SLAB · Technology(semiconductors & related devices) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2026-01-03
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Silicon Laboratories Inc. reported revenue of $784.8 million in fiscal 2026, after growing 1.3% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin narrowed from 9.5% in 2016 to -9.0%. Of the $1.1 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 220.1% went to buybacks and 53.9% to acquisitions; the share count fell 22.8%. On the accounting screens, it passes 5 of 8 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of 11.34 is in the safe zone and its Beneish M-score is below the -1.78 line; 1 of the six cross-checks between its statements fires.
Revenue, fiscal 2026784.8M+1.3% a year over 9 years
Operating margin-9.0%gross margin 58.2%
Return on invested capital—
Free cash flow after stock pay-14.5M-1.9% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA—net debt —
Piotroski F-score5/8tests 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
-500.0M0500.0M1.0B1.5B
2016Revenue 697.6MOperating income 66.3M
2017Revenue 768.9MOperating income 85.0M
2018Revenue 868.3MOperating income 85.2M
2019Revenue 473.8MOperating income -88.6M
2021Revenue 510.9MOperating income -107.1M
2022Revenue 720.9MOperating income -32.8M
2022Revenue 1.0BOperating income 119.3M
2023Revenue 782.3MOperating income -24.2M
2024Revenue 584.4MOperating income -165.5M
2026Revenue 784.8MOperating income -70.5M
2016201720182019202120222022202320242026
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
-8.5%
+9.0%
+1.3%
Free cash flow per share
-14.2%
-5.4%
-3.6%
Shares
-3.2%
-5.9%
-2.8%
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.
Needs a cost of capital, which comes from the valuation below.
Return on equity
-5.9%
Return on assets
-5.1%
Asset turnover
0.62×
Research & development
45.0% of revenue
Overheads (SG&A)
22.2% 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
-1.0B01.0B2.0B3.0B
2016Net income 61.5MFree cash flow 118.0MAfter stock-based pay 78.4M
2017Net income 47.1MFree cash flow 177.3MAfter stock-based pay 132.5M
2018Net income 83.6MFree cash flow 149.1MAfter stock-based pay 99.0M
2019Net income 19.3MFree cash flow 151.2MAfter stock-based pay 106.9M
2021Net income 12.5MFree cash flow 117.6MAfter stock-based pay 68.2M
2022Net income 2.1BFree cash flow 62.6MAfter stock-based pay 5.8M
2022Net income 91.4MFree cash flow 114.7MAfter stock-based pay 54.2M
2023Net income -34.5MFree cash flow -52.6MAfter stock-based pay -100.8M
2024Net income -191.0MFree cash flow -25.7MAfter stock-based pay -87.2M
2026Net income -64.9MFree cash flow 65.8MAfter stock-based pay -14.5M
2016201720182019202120222022202320242026
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2016–2026
1.1B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 19%200.1M
Acquisitions 54%580.8M
Dividends 0%0
Share buybacks 220%2.4B
More than it generated: funded with cash or new debt -193%-2.1B
Over the same years it paid 535.6M in stock. The share count fell 22.8%. 1.8B of the buybacks went beyond offsetting that dilution.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$-20.00$0.00$20.00$40.00$60.00
2016Earnings per share $1.45Free cash flow per share $2.78
2017Earnings per share $1.09Free cash flow per share $4.09
2018Earnings per share $1.90Free cash flow per share $3.38
2019Earnings per share $0.43Free cash flow per share $3.41
2021Earnings per share $0.28Free cash flow per share $2.65
2022Earnings per share $47.78Free cash flow per share $1.41
2022Earnings per share $2.54Free cash flow per share $3.18
2023Earnings per share $-1.09Free cash flow per share $-1.65
2024Earnings per share $-5.93Free cash flow per share $-0.80
2026Earnings per share $-1.98Free cash flow per share $2.01
2016201720182019202120222022202320242026
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
30.0M35.0M40.0M45.0M
2016Diluted shares 42.4M
2017Diluted shares 43.3M
2018Diluted shares 44.0M
2019Diluted shares 44.3M
2021Diluted shares 44.4M
2022Diluted shares 44.3M
2022Diluted shares 36.0M
2023Diluted shares 31.8M
2024Diluted shares 32.2M
2026Diluted shares 32.7M
2016201720182019202120222022202320242026
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
-80.0M-60.0M-40.0M-20.0M0
2016Net debt -68.6M
2017
2018
2019
2021
2022
2022
2023
2024
2026
2016201720182019202120222022202320242026
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
—
Interest coverage
-72× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
4.69 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
80 days collects in 30d, stock 106d, pays in 56d
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.
5of 8 tests passed
✕ProfitableReturn on assets above zerofailed
✓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 fell — not reportedno data
✕More liquidCurrent ratio higher than a year beforefailed
✕No new sharesShare count did not growfailed
✓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?
11.34safe zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets 0.42 × 6.56+2.74
Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.74 × 3.26+2.41
Operating income ÷ assets -0.06 × 6.72-0.37
Equity ÷ liabilities 6.26 × 1.05+6.57
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?
-3.07below the -1.78 line
-1.78
Receivables vs sales 0.88+0.81
Gross margin slipping 0.92+0.48
Soft assets 0.92+0.37
Sales growth 1.34+1.20
Slower depreciation 1.01+0.12
Overheads vs sales 0.89-0.15
Profit not in cash -0.13-0.59
Leverage rising 1.41-0.46
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.
The effective tax rate is -12.1%.
Benign
A favourable geographic mix, or legitimate tax credits.
Worrying
Not sustainable; projecting it forward inflates the valuation.
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.
With a free cash flow margin at or below zero in year ten, the business never generates cash for its owners and a DCF says nothing useful. Set a positive margin for year ten to see what it would take.
What it has filed lately
The last twelve months at the SEC, most important first: annual and quarterly reports, events, large holders and insiders.
Every Form 4 filed in the last twelve months, read line by line: 6 filings by 5 people. Open-market purchases and sales are counted apart from awards, option exercises and shares withheld for taxes.
Bought on the open market—none in the period
Sold on the open market$3.2M2 sale(s) by 2 insider(s)
Under pre-arranged plans50%of the sales followed a 10b5-1 plan set months earlier
A Form 4 says what happened, when, how many shares and at what price. It does not say why: a sale can be diversification, a tax bill or a plan fixed months earlier, and an award is pay, not a purchase. Nothing here is a reason to buy or sell anything.
Which large funds report holding it
From the Form 13F of the 28 institutions followed on this site, as of the end of their last reported quarter. A 13F is filed up to 45 days later and shows only long positions in US-listed shares.
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.