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Semtech Corp

SMTC · Technology (semiconductors & related devices) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2026-01-25

Signed in, this page also says what this company is inside your own portfolio: its weight, its share of your risk, and what buying or selling some of it would change. Sign in ›

Semtech Corp reported revenue of $1.0 billion in fiscal 2026, after growing 7.6% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin narrowed from 15.4% in 2017 to 3.1%, and it earned 6.1% on its invested capital in the latest year. Of the $1.1 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 115.2% went to acquisitions and 40.3% to buybacks; the share count rose 33.7%. On the accounting screens, it passes 7 of 9 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of 1.58 is in the grey zone and its Beneish M-score is below the -1.78 line; 3 of the six cross-checks between its statements fire.

Revenue, fiscal 2026 1.0B +7.6% a year over 9 years
Operating margin 3.1% gross margin 51.6%
Return on invested capital 6.1% -12.9% on average over 5 years
Free cash flow after stock pay 113.7M 10.8% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA 4.7× net debt 296.1M
Piotroski F-score 7/9 tests 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
Compound growth a year
3 yrs5 yrs9 yrs
Revenue+11.5%+12.0%+7.6%
Operating income-29.5%-15.4%-10.0%
Free cash flow per share+8.1%+8.2%+4.7%
Shares+11.3%+6.0%+3.3%

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

Economic profit

Needs a cost of capital, which comes from the valuation below.

Return on equity
-7.3%
Return on assets
-2.9%
Asset turnover
0.74×
Research & development
18.7% of revenue
Overheads (SG&A)
21.1% 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

Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2017–2026

1.1B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.

  • Reinvested in the business 22% 242.6M
  • Acquisitions 115% 1.3B
  • Dividends 0% 0
  • Share buybacks 40% 453.5M
  • More than it generated: funded with cash or new debt -77% -866.5M

Over the same years it paid 509.1M in stock. The share count rose 33.7%. 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
4.7×
Interest coverage
1× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
2.37 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
— collects 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.

7of 9 tests passed
  • ProfitableReturn on assets above zero failed
  • 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 passed
  • No new sharesShare count did not grow failed
  • Better gross marginGross margin higher than a year before passed
  • 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?

1.58grey zone
  • Working capital ÷ assets 0.27 × 6.56+1.76
  • Retained earnings ÷ assets -0.31 × 3.26-1.01
  • Operating income ÷ assets 0.02 × 6.72+0.16
  • Equity ÷ liabilities 0.64 × 1.05+0.67

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?

-3.23below the -1.78 line
  • Receivables vs sales 0.86+0.79
  • Gross margin slipping 0.97+0.51
  • Soft assets 0.92+0.37
  • Sales growth 1.15+1.03
  • Slower depreciation 0.97+0.11
  • Overheads vs sales 0.86-0.15
  • Profit not in cash -0.16-0.74
  • 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.

Capital spending (10M) is well below depreciation (30M).

Benign

Mature assets, or a business that has become less capital-intensive.

Worrying

Under-investing: today's profit is being held up by consuming tomorrow's capacity.

The effective tax rate is -93.6%.

Benign

A favourable geographic mix, or legitimate tax credits.

Worrying

Not sustainable; projecting it forward inflates the valuation.

Net debt is 4.7 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 2026

%

revenue grew +12.1% 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 par yield (U.S. Treasury), 2026-09-25

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 = 8.3%, kept between the risk-free rate and +8 points

%

effective rate in the last fiscal year, -93.6%, 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

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.

What its own directors and officers did

Every Form 4 filed in the last twelve months, read line by line: 6 filings by 6 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$1.1M3 sale(s) by 3 insider(s)
Under pre-arranged plans67%of the sales followed a 10b5-1 plan set months earlier
Other lines80 awards · 4 option exercises · 4 tax withholdings
DateWhoWhatSharesPriceValueHolds after
23 Sep 2026 Walsh Paul V JrDirector Sold on the open market · pre-arranged plan 500 $172.61 $86,305 26,600
16 Sep 2026 Cardenuto Rodolpho CDirector Sold on the open market 5,321 $165.00 $877,978 0
10 Sep 2026 Hou Hong QPresident and CEO Exercised options 8,130 — — 68,929
10 Sep 2026 Hou Hong QPresident and CEO Shares withheld for taxes 4,137 $163.94 $678,220 64,792
10 Sep 2026 Green Jason ElliotEVP and CCO Exercised options 2,511 — — 11,122
10 Sep 2026 Green Jason ElliotEVP and CCO Shares withheld for taxes 989 $163.94 $162,137 10,133
10 Sep 2026 Wilson John MichaelChief Quality Officer and CTO Exercised options 1,400 — — 82,276
10 Sep 2026 Wilson John MichaelChief Quality Officer and CTO Shares withheld for taxes 713 $163.94 $116,889 81,563
10 Sep 2026 Lin MarkEVP and CFO Exercised options 2,348 — — 37,244
10 Sep 2026 Lin MarkEVP and CFO Shares withheld for taxes 1,195 $163.94 $195,908 36,049
10 Sep 2026 Lin MarkEVP and CFO Sold on the open market · pre-arranged plan 683 $159.90 $109,212 35,366

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.

