QSR · Consumer discretionary(retail-eating places) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-31
Restaurant Brands International Inc. reported revenue of $9.4 billion in fiscal 2025. Of the $11.3 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 67.7% went to dividends and 15.1% to acquisitions. On the accounting screens, it passes 6 of 8 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of 0.98 is in the distress zone and its Beneish M-score is below the -1.78 line; 2 of the six cross-checks between its statements fire.
Revenue, fiscal 20259.4B
Operating margin23.3%gross margin —
Return on invested capital9.3%10.8% on average over 5 years
Free cash flow after stock pay1.3B13.8% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA4.8×net debt 12.1B
Piotroski F-score6/8tests 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
02.5B5.0B7.5B10.0B
2018
2018Revenue 5.4BOperating income 1.9B
2019
2019Revenue 5.6BOperating income 2.0B
2020Revenue 5.0BOperating income 1.4B
2021Revenue 5.7BOperating income 1.9B
2022Revenue 6.5BOperating income 1.9B
2023Revenue 7.0BOperating income 2.1B
2024Revenue 8.4BOperating income 2.4B
2025Revenue 9.4BOperating income 2.2B
2018201820192019202020212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
+13.2%
+13.7%
—
Operating income
+5.1%
+9.1%
—
Net income
-10.1%
+7.5%
—
Earnings per share
-10.3%
+8.0%
—
Free cash flow per share
+1.2%
+13.0%
—
Dividend per share
+4.3%
+3.4%
—
Shares
+0.1%
-0.5%
—
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 · 5.9%
0.0%5.0%10.0%15.0%
2018
2018Return on invested capital 11.8%
2019
2019Return on invested capital 10.7%
2020Return on invested capital 8.9%
2021Return on invested capital 11.4%
2022Return on invested capital 11.2%
2023Return on invested capital 10.6%
2024Return on invested capital 11.5%
2025Return on invested capital 9.3%
2018201820192019202020212022202320242025
Economic profit
Economic profit
0250.0M500.0M750.0M1.0B
2018
2018Economic profit 786.4M
2019
2019Economic profit 686.7M
2020Economic profit 439.0M
2021Economic profit 825.5M
2022Economic profit 820.5M
2023Economic profit 741.2M
2024Economic profit 939.3M
2025Economic profit 567.7M
2018201820192019202020212022202320242025
(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
29.6%
Return on assets
4.2%
Asset turnover
0.37×
Overheads (SG&A)
7.9% 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
0500.0M1.0B1.5B2.0B
2018
2018Net income 1.1BFree cash flow 1.1BAfter stock-based pay 1.0B
2019
2019Net income 1.1BFree cash flow 1.4BAfter stock-based pay 1.3B
2020Net income 750.0MFree cash flow 804.0MAfter stock-based pay 720.0M
2021Net income 1.3BFree cash flow 1.6BAfter stock-based pay 1.5B
2022Net income 1.5BFree cash flow 1.4BAfter stock-based pay 1.3B
2023Net income 1.7BFree cash flow 1.2BAfter stock-based pay 1.0B
2024Net income 1.4BFree cash flow 1.3BAfter stock-based pay 1.1B
2025Net income 1.1BFree cash flow 1.4BAfter stock-based pay 1.3B
2018201820192019202020212022202320242025
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2018–2025
11.3B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 9%1.1B
Acquisitions 15%1.7B
Dividends 68%7.7B
Share buybacks 12%1.4B
More than it generated: funded with cash or new debt -4%-489.0M
Over the same years it paid 961.0M in stock. 416.0M of the buybacks went beyond offsetting that dilution.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$0.00$1.00$2.00$3.00$4.00
2018
2018Earnings per share $2.42Free cash flow per share $2.28Dividend per share $1.54
2019
2019Earnings per share $2.37Free cash flow per share $3.01Dividend per share $1.92
2020Earnings per share $1.60Free cash flow per share $1.72Dividend per share $2.05
2021Earnings per share $2.70Free cash flow per share $3.49Dividend per share $2.10
2022Earnings per share $3.26Free cash flow per share $3.05Dividend per share $2.13
2023Earnings per share $3.77Free cash flow per share $2.64Dividend per share $2.17
2024Earnings per share $3.18Free cash flow per share $2.87Dividend per share $2.27
2025Earnings per share $2.35Free cash flow per share $3.17Dividend per share $2.42
2018201820192019202020212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
450.0M455.0M460.0M465.0M470.0M475.0M
2018
2018Diluted shares 473.0M
2019
2019Diluted shares 469.0M
2020Diluted shares 468.0M
2021Diluted shares 464.0M
2022Diluted shares 455.0M
2023Diluted shares 456.0M
2024Diluted shares 454.0M
2025Diluted shares 457.0M
2018201820192019202020212022202320242025
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
05.0B10.0B15.0B
2018Net debt 10.7B
2018Net debt 11.0B
2019Net debt 10.8B
2019Net debt 10.3B
2020Net debt 10.9B
2021Net debt 11.9B
2022Net debt 11.8B
2023Net debt 11.8B
2024Net debt 12.3B
2025Net debt 12.1B
2018201820192019202020212022202320242025
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
4.8×
Interest coverage
— operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
0.98 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.
