NVDA · Technology(semiconductors & related devices) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2026-01-25
Nvidia Corp reported revenue of $215.9 billion in fiscal 2026, after growing 46.6% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin widened from 28.0% in 2017 to 60.4%, and it earned 66.8% on its invested capital in the latest year. Of the $229.1 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 42.2% went to buybacks and 5.7% back into the business; the share count fell 5.6%. On the accounting screens, it passes 4 of 9 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of 12.85 is in the safe zone and its Beneish M-score is above the -1.78 line; 1 of the six cross-checks between its statements fires.
Revenue, fiscal 2026215.9B+46.6% a year over 9 years
Operating margin60.4%gross margin 71.1%
Return on invested capital66.8%48.1% on average over 5 years
Free cash flow after stock pay90.3B41.8% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDANet cash2.1B more cash than debt
Piotroski F-score4/9tests 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; 4-for-1 before fiscal 2020.
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
0100.0B200.0B300.0B
2017Revenue 6.9BOperating income 1.9B
2018Revenue 9.7BOperating income 3.2B
2019Revenue 11.7BOperating income 3.8B
2020Revenue 10.9BOperating income 2.8B
2021Revenue 16.7BOperating income 4.5B
2022Revenue 26.9BOperating income 10.0B
2023Revenue 27.0BOperating income 4.2B
2024Revenue 60.9BOperating income 33.0B
2025Revenue 130.5BOperating income 81.5B
2026Revenue 215.9BOperating income 130.4B
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
+100.0%
+66.9%
+46.6%
Operating income
+213.7%
+95.8%
+59.7%
Net income
+201.8%
+94.3%
+60.8%
Earnings per share
+204.1%
+95.3%
+61.9%
Free cash flow per share
+196.1%
—
—
Dividend per share
+35.8%
+20.3%
+16.5%
Shares
-0.7%
-0.5%
-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 · 9.9%
0.0%25.0%50.0%75.0%100.0%
2017Return on invested capital 21.8%
2018Return on invested capital 32.4%
2019Return on invested capital 31.5%
2020Return on invested capital 18.9%
2021Return on invested capital 18.7%
2022Return on invested capital 26.2%
2023Return on invested capital 12.2%
2024Return on invested capital 55.1%
2025Return on invested capital 80.5%
2026Return on invested capital 66.8%
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Economic profit
Economic profit
025.0B50.0B75.0B100.0B
2017Economic profit 925.8M
2018Economic profit 2.1B
2019Economic profit 2.4B
2020Economic profit 1.3B
2021Economic profit 2.1B
2022Economic profit 6.1B
2023Economic profit 767.8M
2024Economic profit 23.8B
2025Economic profit 62.0B
2026Economic profit 94.3B
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
(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
76.3%
Return on assets
58.1%
Asset turnover
1.04×
Research & development
8.6% of revenue
Overheads (SG&A)
2.1% 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
050.0B100.0B150.0B
2017Net income 1.7B
2018Net income 3.0B
2019Net income 4.1B
2020Net income 2.8B
2021Net income 4.3B
2022Net income 9.8BFree cash flow 8.1BAfter stock-based pay 6.1B
2023Net income 4.4BFree cash flow 3.8BAfter stock-based pay 1.1B
2024Net income 29.8BFree cash flow 27.0BAfter stock-based pay 23.5B
2025Net income 72.9BFree cash flow 60.9BAfter stock-based pay 56.1B
2026Net income 120.1BFree cash flow 96.7BAfter stock-based pay 90.3B
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2017–2026
229.1B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 6%13.2B
Acquisitions 5%11.5B
Dividends 2%4.8B
Share buybacks 42%96.6B
Kept, or used to pay down debt 45%103.2B
Over the same years it paid 22.8B in stock. The share count fell 5.6%. 73.8B of the buybacks went beyond offsetting that dilution.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$0.00$2.00$4.00$6.00
2017Earnings per share $0.06Dividend per share $0.01
2018Earnings per share $0.12Dividend per share $0.01
2019Earnings per share $0.17Dividend per share $0.01
2020Earnings per share $0.11Dividend per share $0.02
2021Earnings per share $0.17Dividend per share $0.02
2022Earnings per share $0.38Free cash flow per share $0.32Dividend per share $0.02
2023Earnings per share $0.17Free cash flow per share $0.15Dividend per share $0.02
2024Earnings per share $1.19Free cash flow per share $1.08Dividend per share $0.02
2025Earnings per share $2.94Free cash flow per share $2.45Dividend per share $0.03
2026Earnings per share $4.90Free cash flow per share $3.94Dividend per share $0.04
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
24.5B25.0B25.5B26.0B
2017Diluted shares 26.0B
2018Diluted shares 25.3B
2019Diluted shares 25.0B
2020Diluted shares 24.7B
2021Diluted shares 25.1B
2022Diluted shares 25.4B
2023Diluted shares 25.1B
2024Diluted shares 24.9B
2025Diluted shares 24.8B
2026Diluted shares 24.5B
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
-10.0B-5.0B05.0B10.0B
2017Net debt 217.0M
2018Net debt -2.0B
2019Net debt 1.2B
2020Net debt -8.9B
2021Net debt 6.1B
2022Net debt 9.0B
2023Net debt 7.6B
2024Net debt 2.4B
2025Net debt -126.0M
2026Net debt -2.1B
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
-0.0×
Interest coverage
503× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
3.91 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
133 days collects in 65d, stock 125d, pays in 57d
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 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)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 beforefailed
✕Sells more per assetAsset turnover higher than a year beforefailed
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?
