TEL · Industrials(wholesale-electronic parts & equipment, nec) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-09-26
TE Connectivity plc reported revenue of $17.3 billion in fiscal 2025, after growing 4.8% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin widened from 15.9% in 2016 to 18.6%, and it earned 10.1% on its invested capital in the latest year. Of the $27.0 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 46.2% went to buybacks and 27.1% back into the business; the share count fell 19.0%. On the accounting screens, it passes 5 of 9 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of 4.49 is in the safe zone and its Beneish M-score is below the -1.78 line; none of the six cross-checks between its statements fires.
Revenue, fiscal 202517.3B+4.8% a year over 9 years
Operating margin18.6%gross margin 35.2%
Return on invested capital10.1%13.8% on average over 5 years
Free cash flow after stock pay3.1B17.7% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA1.1×net debt 4.4B
Piotroski F-score5/9tests 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
05.0B10.0B15.0B20.0B
2016Revenue 11.4BOperating income 1.8B
2017Revenue 12.2BOperating income 1.9B
2018Revenue 14.0BOperating income 2.3B
2019Revenue 13.4BOperating income 2.0B
2020Revenue 12.2BOperating income 537.0M
2021Revenue 14.9BOperating income 2.4B
2022Revenue 16.3BOperating income 2.8B
2023Revenue 16.0BOperating income 2.3B
2024Revenue 15.8BOperating income 2.8B
2025Revenue 17.3BOperating income 3.2B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
+2.0%
+7.2%
+4.8%
Operating income
+5.2%
+43.0%
+6.6%
Net income
-8.8%
—
-1.0%
Earnings per share
-6.2%
—
+1.4%
Free cash flow per share
+27.0%
+20.0%
+12.7%
Dividend per share
+8.4%
+7.4%
+7.7%
Shares
-2.7%
-2.1%
-2.3%
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.
Return on invested capitalCost of capital today · 8.1%
-5.0%0.0%5.0%10.0%15.0%20.0%
2016Return on invested capital 2.8%
2017Return on invested capital 11.9%
2018Return on invested capital 13.3%
2019Return on invested capital 13.5%
2020Return on invested capital -2.0%
2021Return on invested capital 15.7%
2022Return on invested capital 16.3%
2023Return on invested capital 12.3%
2024Return on invested capital 14.5%
2025Return on invested capital 10.1%
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Economic profit
Economic profit
-2.0B-1.0B01.0B2.0B
2016Economic profit -666.3M
2017Economic profit 543.9M
2018Economic profit 778.0M
2019Economic profit 791.4M
2020Economic profit -1.4B
2021Economic profit 1.1B
2022Economic profit 1.2B
2023Economic profit 664.2M
2024Economic profit 1.1B
2025Economic profit 374.2M
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
(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
14.6%
Return on assets
7.3%
Asset turnover
0.69×
Research & development
4.0% of revenue
Overheads (SG&A)
10.8% 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
-1.0B01.0B2.0B3.0B4.0B
2016Net income 2.0BFree cash flow 1.3BAfter stock-based pay 1.3B
2017Net income 1.7BFree cash flow 1.6BAfter stock-based pay 1.5B
2018Net income 2.6BFree cash flow 1.5BAfter stock-based pay 1.4B
2019Net income 1.8BFree cash flow 1.7BAfter stock-based pay 1.6B
2020Net income -241.0MFree cash flow 1.4BAfter stock-based pay 1.4B
2021Net income 2.3BFree cash flow 2.0BAfter stock-based pay 1.9B
2022Net income 2.4BFree cash flow 1.7BAfter stock-based pay 1.6B
2023Net income 1.9BFree cash flow 2.4BAfter stock-based pay 2.3B
2024Net income 3.2BFree cash flow 2.8BAfter stock-based pay 2.7B
2025Net income 1.8BFree cash flow 3.2BAfter stock-based pay 3.1B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2016–2025
27.0B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 27%7.3B
Acquisitions 23%6.1B
Dividends 24%6.5B
Share buybacks 46%12.5B
More than it generated: funded with cash or new debt -20%-5.4B
Over the same years it paid 1.0B in stock. The share count fell 19.0%. 11.5B of the buybacks went beyond offsetting that dilution.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$-5.00$0.00$5.00$10.00$15.00
2016Earnings per share $5.44Free cash flow per share $3.64Dividend per share $1.38
2017Earnings per share $4.70Free cash flow per share $4.59Dividend per share $1.53
2018Earnings per share $7.27Free cash flow per share $4.29Dividend per share $1.67
2019Earnings per share $5.42Free cash flow per share $4.92Dividend per share $1.79
2020Earnings per share $-0.73Free cash flow per share $4.31Dividend per share $1.88
2021Earnings per share $6.79Free cash flow per share $5.96Dividend per share $1.94
2022Earnings per share $7.47Free cash flow per share $5.23Dividend per share $2.11
2023Earnings per share $6.03Free cash flow per share $7.57Dividend per share $2.29
2024Earnings per share $10.33Free cash flow per share $9.05Dividend per share $2.46
2025Earnings per share $6.16Free cash flow per share $10.71Dividend per share $2.69
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
280.0M300.0M320.0M340.0M360.0M380.0M
2016Diluted shares 369.0M
2017Diluted shares 358.0M
2018Diluted shares 353.0M
2019Diluted shares 340.0M
2020Diluted shares 332.0M
2021Diluted shares 333.0M
2022Diluted shares 325.0M
2023Diluted shares 317.0M
2024Diluted shares 309.0M
2025Diluted shares 299.0M
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
02.0B4.0B6.0B
2016Net debt 3.4B
2017Net debt 3.1B
2018Net debt 3.2B
2019Net debt 3.0B
2020Net debt 3.2B
2021Net debt 2.9B
2022Net debt 3.1B
2023Net debt 2.5B
2024Net debt 2.9B
2025Net debt 4.4B
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
1.1×
Interest coverage
42× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
1.56 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
94 days collects in 72d, stock 88d, pays in 66d
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 9 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 fellfailed
✕More liquidCurrent ratio higher than a year beforefailed
✓No new sharesShare count did not growpassed
✓Better gross marginGross margin higher than a year beforepassed
✕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?
