profit 574.6M
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
43.4%
Return on assets
3.5%
Asset turnover
1.61×
Research & development
0.1% of revenue
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
-3.0B-2.0B-1.0B01.0B2.0B
2017Net income 129.1MFree cash flow -2.2BAfter stock-based pay -2.2B
2018Net income 86.3MFree cash flow -2.1BAfter stock-based pay -2.2B
2018
2019Net income 287.0MFree cash flow 188.0MAfter stock-based pay 127.0M
2020Net income 54.0MFree cash flow 274.0MAfter stock-based pay 191.0M
2021Net income 696.0MFree cash flow 274.0MAfter stock-based pay 172.0M
2022Net income 996.0MFree cash flow 266.0MAfter stock-based pay 185.0M
2023Net income 818.0MFree cash flow 704.0MAfter stock-based pay 609.0M
2024Net income 1.4BFree cash flow 932.0MAfter stock-based pay 843.0M
2025Net income 657.0MFree cash flow 1.2BAfter stock-based pay 1.1B
2017201820182019202020212022202320242025
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2017–2025
8.1B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 106%8.6B
Acquisitions 13%1.0B
Dividends 5%440.8M
Share buybacks 80%6.4B
More than it generated: funded with cash or new debt -104%-8.4B
Over the same years it paid 765.1M in stock. The share count fell 40.3%. 5.7B of the buybacks went beyond offsetting that dilution.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$-20.00$-10.00$0.00$10.00$20.00
2017Earnings per share $0.69Free cash flow per share $-11.73Dividend per share $0.32
2018Earnings per share $0.49Free cash flow per share $-12.24Dividend per share $0.33
2018
2019Earnings per share $1.81Free cash flow per share $1.19Dividend per share $0.33
2020Earnings per share $0.35Free cash flow per share $1.76Dividend per share $0.32
2021Earnings per share $4.58Free cash flow per share $1.80Dividend per share $0.33
2022Earnings per share $6.90Free cash flow per share $1.84Dividend per share $0.33
2023Earnings per share $6.02Free cash flow per share $5.18Dividend per share $0.33
2024Earnings per share $11.17Free cash flow per share $7.50Dividend per share $0.34
2025Earnings per share $5.92Free cash flow per share $10.57Dividend per share $0.32
2017201820182019202020212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
100.0M120.0M140.0M160.0M180.0M200.0M
2017Diluted shares 185.8M
2018Diluted shares 175.0M
2018
2019Diluted shares 158.6M
2020Diluted shares 155.3M
2021Diluted shares 152.1M
2022Diluted shares 144.4M
2023Diluted shares 135.9M
2024Diluted shares 124.3M
2025Diluted shares 110.9M
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
0500.0M1.0B1.5B
2017Net debt 860.4M
2018Net debt 1.3B
2018
2019Net debt 1.3B
2020Net debt 1.3B
2021Net debt 1.3B
2022Net debt 1.4B
2023Net debt 1.1B
2024Net debt 679.0M
2025Net debt 952.0M
2017201820182019202020212022202320242025
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
0.5×
Interest coverage
— operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
1.00 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
—
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 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 beforefailed
✕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?
1.65grey zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets 0.00 × 6.56+0.00
Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.34 × 3.26+1.12
Operating income ÷ assets 0.06 × 6.72+0.43
Equity ÷ liabilities 0.09 × 1.05+0.09
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.
Capital spending (468M) is well below depreciation (674M).
Benign
Mature assets, or a business that has become less capital-intensive.
Worrying
Under-investing: today's profit is being held up by consuming tomorrow's capacity.
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$575.11discounted at 6.7% a year · 67% 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
97.1×
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA
34.9×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue
2.2×
Free cash flow yield
1.7%
From cash flows to a value per share
10 years of cash flow, today21.6B
Everything after, today43.1B
The whole business64.7B
Minus net debt-952.0M
What belongs to shareholders63.8B
Divided among 110.9M shares: <strong>$575.11</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
-4.0B-2.0B02.0B4.0B
2017Reported -2.2B
2018Reported -2.2B
2018
2019Reported 127.0M
2020Reported 191.0M
2021Reported 172.0M
2022Reported 185.0M
2023Reported 609.0M
2024Reported 843.0M
2025Reported 1.1B
2026Projected 2.8B
2027Projected 2.8B
2028Projected 2.9B
2029Projected 3.0B
2030Projected 3.0B
2031Projected 3.1B
2032Projected 3.2B
2033Projected 3.2B
2034Projected 3.3B
2035Projected 3.4B
2017201820202022202420262028203020322034
Year by year
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
Revenue
30.4B
31.0B
31.7B
32.4B
33.1B
33.8B
34.6B
35.5B
36.3B
37.2B
Growth
2.0%
2.1%
2.1%
2.2%
2.2%
2.3%
2.3%
2.4%
2.4%
2.5%
Cash margin
9.2%
9.2%
9.2%
9.2%
9.2%
9.2%
9.2%
9.2%
9.2%
9.2%
Free cash flow
2.8B
2.8B
2.9B
3.0B
3.0B
3.1B
3.2B
3.2B
3.3B
3.4B
Worth today
2.6B
2.5B
2.4B
2.3B
2.2B
2.1B
2.0B
1.9B
1.9B
1.8B
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%
5.7%
595
665
755
879
1,058
6.2%
531
585
653
742
864
6.7%
480
522
575
642
729
7.2%
437
472
513
565
631
7.7%
401
430
464
505
556
Year-one growth and the final margin
margin ↓ · growth →
-2.0%
0.0%
2.0%
4.0%
6.0%
7.3%
399
437
477
521
569
8.2%
440
481
526
575
628
9.2%
480
526
575
629
686
10.1%
520
570
624
682
746
11.0%
560
614
673
736
804
All the inputs moving at once
4,980 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$377.92
Median$572.28
90th percentile$936.38
$500.00$1,000.00$1,500.00
Half of the simulations land between <b>$461.56</b> and <b>$732.28</b>; one in ten below $377.92, one in ten above $936.38.
Does the long run make sense?
35.7×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 35.7 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.
67%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.