SPG · Real estate(real estate investment trusts) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-31
Simon Property Group Inc. reported revenue of $6.4 billion in fiscal 2025, after growing 1.8% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin held steady at about 49.9% from 2016. Of the $36.1 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 20.3% went back into the business and 18.6% to dividends. On the accounting screens, it passes 4 of 7 Piotroski tests; 3 of the six cross-checks between its statements fire.
Revenue, fiscal 20256.4B+1.8% a year over 9 years
Operating margin49.9%gross margin —
Return on invested capital—
Free cash flow3.2B50.3% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA6.0×net debt 27.6B
Piotroski F-score4/7tests 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
02.0B4.0B6.0B8.0B
2016Revenue 5.4BOperating income 2.7B
2017Revenue 5.5BOperating income 2.8B
2018Revenue 5.6BOperating income 2.9B
2019Revenue 5.8BOperating income 2.9B
2020Revenue 4.6BOperating income 2.0B
2021Revenue 5.1BOperating income 2.4B
2022Revenue 5.3BOperating income 2.6B
2023Revenue 5.7BOperating income 2.8B
2024Revenue 6.0BOperating income 3.1B
2025Revenue 6.4BOperating income 3.2B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
+6.3%
+6.7%
+1.8%
Operating income
+7.1%
+10.0%
+1.7%
Net income
+29.8%
+33.2%
+10.8%
Earnings per share
+30.0%
+31.8%
—
Free cash flow per share
+1.1%
+10.5%
—
Shares
-0.1%
+1.1%
—
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
0.0%25.0%50.0%75.0%100.0%
2016Operating 50.1%Net 39.3%Free cash flow 47.4%
2017Operating 50.7%Net 40.6%Free cash flow 51.8%
2018Operating 51.8%Net 50.0%Free cash flow 52.6%
2019Operating 50.6%Net 42.1%Free cash flow 50.9%
2020Operating 42.8%Net 27.7%Free cash flow 40.0%
2021Operating 47.2%Net 50.2%Free cash flow 60.8%
2022Operating 48.8%Net 46.3%Free cash flow 58.9%
2023Operating 49.6%Net 46.2%Free cash flow 55.4%
2024Operating 51.9%Net 45.8%Free cash flow 51.3%
2025Operating 49.9%Net 84.3%Free cash flow 50.3%
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Return on invested capital
Economic profit
Needs a cost of capital, which comes from the valuation below.
Return on equity
103.0%
Return on assets
13.2%
Asset turnover
0.16×
Overheads (SG&A)
1.0% 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
02.0B4.0B6.0B
2016Net income 2.1BFree cash flow 2.6B
2017Net income 2.2BFree cash flow 2.9B
2018Net income 2.8BFree cash flow 3.0B
2019Net income 2.4BFree cash flow 2.9B
2020Net income 1.3BFree cash flow 1.8B
2021Net income 2.6BFree cash flow 3.1B
2022Net income 2.5BFree cash flow 3.1B
2023Net income 2.6BFree cash flow 3.1B
2024Net income 2.7BFree cash flow 3.1B
2025Net income 5.4BFree cash flow 3.2B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2016–2025
36.1B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 20%7.3B
Acquisitions 0%0
Dividends 19%6.7B
Share buybacks 6%2.1B
Kept, or used to pay down debt 55%20.0B
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$0.00$5.00$10.00$15.00$20.00
2016
2017
2018
2019Earnings per share $7.87Free cash flow per share $9.52
2020Earnings per share $4.14Free cash flow per share $5.97
2021Earnings per share $7.82Free cash flow per share $9.46
2022Earnings per share $7.48Free cash flow per share $9.51
2023Earnings per share $8.01Free cash flow per share $9.60
2024Earnings per share $8.37Free cash flow per share $9.38
2025Earnings per share $16.44Free cash flow per share $9.81
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
300.0M310.0M320.0M330.0M
2016
2017
2018
2019Diluted shares 308.0M
2020Diluted shares 308.7M
2021Diluted shares 328.6M
2022Diluted shares 327.8M
2023Diluted shares 326.8M
2024Diluted shares 326.1M
2025Diluted shares 326.4M
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
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
010.0B20.0B30.0B
2016Net debt 22.4B
2017Net debt 23.2B
2018Net debt 22.8B
2019Net debt 23.5B
2020Net debt 25.7B
2021Net debt 24.8B
2022Net debt 24.3B
2023Net debt 24.9B
2024Net debt 22.9B
2025Net debt 27.6B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
6.0×
Interest coverage
3× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
— 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.
4of 7 tests passed
✓ProfitableReturn on assets above zeropassed
✓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)failed
✓Less long-term debtLong-term debt as a share of assets fellpassed
–More liquidCurrent ratio higher than a year before — not reportedno data
✕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 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?
The accounts lack a line it needs (retained earnings, current assets or liabilities).
Beneish M-score
Do the accounts resemble those of companies that manipulated their earnings?
The accounts lack too many of the lines it needs.
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.
Reported profit comfortably exceeds the cash generated (5,364M against 4,137M).
Benign
Growth consuming working capital, or the seasonality of the year-end.
Worrying
Profit held up by accounting entries that do not turn into money.
Capital spending (934M) is well below depreciation (1,426M).
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.
Net debt is 6.0 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.
The SEC accounts lack the lines needed for revenue, free cash flow or the share count, so there is no DCF for this company.
What it has filed lately
The last twelve months at the SEC, most important first: annual and quarterly reports, events, large holders and insiders.
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.