KMI · Energy(natural gas transmission) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-31
Kinder Morgan, Inc. reported revenue of $15.2 billion in fiscal 2025, after growing 1.2% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin widened from 25.7% in 2017 to 31.1%, and it earned 5.9% on its invested capital in the latest year. Of the $47.7 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 43.9% went back into the business and 41.8% to dividends. On the accounting screens, it passes 6 of 8 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of 0.65 is in the distress zone and its Beneish M-score is below the -1.78 line; 1 of the six cross-checks between its statements fires.
Revenue, fiscal 202515.2B+1.2% a year over 9 years
Operating margin31.1%gross margin —
Return on invested capital5.9%5.1% on average over 5 years
Free cash flow2.9B19.0% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA4.5×net debt 31.9B
Piotroski F-score6/8tests 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
05.0B10.0B15.0B20.0B
2017Revenue 13.7BOperating income 3.5B
2018
2018Revenue 13.3BOperating income 3.8B
2019Revenue 12.1BOperating income 4.9B
2020Revenue 10.1BOperating income 1.6B
2021Revenue 16.2BOperating income 2.9B
2022Revenue 18.1BOperating income 4.1B
2023Revenue 13.6BOperating income 4.3B
2024Revenue 13.5BOperating income 4.4B
2025Revenue 15.2BOperating income 4.7B
2017201820182019202020212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
-5.7%
+8.5%
+1.2%
Operating income
+5.1%
+24.8%
+3.3%
Net income
+6.2%
+91.4%
+36.7%
Earnings per share
+6.8%
+92.1%
+36.8%
Free cash flow per share
-4.3%
+0.7%
+8.3%
Dividend per share
+1.8%
+2.3%
+9.9%
Shares
-0.5%
-0.4%
-0.0%
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 · 7.7%
0.0%2.0%4.0%6.0%8.0%
2017Return on invested capital 0.5%
2018
2018Return on invested capital 4.1%
2019Return on invested capital 5.1%
2020Return on invested capital 0.6%
2021Return on invested capital 3.8%
2022Return on invested capital 5.1%
2023Return on invested capital 5.3%
2024Return on invested capital 5.6%
2025Return on invested capital 5.9%
2017201820182019202020212022202320242025
Economic profit
Economic profit
-6.0B-4.0B-2.0B0
2017Economic profit -5.1B
2018
2018Economic profit -2.6B
2019Economic profit -1.8B
2020Economic profit -4.7B
2021Economic profit -2.5B
2022Economic profit -1.6B
2023Economic profit -1.5B
2024Economic profit -1.3B
2025Economic profit -1.1B
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
9.8%
Return on assets
4.2%
Asset turnover
0.21×
Overheads (SG&A)
4.9% 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
02.0B4.0B6.0B
2017Net income 183.0MFree cash flow 1.4B
2018
2018Net income 1.6BFree cash flow 2.1B
2019Net income 2.2BFree cash flow 2.5B
2020Net income 119.0MFree cash flow 2.8B
2021Net income 1.8BFree cash flow 4.4B
2022Net income 2.5BFree cash flow 3.3B
2023Net income 2.4BFree cash flow 4.2B
2024Net income 2.6BFree cash flow 3.0B
2025Net income 3.1BFree cash flow 2.9B
2017201820182019202020212022202320242025
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2017–2025
47.7B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 44%20.9B
Acquisitions 0%138.0M
Dividends 42%19.9B
Share buybacks 3%1.5B
Kept, or used to pay down debt 11%5.2B
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$0.00$0.50$1.00$1.50$2.00
2017Earnings per share $0.08Free cash flow per share $0.63Dividend per share $0.50
2018
2018
2019Earnings per share $0.97Free cash flow per share $1.09Dividend per share $0.96
2020Earnings per share $0.05Free cash flow per share $1.26Dividend per share $1.04
2021Earnings per share $0.79Free cash flow per share $1.95Dividend per share $1.08
2022Earnings per share $1.13Free cash flow per share $1.48Dividend per share $1.11
2023Earnings per share $1.07Free cash flow per share $1.87Dividend per share $1.13
2024Earnings per share $1.18Free cash flow per share $1.35Dividend per share $1.15
2025Earnings per share $1.37Free cash flow per share $1.30Dividend per share $1.17
2017201820182019202020212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
2.2B2.2B2.3B2.3B
2017Diluted shares 2.2B
2018
2018
2019Diluted shares 2.3B
2020Diluted shares 2.3B
2021Diluted shares 2.3B
2022Diluted shares 2.3B
2023Diluted shares 2.2B
2024Diluted shares 2.2B
2025Diluted shares 2.2B
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
010.0B20.0B30.0B40.0B
2017Net debt 37.6B
2018
2018Net debt 34.0B
2019Net debt 34.2B
2020Net debt 33.5B
2021Net debt 32.2B
2022Net debt 31.0B
2023Net debt 32.0B
2024Net debt 31.8B
2025Net debt 31.9B
2017201820182019202020212022202320242025
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
4.5×
Interest coverage
— operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
0.64 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.
