MTB · Financials(state commercial banks) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-31
M&T Bank Corp reported revenue of $1.7 billion in fiscal 2025, after shrinking 12.1% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin widened from 46.9% in 2016 to 642.1%, and it earned 19.5% on its invested capital in the latest year. Of the $27.0 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 41.4% went to buybacks and 24.3% to dividends. On the accounting screens, it passes 7 of 7 Piotroski tests; none of the six cross-checks between its statements fires.
Revenue, fiscal 20251.7B-12.1% a year over 9 years
Operating margin642.1%gross margin —
Return on invested capital19.5%13.4% on average over 5 years
Free cash flow—
Net debt ÷ EBITDANet cash5.7B more cash than debt
Piotroski F-score7/7tests 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
05.0B10.0B15.0B
2016Revenue 5.3BOperating income 2.5B
2017Revenue 5.6BOperating income 2.7B
2018Revenue 5.9BOperating income 3.0B
2019Revenue 6.2BOperating income 3.3B
2020Revenue 6.0BOperating income 2.1B
2021Revenue 6.0BOperating income 2.6B
2022Revenue 1.5BOperating income 3.0B
2023Revenue 1.5BOperating income 6.7B
2024Revenue 1.5BOperating income 10.2B
2025Revenue 1.7BOperating income 10.6B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
+2.8%
-22.6%
-12.1%
Operating income
+51.9%
+38.4%
+17.5%
Net income
+12.7%
+16.1%
+9.0%
Earnings per share
+13.9%
+11.3%
+8.9%
Dividend per share
+5.8%
+5.1%
+8.1%
Shares
-1.1%
+4.3%
+0.1%
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 · 10.2%
0.0%5.0%10.0%15.0%20.0%
2016Return on invested capital 6.1%
2017Return on invested capital 6.7%
2018Return on invested capital 8.2%
2019Return on invested capital 11.0%
2020Return on invested capital 7.8%
2021Return on invested capital 9.1%
2022Return on invested capital 7.1%
2023Return on invested capital 12.6%
2024Return on invested capital 18.6%
2025Return on invested capital 19.5%
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Economic profit
Economic profit
-2.0B02.0B4.0B
2016Economic profit -1.1B
2017Economic profit -858.1M
2018Economic profit -560.5M
2019Economic profit 179.3M
2020Economic profit -497.1M
2021Economic profit -236.7M
2022Economic profit -1.0B
2023Economic profit 975.8M
2024Economic profit 3.6B
2025Economic profit 3.9B
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
9.8%
Return on assets
1.3%
Asset turnover
0.01×
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
2016Net income 1.3BFree cash flow 1.1BAfter stock-based pay 1.0B
2017Net income 1.4BFree cash flow 2.7BAfter stock-based pay 2.6B
2018Net income 1.9BFree cash flow 2.0BAfter stock-based pay 1.9B
2019Net income 1.9BFree cash flow 2.2BAfter stock-based pay 2.1B
2020Net income 1.4BFree cash flow 617.2MAfter stock-based pay 537.2M
2021Net income 1.9BFree cash flow 2.6BAfter stock-based pay 2.5B
2022Net income 2.0BFree cash flow 4.4BAfter stock-based pay 4.2B
2023Net income 2.7BFree cash flow 3.6BAfter stock-based pay 3.5B
2024Net income 2.6B
2025Net income 2.9B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2016–2025
27.0B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 5%1.3B
Acquisitions 1%394.0M
Dividends 24%6.6B
Share buybacks 41%11.2B
Kept, or used to pay down debt 28%7.6B
Over the same years it paid 914.0M in stock. The share count rose 0.9%. 10.3B of the buybacks went beyond offsetting that dilution.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$0.00$10.00$20.00$30.00
2016Earnings per share $8.36Free cash flow per share $6.84Dividend per share $2.81
2017Earnings per share $9.23Free cash flow per share $17.72Dividend per share $3.00
2018Earnings per share $13.31Free cash flow per share $13.82Dividend per share $3.54
2019Earnings per share $14.35Free cash flow per share $16.21Dividend per share $4.11
2020Earnings per share $10.51Free cash flow per share $4.80Dividend per share $4.41
2021Earnings per share $14.43Free cash flow per share $19.92Dividend per share $4.50
2022Earnings per share $12.14Free cash flow per share $26.58Dividend per share $4.78
2023Earnings per share $16.41Free cash flow per share $21.85Dividend per share $5.20
2024Earnings per share $15.47Dividend per share $5.35
2025Earnings per share $17.95Dividend per share $5.66
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
120.0M130.0M140.0M150.0M160.0M170.0M
2016Diluted shares 157.3M
2017Diluted shares 152.6M
2018Diluted shares 144.2M
2019Diluted shares 134.5M
2020Diluted shares 128.7M
2021Diluted shares 128.8M
2022Diluted shares 164.0M
2023Diluted shares 167.0M
2024Diluted shares 167.3M
2025Diluted shares 158.8M
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
-20.0B-10.0B010.0B20.0B
2016Net debt 8.3B
2017Net debt 6.9B
2018Net debt 11.2B
2019Net debt 5.6B
2020Net debt 2.9B
2021Net debt 2.2B
2022Net debt -19.0B
2023Net debt -16.3B
2024Net debt -7.1B
2025Net debt -5.7B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
-0.5×
Interest coverage
2× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
— 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.