FundSharesValueShare of the fundSince the quarter before
Norges Bank (Norway's sovereign fund) 30 Jun 2026 1.2M $202.0M 0.0% New
Tudor Investment 30 Jun 2026 118,649 $19.2M 0.1% Added to
Bridgewater Associates 30 Jun 2026 15,294 $2.5M 0.0% Reduced
Maverick Capital 30 Jun 2026 3,082 $498,822 0.0% New

All the funds and what they reported ›

Companies like this one

Same SEC industry (semiconductors & related devices) first, then the rest of technology.

Every figure, year by year

10 fiscal years · 30 measures
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Size
Revenue544.3M587.8M627.2M547.5M595.1M740.9M756.5M868.8M909.3M1.0B
Revenue growth—+8.0%+6.7%-12.7%+8.7%+24.5%+2.1%+14.8%+4.7%+15.5%
Operating income84.1M66.6M105.5M52.0M75.0M145.0M92.8M-944.3M49.9M32.6M
Net income54.7M34.6M69.6M31.9M59.9M125.7M61.4M-1.1B-161.9M-40.4M
Margins
Gross margin59.7%59.9%60.1%61.5%59.8%62.2%63.3%34.1%50.2%51.6%
Operating margin15.4%11.3%16.8%9.5%12.6%19.6%12.3%-108.7%5.5%3.1%
Net margin10.0%5.9%11.1%5.8%10.1%17.0%8.1%-125.7%-17.8%-3.8%
Free cash flow margin15.6%12.9%26.5%17.5%14.5%23.9%13.0%-14.2%5.5%16.3%
R&D ÷ revenue18.8%17.9%17.4%19.6%19.7%20.0%22.1%21.5%18.8%18.7%
SG&A ÷ revenue25.5%25.2%23.2%29.8%27.4%22.7%29.7%25.3%24.5%21.1%
Cash
Free cash flow84.7M76.0M166.5M95.6M86.2M176.9M98.4M-123.1M50.1M171.4M
Stock-based pay30.8M50.1M66.8M52.0M53.0M51.2M39.2M40.2M68.0M57.7M
Free cash flow after stock pay53.9M26.0M99.7M43.5M33.2M125.8M59.1M-163.3M-17.9M113.7M
Free cash flow to the firm77.0M46.9M118.9M61.5M38.7M101.0M-114.1M-899.9M34.5M53.0M
Free cash flow ÷ net income1.5×2.2×2.4×3.0×1.4×1.4×1.6×0.1×-0.3×-4.2×
Capex ÷ revenue6.0%6.0%2.7%4.2%5.5%3.5%3.7%3.4%0.9%0.9%
Returns
Return on invested capital7.4%4.5%11.7%4.2%8.1%14.2%3.4%-93.1%5.1%6.1%
Return on equity9.0%5.2%10.2%4.7%8.6%17.0%8.1%—-29.8%-7.3%
Return on assets5.4%3.2%6.6%3.0%5.5%11.1%2.4%-79.5%-11.4%-2.9%
Asset turnover0.5×0.5×0.6×0.5×0.5×0.7×0.3×0.6×0.6×0.7×
Economic profit——————————
Per share
Earnings per share$0.83$0.51$1.02$0.47$0.91$1.92$0.96$-17.03$-2.26$-0.46
Free cash flow per share$1.28$1.12$2.43$1.42$1.30$2.70$1.54$-1.92$0.70$1.94
Dividend per share——————————
Payout ratio——————————
Book value per share$9.20$10.04$10.46$10.29$10.73$11.51$11.83$-4.77$6.29$5.93
Diluted shares66.1M67.6M68.5M67.4M66.1M65.6M64.0M64.1M71.6M88.4M
Balance sheet
Net debt-56.2M-81.4M-101.0M-98.6M-89.7M-107.9M1.1B1.2B399.8M296.1M
Net debt ÷ EBITDA-0.4×-0.7×-0.7×-1.1×-0.9×-0.6×9.3×-1.4×4.8×4.7×
Interest coverage9.0×9.0×12.2×6.0×14.0×28.5×5.3×-9.9×0.6×0.8×
Current ratio3.6×3.7×3.7×4.7×4.3×3.9×1.8×2.5×2.1×2.4×
Cash conversion cycle (days)——————————
Scores
Piotroski F-score—786785367
Altman Z''5.685.606.526.386.627.302.60-3.851.371.58
Beneish M—-2.74-2.57-3.07-2.51-2.75-1.78-5.89-3.04-3.23

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.