SphinxRisk

Monolithic Power Systems, Inc.

MPWR · Technology (semiconductors & related devices) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-31

Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. reported revenue of $2.8 billion in fiscal 2025, after growing 18.0% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin widened from 16.3% in 2019 to 26.1%. Of the $3.3 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 33.6% went to dividends and 20.5% back into the business; the share count rose 5.6%. On the accounting screens, it passes 4 of 5 Piotroski tests and its Altman Z'' of 11.63 is in the safe zone; none of the six cross-checks between its statements fires.

Revenue, fiscal 2025 2.8B +18.0% a year over 9 years
Operating margin 26.1% gross margin 55.2%
Return on invested capital —  
Free cash flow after stock pay 438.7M 15.7% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA — net debt —
Piotroski F-score 4/5 tests 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
Compound growth a year
3 yrs5 yrs9 yrs
Revenue—+8.9%+18.0%
Operating income—+8.6%+24.3%
Net income—+7.8%+21.4%
Earnings per share—+8.0%+20.6%
Free cash flow per share—+3.0%+20.2%
Dividend per share—+9.1%+16.7%
Shares+0.3%-0.2%+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.

GrossOperatingNetFree cash flow

Return on invested capital

Return on invested capital Cost of capital today · 10.2%

Economic profit

Needs a cost of capital, which comes from the valuation below.

Return on equity
17.6%
Return on assets
14.8%
Asset turnover
0.67×
Research & development
13.7% of revenue
Overheads (SG&A)
15.4% 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

Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2019–2025

3.3B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.

  • Reinvested in the business 21% 680.4M
  • Acquisitions 1% 33.3M
  • Dividends 34% 1.1B
  • Share buybacks 19% 646.5M
  • Kept, or used to pay down debt 25% 840.8M

Over the same years it paid 1.0B in stock. The share count rose 5.6%. The buybacks did not even cover what was handed out in stock.

Per share

Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share

Shares outstanding

Diluted shares

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 ÷ EBITDA
—
Interest coverage
— operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
5.91 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
158 days collects in 33d, stock 165d, pays in 40d

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 5 tests passed
  • ProfitableReturn on assets above zero passed
  • Cash from operationsOperating cash flow above zero passed
  • Profitability improvedReturn on assets higher than a year before — not reported no data
  • 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 reported no data
  • More liquidCurrent ratio higher than a year before passed
  • No new sharesShare count did not grow failed
  • Better gross marginGross margin higher than a year before — not reported no data
  • Sells more per assetAsset turnover higher than a year before — not reported no data

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?

11.63safe zone
  • Working capital ÷ assets 0.43 × 6.56+2.84
  • Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.62 × 3.26+2.03
  • Operating income ÷ assets 0.17 × 6.72+1.17
  • Equity ÷ liabilities 5.33 × 1.05+5.60

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.

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.

Revenue
M $

revenue of fiscal 2025

%

revenue grew +23.8% a year over the last 2 years; it fades to the terminal rate by the last year

yrs

ten years for growth to fade to the terminal rate

Cash from each sale
%

free cash flow to the firm after stock-based pay ÷ revenue, last 1 fiscal years together

%

the margin in year ten; by default the business keeps today's

The long run
%

growth forever after year ten, below the risk-free rate: no company outgrows the economy forever

The discount rate
%

10-year US Treasury yield (FRED, DGS10), 2026-09-24

not measured on this public page, which uses only public filings: 1.0 assumes it moves like the market. Sign in to measure it from prices

%

the extra return demanded for holding shares; it cannot be measured, and 4–6% is the common range

%

no interest line: the risk-free rate + 1.5 points

%

effective rate in the last fiscal year, 18.9%, kept within 0–35%

The price
$

Type the price you see at your broker. It is used only for the reverse questions: what that price implies.

Back to the defaults

SEC from the filings Treasury the 10-year yield measured from prices assumption cannot be measured yours you changed it

Value per share, with these assumptions $107.56 discounted at 10.2% a year · 56% of it from after year 10
$67.5380% of 5,000 simulations$160.50
Cautious $68.29 20.0% growth · 5.1% margin · 11.2% discount · 2.0% forever
Your assumptions $107.56 24.0% growth · 6.0% margin · 10.2% discount · 2.5% forever
Generous $176.50 28.0% growth · 6.9% margin · 9.2% discount · 3.0% forever

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 ÷ earnings8.4×
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA6.7×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue1.9×
Free cash flow yield8.4%

From cash flows to a value per share

10 years of cash flow, today2.3B
Everything after, today2.9B
The whole business5.2B
Minus net debt-0
What belongs to shareholders5.2B