7of 7 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 fellpassed
–More liquidCurrent ratio higher than a year before — not reportedno data
✓No new sharesShare count did not growpassed
–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?
The accounts lack a line it needs (retained earnings, current assets or liabilities).
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.
Value per share, with these assumptions$382.15discounted at 10.2% a year · 45% 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
21.3×
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA
5.0×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue
33.2×
Free cash flow yield
—
From cash flows to a value per share
10 years of cash flow, today30.0B
Everything after, today25.0B
The whole business55.0B
Plus net cash5.7B
What belongs to shareholders60.7B
Divided among 158.8M shares: <strong>$382.15</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
2016Reported 1.0B
2017Reported 2.6B
2018Reported 1.9B
2019Reported 2.1B
2020Reported 537.2M
2021Reported 2.5B
2022Reported 4.2B
2023Reported 3.5B
2024
2025
2026Projected 5.3B
2027Projected 5.1B
2028Projected 4.9B
2029Projected 4.8B
2030Projected 4.7B
2031Projected 4.7B
2032Projected 4.7B
2033Projected 4.7B
2034Projected 4.8B
2035Projected 4.9B
2016201820202022202420262028203020322034
Year by year
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
Revenue
1.6B
1.5B
1.5B
1.4B
1.4B
1.4B
1.4B
1.4B
1.4B
1.5B
Growth
-5.0%
-4.2%
-3.3%
-2.5%
-1.7%
-0.8%
0.0%
0.8%
1.7%
2.5%
Cash margin
338.7%
338.7%
338.7%
338.7%
338.7%
338.7%
338.7%
338.7%
338.7%
338.7%
Free cash flow
5.3B
5.1B
4.9B
4.8B
4.7B
4.7B
4.7B
4.7B
4.8B
4.9B
Worth today
4.8B
4.2B
3.7B
3.3B
2.9B
2.6B
2.4B
2.2B
2.0B
1.9B
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%
393
411
431
455
483
9.7%
372
387
405
425
449
10.2%
353
367
382
400
419
10.7%
337
349
362
377
394
11.2%
322
333
344
357
372
Year-one growth and the final margin
margin ↓ · growth →
-9.0%
-7.0%
-5.0%
-3.0%
-1.0%
270.9%
288
310
333
358
385
304.8%
308
332
358
385
415
338.7%
329
354
382
412
445
372.5%
349
377
407
439
474
406.4%
369
399
431
466
504
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%, 50.8%, 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$172.16
Median$196.05
90th percentile$226.93
$200.00$250.00
Half of the simulations land between <b>$183.07</b> and <b>$211.23</b>; one in ten below $172.16, one in ten above $226.93.
Does the long run make sense?
6.8×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 6.8 times that year's EBITDA.
8%To grow 2.5% forever while reinvesting 32% of its after-tax operating profit, the business must earn 8% on the new capital — it has earned 13% on average over the last five years.
45%of the value comes from after year 10. The more of it, the more the answer depends on the part nobody can see.
What lenders charge, after the tax saving on interest: 13.18% × (1 − 22.8%) = <strong>10.18%</strong>.
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.
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.