NFLX · Other(services-video tape rental) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-31
Netflix Inc reported revenue of $45.2 billion in fiscal 2025, after growing 19.9% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin widened from 4.3% in 2016 to 29.5%, and it earned 28.0% on its invested capital in the latest year. Of the $20.8 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 105.9% went to buybacks and 17.4% back into the business. On the accounting screens, it passes 7 of 9 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of 5.29 is in the safe zone and its Beneish M-score is below the -1.78 line; none of the six cross-checks between its statements fires.
Revenue, fiscal 202545.2B+19.9% a year over 9 years
Operating margin29.5%gross margin 48.5%
Return on invested capital28.0%19.8% on average over 5 years
Free cash flow after stock pay9.1B20.1% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA0.4×net debt 5.4B
Piotroski F-score7/9tests 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:
10-for-1 before fiscal 2023.
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
020.0B40.0B60.0B
2016Revenue 8.8BOperating income 379.8M
2017Revenue 11.7BOperating income 838.7M
2018Revenue 15.8BOperating income 1.6B
2019Revenue 20.2BOperating income 2.6B
2020Revenue 25.0BOperating income 4.6B
2021Revenue 29.7BOperating income 6.2B
2022Revenue 31.6BOperating income 5.6B
2023Revenue 33.7BOperating income 7.0B
2024Revenue 39.0BOperating income 10.4B
2025Revenue 45.2BOperating income 13.3B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
+12.6%
+12.6%
+19.9%
Operating income
+33.2%
+23.8%
+48.5%
Net income
+34.7%
+31.8%
+57.3%
Earnings per share
+36.4%
+33.0%
+57.4%
Free cash flow per share
+82.4%
+38.7%
—
Shares
-1.3%
-0.9%
-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 · 8.2%
0.0%10.0%20.0%30.0%
2016Return on invested capital 4.5%
2017Return on invested capital 7.1%
2018Return on invested capital 10.2%
2019Return on invested capital 10.6%
2020Return on invested capital 14.5%
2021Return on invested capital 17.4%
2022Return on invested capital 13.7%
2023Return on invested capital 17.3%
2024Return on invested capital 22.6%
2025Return on invested capital 28.0%
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Economic profit
Economic profit
-2.5B02.5B5.0B7.5B10.0B
2016Economic profit -225.1M
2017Economic profit -118.0M
2018Economic profit 301.9M
2019Economic profit 519.5M
2020Economic profit 1.7B
2021Economic profit 2.9B
2022Economic profit 1.9B
2023Economic profit 3.2B
2024Economic profit 5.8B
2025Economic profit 8.1B
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
41.3%
Return on assets
19.8%
Asset turnover
0.81×
Research & development
7.5% of revenue
Overheads (SG&A)
4.2% 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
-5.0B05.0B10.0B15.0B
2016Net income 186.7MFree cash flow -1.6BAfter stock-based pay -1.8B
2017Net income 558.9MFree cash flow -2.0BAfter stock-based pay -2.1B
2018Net income 1.2BFree cash flow -2.9BAfter stock-based pay -3.2B
2019Net income 1.9BFree cash flow -3.1BAfter stock-based pay -3.5B
2020Net income 2.8BFree cash flow 1.9BAfter stock-based pay 1.5B
2021Net income 5.1BFree cash flow -132.0MAfter stock-based pay -535.2M
2022Net income 4.5BFree cash flow 1.6BAfter stock-based pay 1.0B
2023Net income 5.4BFree cash flow 6.9BAfter stock-based pay 6.6B
2024Net income 8.7BFree cash flow 6.9BAfter stock-based pay 6.6B
2025Net income 11.0BFree cash flow 9.5BAfter stock-based pay 9.1B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2016–2025
20.8B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 17%3.6B
Acquisitions 8%1.6B
Dividends 0%0
Share buybacks 106%22.0B
More than it generated: funded with cash or new debt -31%-6.4B
Over the same years it paid 3.5B in stock. The share count fell 1.0%. 18.6B of the buybacks went beyond offsetting that dilution.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$-1.00$0.00$1.00$2.00$3.00
2016Earnings per share $0.04Free cash flow per share $-0.36
2017Earnings per share $0.13Free cash flow per share $-0.44
2018Earnings per share $0.27Free cash flow per share $-0.63
2019Earnings per share $0.41Free cash flow per share $-0.70
2020Earnings per share $0.61Free cash flow per share $0.42
2021Earnings per share $1.12Free cash flow per share $-0.03
2022Earnings per share $1.00Free cash flow per share $0.36
2023Earnings per share $1.20Free cash flow per share $1.54
2024Earnings per share $1.98Free cash flow per share $1.58
2025Earnings per share $2.53Free cash flow per share $2.18
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
4.3B4.4B4.5B4.6B
2016Diluted shares 4.4B
2017Diluted shares 4.5B
2018Diluted shares 4.5B
2019Diluted shares 4.5B
2020Diluted shares 4.5B
2021Diluted shares 4.6B
2022Diluted shares 4.5B
2023Diluted shares 4.5B
2024Diluted shares 4.4B
2025Diluted shares 4.3B
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
02.5B5.0B7.5B10.0B
2016Net debt 1.9B
2017Net debt 3.7B
2018Net debt 6.6B
2019Net debt 9.7B
2020Net debt 8.1B
2021Net debt 9.4B
2022Net debt 9.2B
2023Net debt 7.4B
2024Net debt 7.8B
2025Net debt 5.4B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
0.4×
Interest coverage
17× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
1.19 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 9 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)failed
✓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 beforepassed
✓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?