4.49safe zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets 0.11 × 6.56+0.74
Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.56 × 3.26+1.81
Operating income ÷ assets 0.13 × 6.72+0.86
Equity ÷ liabilities 1.02 × 1.05+1.07
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?
-2.84below the -1.78 line
-1.78
Receivables vs sales 1.02+0.94
Gross margin slipping 0.98+0.52
Soft assets 1.03+0.42
Sales growth 1.09+0.97
Slower depreciation 1.07+0.12
Overheads vs sales 0.99-0.17
Profit not in cash -0.09-0.43
Leverage rising 1.12-0.37
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.
None of the six cross-checks fires for the latest year: receivables and inventory move with revenue, profit turns into cash, investment keeps up with depreciation, the tax rate is ordinary and debt is moderate.
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$136.06discounted at 8.1% a year · 61% 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
22.1×
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA
11.1×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue
2.6×
Free cash flow yield
7.5%
From cash flows to a value per share
10 years of cash flow, today17.8B
Everything after, today27.3B
The whole business45.1B
Minus net debt-4.4B
What belongs to shareholders40.7B
Divided among 299.0M shares: <strong>$136.06</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
2016Reported 1.3B
2017Reported 1.5B
2018Reported 1.4B
2019Reported 1.6B
2020Reported 1.4B
2021Reported 1.9B
2022Reported 1.6B
2023Reported 2.3B
2024Reported 2.7B
2025Reported 3.1B
2026Projected 2.2B
2027Projected 2.3B
2028Projected 2.4B
2029Projected 2.6B
2030Projected 2.7B
2031Projected 2.8B
2032Projected 2.9B
2033Projected 3.0B
2034Projected 3.1B
2035Projected 3.2B
2016201820202022202420262028203020322034
Year by year
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
Revenue
18.5B
19.7B
20.9B
22.0B
23.1B
24.1B
25.1B
26.0B
26.8B
27.4B
Growth
7.0%
6.5%
6.0%
5.5%
5.0%
4.5%
4.0%
3.5%
3.0%
2.5%
Cash margin
11.7%
11.7%
11.7%
11.7%
11.7%
11.7%
11.7%
11.7%
11.7%
11.7%
Free cash flow
2.2B
2.3B
2.4B
2.6B
2.7B
2.8B
2.9B
3.0B
3.1B
3.2B
Worth today
2.0B
2.0B
1.9B
1.9B
1.8B
1.8B
1.7B
1.6B
1.6B
1.5B
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%
7.1%
141
154
170
189
214
7.6%
128
139
151
167
186
8.1%
117
126
136
149
164
8.6%
107
115
123
133
146
9.1%
99
105
112
121
131
Year-one growth and the final margin
margin ↓ · growth →
3.0%
5.0%
7.0%
9.0%
11.0%
9.4%
92
101
112
122
134
10.5%
102
113
124
136
149
11.7%
113
124
136
149
163
12.9%
123
135
148
163
178
14.1%
133
146
161
176
193
All the inputs moving at once
5,000 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.
10th percentile$94.00
Median$136.14
90th percentile$205.65
$100.00$200.00$300.00
Half of the simulations land between <b>$111.93</b> and <b>$167.80</b>; one in ten below $94.00, one in ten above $205.65.
Does the long run make sense?
9.2×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 9.2 times that year's EBITDA.
81%To grow 2.5% forever while reinvesting 3% of its after-tax operating profit, the business must earn 81% on the new capital — it has earned 14% on average over the last five years.
61%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.