TER · Technology(instruments for meas & testing of electricity & elec signals) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-31
Teradyne, Inc reported revenue of $3.2 billion in fiscal 2025, after growing 6.9% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin widened from -3.6% in 2016 to 20.4%, and it earned 19.1% on its invested capital in the latest year. Of the $6.6 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 66.7% went to buybacks and 22.7% back into the business; the share count fell 21.2%. On the accounting screens, it passes 5 of 8 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of 5.05 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 20253.2B+6.9% a year over 9 years
Operating margin20.4%gross margin 58.2%
Return on invested capital19.1%19.1% on average over 1 years
Free cash flow after stock pay386.4M12.1% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDANet cash93.8M more cash than 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
-1.0B01.0B2.0B3.0B4.0B
2016Revenue 1.8BOperating income -63.0M
2017Revenue 2.1BOperating income 525.3M
2018Revenue 2.1BOperating income 473.8M
2019Revenue 2.3BOperating income 553.7M
2020Revenue 3.1BOperating income 928.4M
2021Revenue 3.7BOperating income 1.2B
2022Revenue 3.2BOperating income 831.9M
2023Revenue 2.7BOperating income 501.1M
2024Revenue 2.8BOperating income 593.8M
2025Revenue 3.2BOperating income 650.1M
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
+0.4%
+0.4%
+6.9%
Operating income
-7.9%
-6.9%
—
Net income
-8.2%
-6.7%
—
Earnings per share
-6.3%
-4.1%
—
Free cash flow per share
+4.9%
-5.5%
+4.9%
Dividend per share
+5.2%
+5.6%
+8.0%
Shares
-2.0%
-2.7%
-2.6%
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 · 9.8%
0.0%5.0%10.0%15.0%20.0%
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025Return on invested capital 19.1%
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Economic profit
Economic profit
0100.0M200.0M300.0M
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025Economic profit 277.4M
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
19.8%
Return on assets
13.2%
Asset turnover
0.76×
Research & development
15.8% of revenue
Overheads (SG&A)
20.3% 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
-500.0M0500.0M1.0B1.5B
2016Net income -43.4MFree cash flow 369.9MAfter stock-based pay 339.2M
2017Net income 257.7MFree cash flow 521.1MAfter stock-based pay 487.0M
2018Net income 451.8MFree cash flow 362.5MAfter stock-based pay 328.9M
2019Net income 467.5MFree cash flow 444.1MAfter stock-based pay 406.2M
2020Net income 784.1MFree cash flow 684.0MAfter stock-based pay 639.1M
2021Net income 1.0BFree cash flow 965.9MAfter stock-based pay 920.3M
2022Net income 715.5MFree cash flow 414.7MAfter stock-based pay 366.4M
2023Net income 448.8MFree cash flow 425.6MAfter stock-based pay 367.9M
2024Net income 542.4MFree cash flow 474.1MAfter stock-based pay 414.0M
2025Net income 554.0MFree cash flow 450.4MAfter stock-based pay 386.4M
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2016–2025
6.6B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 23%1.5B
Acquisitions 6%405.7M
Dividends 10%655.5M
Share buybacks 67%4.4B
More than it generated: funded with cash or new debt -5%-357.5M
Over the same years it paid 456.9M in stock. The share count fell 21.2%. 4.0B of the buybacks went beyond offsetting that dilution.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$-2.00$0.00$2.00$4.00$6.00
2016Earnings per share $-0.21Free cash flow per share $1.83Dividend per share $0.24
2017Earnings per share $1.28Free cash flow per share $2.58Dividend per share $0.27
2018Earnings per share $2.35Free cash flow per share $1.88Dividend per share $0.35
2019Earnings per share $2.60Free cash flow per share $2.47Dividend per share $0.34
2020Earnings per share $4.28Free cash flow per share $3.74Dividend per share $0.36
2021Earnings per share $5.53Free cash flow per share $5.26Dividend per share $0.36
2022Earnings per share $4.22Free cash flow per share $2.44Dividend per share $0.41
2023Earnings per share $2.73Free cash flow per share $2.59Dividend per share $0.41
2024Earnings per share $3.32Free cash flow per share $2.90Dividend per share $0.47
2025Earnings per share $3.47Free cash flow per share $2.82Dividend per share $0.48
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
140.0M160.0M180.0M200.0M220.0M
2016Diluted shares 202.6M
2017Diluted shares 201.6M
2018Diluted shares 192.6M
2019Diluted shares 179.5M
2020Diluted shares 183.0M
2021Diluted shares 183.6M
2022Diluted shares 169.7M
2023Diluted shares 164.3M
2024Diluted shares 163.3M
2025Diluted shares 159.7M
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
-100.0M-75.0M-50.0M-25.0M0
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025Net debt -93.8M
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
-0.1×
Interest coverage
95× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
1.75 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
120 days collects in 90d, stock 104d, pays in 74d
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 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 fell — not reportedno data
✕More liquidCurrent ratio higher than a year beforefailed
✓No new sharesShare count did not growpassed
✕Better gross marginGross margin higher than a year beforefailed
✓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?
