MKC · Consumer staples(miscellaneous food preparations & kindred products) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-11-30
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Mccormick & Co Inc reported revenue of $6.8 billion in fiscal 2025, after growing 5.0% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin widened from 14.5% in 2016 to 15.7%, and it earned 9.0% on its invested capital in the latest year. Of the $8.9 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 39.1% went to dividends and 24.8% back into the business; the share count rose 5.2%. On the accounting screens, it passes 6 of 9 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of 1.84 is in the grey zone and its Beneish M-score is below the -1.78 line; none of the six cross-checks between its statements fires.
Revenue, fiscal 20256.8B+5.0% a year over 9 years
Operating margin15.7%gross margin 37.9%
Return on invested capital9.0%8.6% on average over 5 years
Free cash flow after stock pay694.2M10.1% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA2.7×net debt 3.5B
Piotroski F-score6/9tests of improvement passed
Share counts are in today's shares. The SEC's filings restate only recent years after a split, so these jumps were read as splits and the older years scaled to match — otherwise per-share figures would compare different units:
2-for-1 before fiscal 2018.
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
02.0B4.0B6.0B8.0B
2016Revenue 4.4BOperating income 641.0M
2017Revenue 4.7BOperating income 699.8M
2018Revenue 5.3BOperating income 891.1M
2019Revenue 5.3BOperating income 957.7M
2020Revenue 5.6BOperating income 999.5M
2021Revenue 6.3BOperating income 1.0B
2022Revenue 6.4BOperating income 863.6M
2023Revenue 6.7BOperating income 963.0M
2024Revenue 6.7BOperating income 1.1B
2025Revenue 6.8BOperating income 1.1B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
+2.5%
+4.1%
+5.0%
Operating income
+7.4%
+1.4%
+5.9%
Net income
+5.0%
+1.1%
+5.9%
Earnings per share
+5.1%
+1.1%
+5.3%
Free cash flow per share
+24.0%
-1.9%
+3.8%
Dividend per share
+6.9%
+7.9%
+8.6%
Shares
-0.1%
+0.0%
+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 · 7.9%
0.0%5.0%10.0%15.0%20.0%
2016Return on invested capital 17.6%
2017Return on invested capital 7.1%
2018Return on invested capital 9.6%
2019Return on invested capital 10.8%
2020Return on invested capital 10.1%
2021Return on invested capital 8.7%
2022Return on invested capital 8.0%
2023Return on invested capital 8.2%
2024Return on invested capital 9.2%
2025Return on invested capital 9.0%
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Economic profit
Economic profit
-100.0M0100.0M200.0M300.0M
2016Economic profit 262.0M
2017Economic profit -57.1M
2018Economic profit 125.7M
2019Economic profit 208.4M
2020Economic profit 174.7M
2021Economic profit 74.7M
2022Economic profit 6.7M
2023Economic profit 27.0M
2024Economic profit 121.5M
2025Economic profit 103.6M
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
(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
13.8%
Return on assets
6.0%
Asset turnover
0.52×
Research & development
1.6% of revenue
Overheads (SG&A)
21.9% 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
0250.0M500.0M750.0M1.0B
2016Net income 472.3MFree cash flow 504.3MAfter stock-based pay 478.7M
2017Net income 477.4MFree cash flow 632.9MAfter stock-based pay 609.0M
2018Net income 933.4MFree cash flow 652.1MAfter stock-based pay 626.5M
2019Net income 702.7MFree cash flow 773.1MAfter stock-based pay 735.9M
2020Net income 747.4MFree cash flow 816.0MAfter stock-based pay 770.0M
2021Net income 755.3MFree cash flow 550.3MAfter stock-based pay 483.7M
2022Net income 682.0MFree cash flow 389.5MAfter stock-based pay 329.2M
2023Net income 680.6MFree cash flow 973.4MAfter stock-based pay 910.0M
2024Net income 788.5MFree cash flow 647.0MAfter stock-based pay 599.6M
2025Net income 789.4MFree cash flow 740.4MAfter stock-based pay 694.2M
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2016–2025
8.9B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 25%2.2B
Acquisitions 0%0
Dividends 39%3.5B
Share buybacks 9%756.2M
Kept, or used to pay down debt 28%2.4B
Over the same years it paid 442.2M in stock. The share count rose 5.2%. 314.0M of the buybacks went beyond offsetting that dilution.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$0.00$1.00$2.00$3.00$4.00
2016Earnings per share $1.84Free cash flow per share $1.97Dividend per share $0.85
2017Earnings per share $1.86Free cash flow per share $2.46Dividend per share $0.93
2018Earnings per share $3.50Free cash flow per share $2.45Dividend per share $1.03
2019Earnings per share $2.62Free cash flow per share $2.88Dividend per share $1.13
2020Earnings per share $2.78Free cash flow per share $3.03Dividend per share $1.23
2021Earnings per share $2.80Free cash flow per share $2.04Dividend per share $1.35
2022Earnings per share $2.52Free cash flow per share $1.44Dividend per share $1.47
2023Earnings per share $2.52Free cash flow per share $3.61Dividend per share $1.55
2024Earnings per share $2.92Free cash flow per share $2.40Dividend per share $1.67
2025Earnings per share $2.93Free cash flow per share $2.75Dividend per share $1.79
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
255.0M260.0M265.0M270.0M275.0M
2016Diluted shares 256.0M
2017Diluted shares 256.8M
2018Diluted shares 266.5M
2019Diluted shares 268.1M
2020Diluted shares 269.1M
2021Diluted shares 269.9M
2022Diluted shares 270.2M
2023Diluted shares 269.8M
2024Diluted shares 269.6M
2025Diluted shares 269.4M
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
02.0B4.0B6.0B
2016Net debt 938.5M
2017Net debt 4.6B
2018Net debt 4.0B
2019Net debt 3.6B
2020Net debt 3.6B
2021Net debt 4.4B
2022Net debt 3.6B
2023Net debt 4.0B
2024Net debt 3.7B
2025Net debt 3.5B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
2.7×
Interest coverage
5× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
0.70 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
— collects in 34d
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 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 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?