5.29safe zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets 0.04 × 6.56+0.24
Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.76 × 3.26+2.48
Operating income ÷ assets 0.24 × 6.72+1.61
Equity ÷ liabilities 0.92 × 1.05+0.96
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?
-2.25below the -1.78 line
-1.78
Receivables vs sales 1.00 (not reported, set to 1)+0.92
Gross margin slipping 0.95+0.50
Soft assets 1.01+0.41
Sales growth 1.16+1.03
Slower depreciation 1.20+0.14
Overheads vs sales 0.96-0.16
Profit not in cash 0.01+0.07
Leverage rising 0.96-0.31
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$59.16discounted at 8.2% a year · 61% 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
23.4×
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA
19.2×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue
5.8×
Free cash flow yield
3.5%
From cash flows to a value per share
10 years of cash flow, today101.4B
Everything after, today161.0B
The whole business262.4B
Minus net debt-5.4B
What belongs to shareholders257.0B
Divided among 4.3B shares: <strong>$59.16</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
-10.0B010.0B20.0B
2016Reported -1.8B
2017Reported -2.1B
2018Reported -3.2B
2019Reported -3.5B
2020Reported 1.5B
2021Reported -535.2M
2022Reported 1.0B
2023Reported 6.6B
2024Reported 6.6B
2025Reported 9.1B
2026Projected 10.9B
2027Projected 12.1B
2028Projected 13.4B
2029Projected 14.6B
2030Projected 15.8B
2031Projected 16.9B
2032Projected 17.8B
2033Projected 18.7B
2034Projected 19.4B
2035Projected 19.8B
2016201820202022202420262028203020322034
Year by year
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
Revenue
50.8B
56.6B
62.4B
68.2B
73.7B
78.8B
83.4B
87.3B
90.5B
92.7B
Growth
12.5%
11.4%
10.3%
9.2%
8.1%
6.9%
5.8%
4.7%
3.6%
2.5%
Cash margin
21.4%
21.4%
21.4%
21.4%
21.4%
21.4%
21.4%
21.4%
21.4%
21.4%
Free cash flow
10.9B
12.1B
13.4B
14.6B
15.8B
16.9B
17.8B
18.7B
19.4B
19.8B
Worth today
10.1B
10.3B
10.5B
10.6B
10.6B
10.5B
10.3B
9.9B
9.5B
9.0B
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%
7.2%
61
66
73
80
90
7.7%
56
60
65
71
79
8.2%
52
55
59
64
70
8.7%
48
51
54
58
63
9.2%
44
47
50
53
57
Year-one growth and the final margin
margin ↓ · growth →
8.5%
10.5%
12.5%
14.5%
16.5%
17.1%
42
45
49
53
58
19.3%
46
50
54
59
64
21.4%
50
54
59
64
70
23.5%
54
59
64
70
76
25.7%
58
64
69
75
82
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%, 3.2%, 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$43.03
Median$59.19
90th percentile$85.93
$50.00$75.00$100.00$125.00
Half of the simulations land between <b>$49.87</b> and <b>$71.37</b>; one in ten below $43.03, one in ten above $85.93.
Does the long run make sense?
12.7×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 12.7 times that year's EBITDA.
16%To grow 2.5% forever while reinvesting 16% of its after-tax operating profit, the business must earn 16% on the new capital — it has earned 20% on average over the last five years.
61%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.