6of 8 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)passed
✓Less long-term debtLong-term debt as a share of assets fellpassed
✓More liquidCurrent ratio higher than a year beforepassed
✕No new sharesShare count did not growfailed
–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?
0.98distress zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets -0.00 × 6.56-0.02
Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.07 × 3.26+0.23
Operating income ÷ assets 0.09 × 6.72+0.58
Equity ÷ liabilities 0.18 × 1.05+0.19
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?
-2.48below the -1.78 line
-1.78
Receivables vs sales 1.00 (not reported, set to 1)+0.92
Gross margin slipping 1.00 (not reported, set to 1)+0.53
Soft assets 0.98+0.40
Sales growth 1.12+1.00
Slower depreciation 0.92+0.11
Overheads vs sales 0.90-0.15
Profit not in cash -0.02-0.12
Leverage rising 0.98-0.32
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 44% against revenue growing 12%.
Benign
Stocking up for a launch, or securing supply.
Worrying
Demand is softening; discounts or write-downs tend to follow.
Net debt is 4.8 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.
Value per share, with these assumptions$168.75discounted at 5.9% a year · 75% 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
71.7×
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA
35.7×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue
9.5×
Free cash flow yield
1.7%
From cash flows to a value per share
10 years of cash flow, today22.5B
Everything after, today66.7B
The whole business89.2B
Minus net debt-12.1B
What belongs to shareholders77.1B
Divided among 457.0M shares: <strong>$168.75</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
01.0B2.0B3.0B4.0B
2018
2018Reported 1.0B
2019
2019Reported 1.3B
2020Reported 720.0M
2021Reported 1.5B
2022Reported 1.3B
2023Reported 1.0B
2024Reported 1.1B
2025Reported 1.3B
2026Projected 2.1B
2027Projected 2.4B
2028Projected 2.6B
2029Projected 2.9B
2030Projected 3.1B
2031Projected 3.3B
2032Projected 3.6B
2033Projected 3.7B
2034Projected 3.9B
2035Projected 4.0B
2018201920202022202420262028203020322034
Year by year
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
Revenue
10.7B
12.0B
13.4B
14.7B
15.9B
17.1B
18.2B
19.1B
19.8B
20.3B
Growth
13.5%
12.3%
11.1%
9.8%
8.6%
7.4%
6.2%
4.9%
3.7%
2.5%
Cash margin
19.6%
19.6%
19.6%
19.6%
19.6%
19.6%
19.6%
19.6%
19.6%
19.6%
Free cash flow
2.1B
2.4B
2.6B
2.9B
3.1B
3.3B
3.6B
3.7B
3.9B
4.0B
Worth today
2.0B
2.1B
2.2B
2.3B
2.3B
2.4B
2.4B
2.4B
2.3B
2.2B
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%
4.9%
176
207
252
319
434
5.4%
149
172
203
247
313
5.9%
129
146
169
199
242
6.4%
112
126
143
165
195
6.9%
99
110
123
140
162
Year-one growth and the final margin
margin ↓ · growth →
9.5%
11.5%
13.5%
15.5%
17.5%
15.7%
109
121
134
148
163
17.6%
123
137
151
167
184
19.6%
138
153
169
186
204
21.5%
153
169
186
205
225
23.5%
167
185
203
224
246
All the inputs moving at once
4,915 valuations, each with growth, final margin, discount rate and growth forever drawn at random around the values on the left (spreads of 3.0%, 2.9%, 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$101.22
Median$167.78
90th percentile$308.03
$200.00$400.00
Half of the simulations land between <b>$128.69</b> and <b>$227.37</b>; one in ten below $101.22, one in ten above $308.03.
Does the long run make sense?
22.1×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 22.1 times that year's EBITDA.
Free growthIn year 10 free cash flow is at or above after-tax operating profit, yet the model grows 2.5% forever. Growth needs reinvestment; this assumes it comes for free, which flatters the terminal value.
75%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.