SphinxRisk

Oneok Inc

OKE · Energy (natural gas transmisison & distribution) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-31

Oneok Inc reported revenue of $33.6 billion in fiscal 2025, after growing 15.9% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin widened from 14.5% in 2016 to 17.1%, and it earned 8.1% on its invested capital in the latest year. Of the $29.1 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 61.9% went back into the business and 54.4% to dividends; the share count rose 194.7%. On the accounting screens, it passes 6 of 9 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of 1.04 is in the distress zone and its Beneish M-score is below the -1.78 line; 1 of the six cross-checks between its statements fires.

Revenue, fiscal 2025 33.6B +15.9% a year over 9 years
Operating margin 17.1% gross margin 30.5%
Return on invested capital 8.1% 8.9% on average over 5 years
Free cash flow after stock pay 2.4B 7.0% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA 4.4× net debt 31.9B
Piotroski F-score 6/9 tests 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 2017.

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+14.5%+31.5%+15.9%
Operating income+26.9%+33.4%+18.0%
Net income+25.4%+40.8%+28.6%
Earnings per share+12.2%+30.7%+14.1%
Free cash flow per share+1.0%—+1.5%
Dividend per share+3.4%+2.1%+6.0%
Shares+11.8%+7.7%+12.8%

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 · 6.7%

Economic profit

Economic profit

(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
15.1%
Return on assets
5.1%
Asset turnover
0.50×

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, 2016–2025

29.1B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.

  • Reinvested in the business 62% 18.0B
  • Acquisitions 37% 10.9B
  • Dividends 54% 15.8B
  • Share buybacks 1% 234.0M
  • More than it generated: funded with cash or new debt -55% -15.9B

Over the same years it paid 529.0M in stock. The share count rose 194.7%. 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
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
4.4×
Interest coverage
3× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
0.71 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
3 days collects in 33d, stock 15d, pays in 44d

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 zero passed
  • Cash from operationsOperating cash flow above zero passed
  • Profitability improvedReturn on assets higher than a year before passed
  • Profit backed by cashOperating cash flow above net income (low accruals) passed
  • Less long-term debtLong-term debt as a share of assets fell passed
  • More liquidCurrent ratio higher than a year before failed
  • No new sharesShare count did not grow failed
  • Better gross marginGross margin higher than a year before failed
  • Sells more per assetAsset turnover higher than a year before passed

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?

1.04distress zone
  • Working capital ÷ assets -0.03 × 6.56-0.18
  • Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.04 × 3.26+0.12
  • Operating income ÷ assets 0.09 × 6.72+0.58
  • Equity ÷ liabilities 0.51 × 1.05+0.53

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?

-2.18below the -1.78 line
  • Receivables vs sales 0.83+0.77
  • Gross margin slipping 1.27+0.67
  • Soft assets 0.99+0.40
  • Sales growth 1.55+1.38
  • Slower depreciation 0.79+0.09
  • Overheads vs sales 1.00 (not reported, set to 1)-0.17
  • Profit not in cash -0.03-0.15
  • Leverage rising 1.00-0.33

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.

Net debt is 4.4 times EBITDA.

Benign

A stable sector with predictable cash flows and comfortable maturities.

Worrying

Little room if earnings fall; the maturity schedule is what to check.

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 +31.5% a year over the last 5 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 3 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

%

interest expense ÷ debt = 5.6%, kept between the risk-free rate and +8 points

%

effective rate in the last fiscal year, 22.9%, 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 $276.82 discounted at 6.7% a year · 72% of it from after year 10
$164.6280% of 4,980 simulations$487.87
Cautious $128.29 21.0% growth · 8.4% margin · 7.7% discount · 2.0% forever
Your assumptions $276.82 25.0% growth · 9.8% margin · 6.7% discount · 2.5% forever
Generous $634.41 29.0% growth · 11.3% margin · 5.7% 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 ÷ earnings51.1×
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA28.3×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue6.1×
Free cash flow yield1.4%

From cash flows to a value per share

10 years of cash flow, today56.4B
Everything after, today148.7B
The whole business205.2B
Minus net debt-31.9B
What belongs to shareholders173.3B

Divided among 625.9M shares: <strong>$276.82</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
Revenue42.0B51.5B61.8B72.6B83.5B93.9B103.3B111.1B116.6B119.5B
Growth25.0%22.5%20.0%17.5%15.0%12.5%10.0%7.5%5.0%2.5%
Cash margin9.8%9.8%9.8%9.8%9.8%9.8%9.8%9.8%9.8%9.8%
Free cash flow4.1B5.1B6.1B7.1B8.2B9.2B10.2B10.9B11.5B11.8B
Worth today3.9B4.4B5.0B5.5B5.9B6.2B6.4B6.5B6.4B6.1B

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%
5.7% 290 332 387 462 572
6.2% 251 284 325 379 453
6.7% 219 245 277 317 370
7.2% 194 215 240 271 311
7.7% 172 189 210 234 265

Year-one growth and the final margin

margin ↓ · growth →21.0%23.0%25.0%27.0%29.0%
7.9% 179 198 219 241 264
8.8% 204 225 248 272 298
9.8% 228 252 277 304 333
10.8% 253 278 306 335 367
11.8% 278 305 335 367 401

All the inputs moving at once

4,980 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>$211.91</b> and <b>$369.93</b>; one in ten below $164.62, one in ten above $487.87.