6of 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)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 growfailed
–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?
0.65distress zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets -0.02 × 6.56-0.14
Retained earnings ÷ assets -0.14 × 3.26-0.46
Operating income ÷ assets 0.06 × 6.72+0.44
Equity ÷ liabilities 0.77 × 1.05+0.81
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?
-2.54below the -1.78 line
-1.78
Receivables vs sales 1.00 (not reported, set to 1)+0.92
Gross margin slipping 1.00 (not reported, set to 1)+0.53
Soft assets 0.97+0.39
Sales growth 1.13+1.01
Slower depreciation 0.99+0.11
Overheads vs sales 0.93-0.16
Profit not in cash -0.04-0.18
Leverage rising 0.98-0.32
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 4.5 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.
Value per share, with these assumptions$25.30discounted at 7.7% a year · 63% 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
18.4×
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA
12.3×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue
5.8×
Free cash flow yield
5.1%
From cash flows to a value per share
10 years of cash flow, today32.7B
Everything after, today55.5B
The whole business88.2B
Minus net debt-31.9B
What belongs to shareholders56.2B
Divided among 2.2B shares: <strong>$25.30</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
02.0B4.0B6.0B
2017Reported 1.4B
2018
2018Reported 2.1B
2019Reported 2.5B
2020Reported 2.8B
2021Reported 4.4B
2022Reported 3.3B
2023Reported 4.2B
2024Reported 3.0B
2025Reported 2.9B
2026Projected 3.8B
2027Projected 4.1B
2028Projected 4.3B
2029Projected 4.6B
2030Projected 4.9B
2031Projected 5.2B
2032Projected 5.4B
2033Projected 5.6B
2034Projected 5.8B
2035Projected 5.9B
2017201820202022202420262028203020322034
Year by year
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
Revenue
16.5B
17.8B
19.1B
20.3B
21.5B
22.6B
23.6B
24.5B
25.3B
25.9B
Growth
8.5%
7.8%
7.2%
6.5%
5.8%
5.2%
4.5%
3.8%
3.2%
2.5%
Cash margin
22.8%
22.8%
22.8%
22.8%
22.8%
22.8%
22.8%
22.8%
22.8%
22.8%
Free cash flow
3.8B
4.1B
4.3B
4.6B
4.9B
5.2B
5.4B
5.6B
5.8B
5.9B
Worth today
3.5B
3.5B
3.5B
3.4B
3.4B
3.3B
3.2B
3.1B
3.0B
2.8B
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%
6.7%
27
30
35
41
49
7.2%
23
26
30
34
40
7.7%
20
22
25
29
33
8.2%
17
19
22
25
28
8.7%
15
17
19
21
24
Year-one growth and the final margin
margin ↓ · growth →
4.5%
6.5%
8.5%
10.5%
12.5%
18.2%
14
16
19
22
25
20.5%
16
19
22
25
29
22.8%
19
22
25
29
32
25.1%
22
25
29
32
36
27.4%
25
28
32
36
40
All the inputs moving at once
4,999 valuations, each with growth, final margin, discount rate and growth forever drawn at random around the values on the left (spreads of 3.0%, 3.4%, 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$14.29
Median$25.33
90th percentile$44.40
$20.00$40.00$60.00
Half of the simulations land between <b>$18.95</b> and <b>$33.80</b>; one in ten below $14.29, one in ten above $44.40.
Does the long run make sense?
9.5×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 9.5 times that year's EBITDA.
35%To grow 2.5% forever while reinvesting 7% of its after-tax operating profit, the business must earn 35% on the new capital — it has earned 5% on average over the last five years.
63%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.