5.05safe zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets 0.20 × 6.56+1.31
Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.18 × 3.26+0.58
Operating income ÷ assets 0.16 × 6.72+1.04
Equity ÷ liabilities 2.01 × 1.05+2.12
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?
-2.20below the -1.78 line
-1.78
Receivables vs sales 1.48+1.36
Gross margin slipping 1.00+0.53
Soft assets 1.07+0.43
Sales growth 1.13+1.01
Slower depreciation 1.03+0.12
Overheads vs sales 0.93-0.16
Profit not in cash -0.03-0.13
Leverage rising 1.58-0.52
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.
Receivables are growing 67% against revenue growing 13%.
Benign
A shift towards larger customers on longer terms, or sales concentrated at the end of the period.
Worrying
Sales are being made on looser credit, or revenue has been booked that may never be collected.
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$27.60discounted at 9.8% a year · 49% 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
8.0×
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA
5.5×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue
1.4×
Free cash flow yield
8.8%
From cash flows to a value per share
10 years of cash flow, today2.2B
Everything after, today2.1B
The whole business4.3B
Plus net cash93.8M
What belongs to shareholders4.4B
Divided among 159.7M shares: <strong>$27.60</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
0250.0M500.0M750.0M1.0B
2016Reported 339.2M
2017Reported 487.0M
2018Reported 328.9M
2019Reported 406.2M
2020Reported 639.1M
2021Reported 920.3M
2022Reported 366.4M
2023Reported 367.9M
2024Reported 414.0M
2025Reported 386.4M
2026Projected 335.5M
2027Projected 337.9M
2028Projected 341.1M
2029Projected 345.1M
2030Projected 349.9M
2031Projected 355.5M
2032Projected 362.0M
2033Projected 369.5M
2034Projected 377.9M
2035Projected 387.3M
2016201820202022202420262028203020322034
Year by year
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
Revenue
3.2B
3.2B
3.3B
3.3B
3.3B
3.4B
3.5B
3.5B
3.6B
3.7B
Growth
0.5%
0.7%
0.9%
1.2%
1.4%
1.6%
1.8%
2.1%
2.3%
2.5%
Cash margin
10.5%
10.5%
10.5%
10.5%
10.5%
10.5%
10.5%
10.5%
10.5%
10.5%
Free cash flow
335.5M
337.9M
341.1M
345.1M
349.9M
355.5M
362.0M
369.5M
377.9M
387.3M
Worth today
305.5M
280.3M
257.7M
237.4M
219.2M
202.8M
188.1M
174.8M
162.9M
152.0M
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%
8.8%
28
30
32
34
36
9.3%
27
28
30
31
33
9.8%
25
26
28
29
31
10.3%
24
25
26
27
29
10.8%
23
23
24
26
27
Year-one growth and the final margin
margin ↓ · growth →
-3.5%
-1.5%
0.5%
2.5%
4.5%
8.4%
20
22
24
26
28
9.4%
22
24
26
28
30
10.5%
23
25
28
30
32
11.5%
25
27
30
32
35
12.6%
27
29
32
34
37
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$20.69
Median$27.69
90th percentile$37.72
$20.00$30.00$40.00$50.00
Half of the simulations land between <b>$23.62</b> and <b>$32.30</b>; one in ten below $20.69, one in ten above $37.72.
Does the long run make sense?
6.0×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 6.0 times that year's EBITDA.
6%To grow 2.5% forever while reinvesting 42% of its after-tax operating profit, the business must earn 6% on the new capital — it has earned 19% on average over the last five years.
49%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.