1.84grey zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets -0.07 × 6.56-0.46
Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.29 × 3.26+0.94
Operating income ÷ assets 0.08 × 6.72+0.55
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?
-2.45below the -1.78 line
-1.78
Receivables vs sales 1.05+0.97
Gross margin slipping 1.02+0.54
Soft assets 1.00+0.40
Sales growth 1.02+0.91
Slower depreciation 0.94+0.11
Overheads vs sales 0.97-0.17
Profit not in cash -0.01-0.06
Leverage rising 0.94-0.31
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$42.24discounted at 7.9% a year · 60% 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
14.4×
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA
11.4×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue
2.2×
Free cash flow yield
6.1%
From cash flows to a value per share
10 years of cash flow, today5.9B
Everything after, today9.0B
The whole business14.9B
Minus net debt-3.5B
What belongs to shareholders11.4B
Divided among 269.4M shares: <strong>$42.24</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
0500.0M1.0B1.5B
2016Reported 478.7M
2017Reported 609.0M
2018Reported 626.5M
2019Reported 735.9M
2020Reported 770.0M
2021Reported 483.7M
2022Reported 329.2M
2023Reported 910.0M
2024Reported 599.6M
2025Reported 694.2M
2026Projected 763.8M
2027Projected 793.1M
2028Projected 822.1M
2029Projected 850.9M
2030Projected 879.3M
2031Projected 907.1M
2032Projected 934.3M
2033Projected 960.8M
2034Projected 986.4M
2035Projected 1.0B
2016201820202022202420262028203020322034
Year by year
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
Revenue
7.1B
7.4B
7.7B
7.9B
8.2B
8.4B
8.7B
8.9B
9.2B
9.4B
Growth
4.0%
3.8%
3.7%
3.5%
3.3%
3.2%
3.0%
2.8%
2.7%
2.5%
Cash margin
10.7%
10.7%
10.7%
10.7%
10.7%
10.7%
10.7%
10.7%
10.7%
10.7%
Free cash flow
763.8M
793.1M
822.1M
850.9M
879.3M
907.1M
934.3M
960.8M
986.4M
1.0B
Worth today
707.9M
681.3M
654.7M
628.1M
601.6M
575.2M
549.2M
523.5M
498.1M
473.3M
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%
6.9%
44
49
55
62
72
7.4%
39
43
48
54
61
7.9%
35
38
42
47
53
8.4%
31
34
37
41
46
8.9%
28
31
33
37
40
Year-one growth and the final margin
margin ↓ · growth →
0.0%
2.0%
4.0%
6.0%
8.0%
8.6%
26
30
33
37
42
9.7%
30
34
38
42
47
10.7%
34
38
42
47
52
11.8%
37
42
47
52
58
12.9%
41
46
51
57
63
All the inputs moving at once
5,000 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$26.08
Median$42.20
90th percentile$68.78
$25.00$50.00$75.00$100.00
Half of the simulations land between <b>$33.12</b> and <b>$54.27</b>; one in ten below $26.08, one in ten above $68.78.
Does the long run make sense?
10.7×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 10.7 times that year's EBITDA.
20%To grow 2.5% forever while reinvesting 13% of its after-tax operating profit, the business must earn 20% on the new capital — it has earned 9% on average over the last five years.
60%of the value comes from after year 10. The more of it, the more the answer depends on the part nobody can see.
Every Form 4 filed in the last twelve months, read line by line: 6 filings by 5 people. Open-market purchases and sales are counted apart from awards, option exercises and shares withheld for taxes.
Bought on the open market—none in the period
Sold on the open market—none in the period
Under pre-arranged plans—of the sales followed a 10b5-1 plan set months earlier
A Form 4 says what happened, when, how many shares and at what price. It does not say why: a sale can be diversification, a tax bill or a plan fixed months earlier, and an award is pay, not a purchase. Nothing here is a reason to buy or sell anything.
Which large funds report holding it
From the Form 13F of the 28 institutions followed on this site, as of the end of their last reported quarter. A 13F is filed up to 45 days later and shows only long positions in US-listed shares.
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.