MDB · Technology(services-prepackaged software) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2026-01-31
MongoDB, Inc. reported revenue of $2.5 billion in fiscal 2026, after growing 40.6% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin widened from -60.4% in 2017 to -5.6%. Of the $573.7 million its operations generated over 10 years, 69.9% went to buybacks and 20.2% to acquisitions. On the accounting screens, it passes 4 of 8 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of 6.21 is in the safe zone and its Beneish M-score is below the -1.78 line; 2 of the six cross-checks between its statements fire.
Revenue, fiscal 20262.5B+40.6% a year over 9 years
Operating margin-5.6%gross margin 71.7%
Return on invested capital—
Free cash flow after stock pay-50.3M-2.0% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA—net debt —
Piotroski F-score4/8tests 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
-1.0B01.0B2.0B3.0B
2017Revenue 114.8MOperating income -69.3M
2018Revenue 166.0MOperating income -84.9M
2019Revenue 267.0MOperating income -97.8M
2020Revenue 421.7MOperating income -147.9M
2021Revenue 590.4MOperating income -209.3M
2022Revenue 873.8MOperating income -289.4M
2023Revenue 1.3BOperating income -346.7M
2024Revenue 1.7BOperating income -233.7M
2025Revenue 2.0BOperating income -216.1M
2026Revenue 2.5BOperating income -137.0M
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
+24.3%
+33.1%
+40.6%
Shares
+5.8%
+6.6%
—
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.
Needs a cost of capital, which comes from the valuation below.
Return on equity
-2.4%
Return on assets
-1.9%
Asset turnover
0.66×
Research & development
29.1% of revenue
Overheads (SG&A)
9.9% 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
-500.0M-250.0M0250.0M500.0M750.0M
2017Net income -70.1MFree cash flow -39.8MAfter stock-based pay -60.8M
2018Net income -84.0MFree cash flow -47.0MAfter stock-based pay -68.3M
2019Net income -99.0MFree cash flow -48.8MAfter stock-based pay -86.2M
2020Net income -175.5MFree cash flow -33.1MAfter stock-based pay -108.9M
2021Net income -266.9MFree cash flow -54.4MAfter stock-based pay -203.8M
2022Net income -306.9MFree cash flow -1.1MAfter stock-based pay -252.2M
2023Net income -345.4MFree cash flow -20.2MAfter stock-based pay -401.7M
2024Net income -176.6MFree cash flow 115.4MAfter stock-based pay -341.5M
2025Net income -129.1MFree cash flow 120.6MAfter stock-based pay -373.3M
2026Net income -71.2MFree cash flow 500.2MAfter stock-based pay -50.3M
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2017–2026
573.7M generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 14%81.9M
Acquisitions 20%115.6M
Dividends 0%0
Share buybacks 70%401.0M
More than it generated: funded with cash or new debt -4%-24.9M
Over the same years it paid 2.4B in stock. The buybacks did not even cover what was handed out in stock.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$-10.00$-5.00$0.00$5.00$10.00
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021Earnings per share $-4.53Free cash flow per share $-0.92
2022Earnings per share $-4.75Free cash flow per share $-0.02
2023Earnings per share $-5.03Free cash flow per share $-0.29
2024Earnings per share $-2.48Free cash flow per share $1.62
2025Earnings per share $-1.73Free cash flow per share $1.62
2026Earnings per share $-0.88Free cash flow per share $6.16
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
50.0M60.0M70.0M80.0M90.0M
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021Diluted shares 59.0M
2022Diluted shares 64.6M
2023Diluted shares 68.6M
2024Diluted shares 71.2M
2025Diluted shares 74.6M
2026Diluted shares 81.2M
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
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
020.0M40.0M60.0M80.0M
2017
2018
2019Net debt 69.0M
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
2026
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
—
Interest coverage
-44× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
4.65 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
— collects in 74d
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.
4of 8 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 fell — not reportedno data
✕More liquidCurrent ratio higher than a year beforefailed
✕No new sharesShare count did not growfailed
✕Better gross marginGross margin higher than a year beforefailed
✓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?
6.21safe zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets 0.65 × 6.56+4.27
Retained earnings ÷ assets -0.51 × 3.26-1.66
Operating income ÷ assets -0.04 × 6.72-0.24
Equity ÷ liabilities 3.66 × 1.05+3.84
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?
-2.96below the -1.78 line
-1.78
Receivables vs sales 1.03+0.95
Gross margin slipping 1.02+0.54
Soft assets 1.00 (not reported, set to 1)+0.40
Sales growth 1.23+1.10
Slower depreciation 1.00 (not reported, set to 1)+0.12
Overheads vs sales 0.91-0.16
Profit not in cash -0.15-0.72
Leverage rising 1.09-0.36
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.
Capital spending (5M) is well below depreciation (22M).
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.
The effective tax rate is -27.8%.
Benign
A favourable geographic mix, or legitimate tax credits.
Worrying
Not sustainable; projecting it forward inflates the valuation.
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.