Does the long run make sense?

  • 11.1×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 11.1 times that year's EBITDA.
  • 10%To grow 2.5% forever while reinvesting 25% of its after-tax operating profit, the business must earn 10% on the new capital — it has earned 9% on average over the last five years.
  • 72%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: 5.57% × (1 − 22.9%) = <strong>4.30%</strong>.
  3. Weighted by how much of each the company uses (book value (no price given)): <strong>6.72%</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 (natural gas transmisison & distribution) first, then the rest of energy.

Every figure, year by year

10 fiscal years · 30 measures
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Size
Revenue8.9B12.2B12.6B10.2B8.5B16.5B22.4B17.7B21.7B33.6B
Revenue growth—+36.5%+3.4%-19.3%-16.0%+93.6%+35.4%-21.0%+22.7%+55.0%
Operating income1.3B1.4B1.8B1.9B1.4B2.6B2.8B4.1B5.0B5.7B
Net income352.0M387.8M1.2B1.3B612.8M1.5B1.7B2.7B3.0B3.4B
Margins
Gross margin27.2%21.7%25.2%33.2%40.2%25.9%20.0%32.5%38.7%30.5%
Operating margin14.5%11.4%14.6%18.8%15.9%15.7%12.5%23.0%23.0%17.1%
Net margin3.9%3.2%9.1%12.6%7.2%9.1%7.7%15.0%14.0%10.1%
Free cash flow margin8.2%6.6%0.4%-18.7%-3.5%11.2%7.6%16.0%13.2%7.3%
R&D ÷ revenue——————————
SG&A ÷ revenue——————————
Cash
Free cash flow728.6M803.0M45.2M-1.9B-296.3M1.8B1.7B2.8B2.9B2.4B
Stock-based pay40.6M26.3M31.7M37.1M29.4M54.0M53.0M63.0M102.0M92.0M
Free cash flow after stock pay688.0M776.8M13.6M-1.9B-325.7M1.8B1.7B2.8B2.8B2.4B
Free cash flow to the firm775.4M420.7M89.1M-1.8B-985.1M1.7B1.5B2.1B2.8B2.6B
Free cash flow ÷ net income2.1×2.1×0.0×-1.5×-0.5×1.2×1.0×1.1×0.9×0.7×
Capex ÷ revenue7.0%4.2%17.0%37.9%25.7%4.2%5.4%9.0%9.3%9.4%
Returns
Return on invested capital11.8%5.6%8.8%7.9%5.1%10.0%10.7%8.1%7.7%8.1%
Return on equity186.5%7.0%17.5%20.5%10.1%24.9%26.5%16.1%17.8%15.1%
Return on assets2.2%2.3%6.3%5.9%2.7%6.4%7.1%6.0%4.7%5.1%
Asset turnover0.6×0.7×0.7×0.5×0.4×0.7×0.9×0.4×0.3×0.5×
Economic profit435.6M-151.3M323.3M224.1M-323.9M640.6M795.6M530.6M474.8M762.8M
Per share
Earnings per share$1.66$1.29$2.78$3.08$1.42$3.35$3.84$5.48$5.17$5.42
Free cash flow per share$3.43$2.68$0.11$-4.58$-0.69$4.13$3.80$5.82$4.89$3.91
Dividend per share$2.44$2.77$3.22$3.51$3.72$3.73$3.73$3.79$3.94$4.13
Payout ratio147.0%213.9%115.9%114.0%262.0%111.1%97.1%69.2%76.2%76.1%
Book value per share$0.45$14.22$15.99$15.07$13.58$13.48$14.52$28.27$29.22$35.71
Diluted shares212.4M299.8M414.2M415.4M431.8M447.4M448.4M485.4M586.5M625.9M
Balance sheet
Net debt8.1B8.5B9.4B12.5B13.7B13.5B13.4B21.3B31.3B31.9B
Net debt ÷ EBITDA4.8×4.7×4.1×5.2×7.1×4.2×3.9×4.4×5.1×4.4×
Interest coverage2.8×2.9×3.9×3.9×1.9×3.5×4.2×4.7×3.6×3.2×
Current ratio0.5×0.7×0.7×0.7×1.4×0.7×0.8×0.9×0.9×0.7×
Cash conversion cycle (days)-66-8-190567-03
Scores
Piotroski F-score—765567646
Altman Z''-0.020.721.010.840.920.871.031.250.931.04
Beneish M—-2.23-3.15-2.78-2.84-1.70-2.44-2.00-2.35-2.18

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.