Divided among 48.3M shares: <strong>$107.56</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
Year by year
2026202720282029203020312032203320342035
Revenue3.5B4.2B5.0B5.9B6.7B7.5B8.2B8.8B9.3B9.5B
Growth24.0%21.6%19.2%16.8%14.4%12.1%9.7%7.3%4.9%2.5%
Cash margin6.0%6.0%6.0%6.0%6.0%6.0%6.0%6.0%6.0%6.0%
Free cash flow207.8M252.7M301.2M352.0M402.8M451.4M495.0M531.0M557.0M570.9M
Worth today188.6M208.1M225.2M238.8M248.1M252.3M251.1M244.5M232.8M216.5M

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%
9.2% 111 118 126 134 145
9.7% 104 109 116 123 132
10.2% 97 102 108 114 121
10.7% 91 95 100 106 112
11.2% 86 89 94 99 104

Year-one growth and the final margin

margin ↓ · growth →20.0%22.0%24.0%26.0%28.0%
4.8% 78 84 90 97 104
5.4% 85 92 99 106 115
6.0% 92 100 108 116 125
6.6% 100 108 116 125 135
7.2% 107 116 125 135 145

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.

Half of the simulations land between <b>$85.71</b> and <b>$132.98</b>; one in ten below $67.53, one in ten above $160.50.

Does the long run make sense?

  • 2.9×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 2.9 times that year's EBITDA.
  • 3%To grow 2.5% forever while reinvesting 72% of its after-tax operating profit, the business must earn 3% on the new capital.
  • 56%of the value comes from after year 10. The more of it, the more the answer depends on the part nobody can see.
The discount rate, taken apart
  1. What shareholders demand (CAPM): 5.18% risk-free + 1.00 beta × 5.0% premium = <strong>10.18%</strong>.
  2. What lenders charge, after the tax saving on interest: 6.68% × (1 − 18.9%) = <strong>5.42%</strong>.
  3. Weighted by how much of each the company uses (book value (no price given)): <strong>10.18%</strong>, the rate every future cash flow is discounted at.

What it has filed lately

The last twelve months at the SEC, most important first: annual and quarterly reports, events, large holders and insiders.

Companies like this one

Same SEC industry (semiconductors & related devices) first, then the rest of technology.

Every figure, year by year

10 fiscal years · 30 measures
2019202020212022202320242025202520252025
Size
Revenue627.9M844.5M1.2B1.8B1.8B2.2B———2.8B
Revenue growth—+34.5%+43.0%+48.5%+1.5%+21.2%————
Operating income102.6M158.9M262.4M526.8M481.7M539.4M———728.6M
Net income108.8M164.4M242.0M437.7M427.4M1.6B———621.5M
Margins
Gross margin55.2%55.2%56.8%58.4%56.1%55.3%———55.2%
Operating margin16.3%18.8%21.7%29.4%26.5%24.4%———26.1%
Net margin17.3%19.5%20.0%24.4%23.5%72.1%———22.3%
Free cash flow margin19.2%25.1%18.7%10.5%31.9%29.1%———23.9%
R&D ÷ revenue17.2%16.3%15.8%13.4%14.5%14.7%———13.7%
SG&A ÷ revenue21.3%19.1%19.2%15.7%15.1%16.2%———15.4%
Cash
Free cash flow120.5M212.2M225.6M187.8M580.6M642.3M———666.2M
Stock-based pay78.7M85.6M123.5M161.0M149.7M205.6M———227.5M
Free cash flow after stock pay41.8M126.6M102.1M26.8M430.9M436.7M———438.7M
Free cash flow to the firm17.7M85.0M72.1M130.1M457.5M-518.8M———395.0M
Free cash flow ÷ net income1.1×1.3×0.9×0.4×1.4×0.4×———1.1×
Capex ÷ revenue15.3%6.6%7.8%3.3%3.2%6.6%———6.2%
Returns
Return on invested capital——————————
Return on equity14.1%17.0%19.5%26.2%20.8%53.9%———17.6%
Return on assets11.4%13.6%15.3%21.3%17.6%45.3%———14.8%
Asset turnover0.7×0.7×0.8×0.9×0.7×0.6×———0.7×
Economic profit——————————
Per share
Earnings per share$2.38$3.50$5.05$9.05$8.76$32.60———$12.86
Free cash flow per share$2.63$4.51$4.71$3.88$11.91$13.15———$13.79
Dividend per share$1.47$1.89$2.28$2.85$3.81$4.93———$5.90
Payout ratio61.8%54.0%45.2%31.5%43.5%15.1%———45.8%
Book value per share$17.73$21.35$26.89$35.42$42.68$61.71$64.20$67.03$70.50$72.50
Diluted shares45.8M47.0M47.9M48.4M48.8M48.8M47.9M47.9M47.9M48.3M
Balance sheet
Net debt——————————
Net debt ÷ EBITDA——————————
Interest coverage——————————
Current ratio6.7×5.7×5.0×5.4×7.7×5.3×4.9×5.0×4.8×5.9×
Cash conversion cycle (days)161144155226182146———158
Scores
Piotroski F-score—666431104
Altman Z''9.769.669.5211.0012.4711.01———11.63
Beneish M—-2.70-2.37-0.91-2.91-0.07————

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.