12.85safe zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets 0.45 × 6.56+2.96
Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.71 × 3.26+2.32
Operating income ÷ assets 0.63 × 6.72+4.24
Equity ÷ liabilities 3.18 × 1.05+3.34
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?
-1.15above the -1.78 line
-1.78
Receivables vs sales 1.01+0.93
Gross margin slipping 1.06+0.56
Soft assets 1.52+0.61
Sales growth 1.65+1.48
Slower depreciation 1.06+0.12
Overheads vs sales 0.79-0.14
Profit not in cash 0.08+0.39
Leverage rising 0.81-0.26
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.
Inventory is growing 112% against revenue growing 65%.
Benign
Stocking up for a launch, or securing supply.
Worrying
Demand is softening; discounts or write-downs tend to follow.
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$108.69discounted at 9.9% a year · 57% 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
22.2×
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA
20.0×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue
12.3×
Free cash flow yield
3.4%
From cash flows to a value per share
10 years of cash flow, today1.14T
Everything after, today1.52T
The whole business2.66T
Plus net cash2.1B
What belongs to shareholders2.66T
Divided among 24.5B shares: <strong>$108.69</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
0100.0B200.0B300.0B
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022Reported 6.1B
2023Reported 1.1B
2024Reported 23.5B
2025Reported 56.1B
2026Reported 90.3B
2027Projected 98.9B
2028Projected 121.2B
2029Projected 145.4B
2030Projected 170.8B
2031Projected 196.5B
2032Projected 221.0B
2033Projected 243.1B
2034Projected 261.4B
2035Projected 274.4B
2036Projected 281.3B
2017201920212023202520272029203120332035
Year by year
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
2036
Revenue
269.9B
330.7B
396.8B
466.2B
536.2B
603.2B
663.5B
713.3B
748.9B
767.6B
Growth
25.0%
22.5%
20.0%
17.5%
15.0%
12.5%
10.0%
7.5%
5.0%
2.5%
Cash margin
36.6%
36.6%
36.6%
36.6%
36.6%
36.6%
36.6%
36.6%
36.6%
36.6%
Free cash flow
98.9B
121.2B
145.4B
170.8B
196.5B
221.0B
243.1B
261.4B
274.4B
281.3B
Worth today
90.0B
100.3B
109.6B
117.2B
122.6B
125.6B
125.7B
123.0B
117.5B
109.6B
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%
8.9%
113
120
128
137
149
9.4%
105
111
118
126
135
9.9%
98
103
109
115
123
10.4%
91
96
101
107
114
10.9%
86
90
94
99
105
Year-one growth and the final margin
margin ↓ · growth →
21.0%
23.0%
25.0%
27.0%
29.0%
29.3%
78
84
91
98
105
33.0%
86
93
100
108
116
36.6%
93
101
109
117
126
40.3%
101
109
118
127
137
44.0%
108
117
126
136
147
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%, 5.5%, 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$81.91
Median$108.80
90th percentile$148.45
$100.00$150.00$200.00
Half of the simulations land between <b>$93.38</b> and <b>$127.38</b>; one in ten below $81.91, one in ten above $148.45.
Does the long run make sense?
8.2×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 8.2 times that year's EBITDA.
9%To grow 2.5% forever while reinvesting 29% of its after-tax operating profit, the business must earn 9% on the new capital — it has earned 48% on average over the last five years.
57%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.