ULS · Industrials(services-testing laboratories) · 5 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-31
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UL Solutions Inc. reported revenue of $3.1 billion in fiscal 2025. Of the $2.0 billion its operations generated over 5 years, 126.5% went to dividends and 41.4% back into the business. On the accounting screens, it passes 7 of 9 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of 3.08 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 20253.1B
Operating margin17.1%gross margin 49.5%
Return on invested capital21.9%21.3% on average over 3 years
Free cash flow after stock pay356.0M11.7% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA0.3×net debt 196.0M
Piotroski F-score7/9tests 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
01B2B3B4B
2021
2022Revenue 2.5BOperating income 412.0M
2023Revenue 2.7BOperating income 368.0M
2024Revenue 2.9BOperating income 462.0M
2025Revenue 3.1BOperating income 522.0M
20212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
4 yrs
Revenue
+6.6%
—
Operating income
+8.2%
—
Net income
+3.5%
—
Earnings per share
+3.0%
—
Free cash flow per share
+24.0%
—
Dividend per share
-60.0%
—
Shares
+0.5%
—
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 · 9.1%
0%10%20%30%
2021
2022
2023Return on invested capital 18.8%
2024Return on invested capital 23.3%
2025Return on invested capital 21.9%
20212022202320242025
Economic profit
Economic profit
0100M200M300M
2021
2022
2023Economic profit 151.9M
2024Economic profit 234.5M
2025Economic profit 223.8M
20212022202320242025
(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
25.8%
Return on assets
11.1%
Asset turnover
1.05×
Overheads (SG&A)
31.2% 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
0200M400M600M
2021
2022Net income 293.0MFree cash flow 208.0MAfter stock-based pay 208.0M
2023Net income 260.0MFree cash flow 252.0MAfter stock-based pay 252.0M
2024Net income 326.0MFree cash flow 287.0MAfter stock-based pay 264.0M
2025Net income 325.0MFree cash flow 403.0MAfter stock-based pay 356.0M
20212022202320242025
Where 5 years of operating cash went, 2021–2025
2.0B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 41%813.0M
Acquisitions 6%111.0M
Dividends 127%2.5B
Share buybacks 0%0
More than it generated: funded with cash or new debt -74%-1.4B
Over the same years it paid 70.0M in stock.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$0$2$4$6$8
2021
2022Earnings per share $1.47Free cash flow per share $1.04Dividend per share $8.00
2023Earnings per share $1.30Free cash flow per share $1.26Dividend per share $3.40
2024Earnings per share $1.62Free cash flow per share $1.43Dividend per share $0.50
2025Earnings per share $1.60Free cash flow per share $1.99Dividend per share $0.51
20212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
200M201M202M203M
2021
2022Diluted shares 200.0M
2023Diluted shares 200.0M
2024Diluted shares 201.0M
2025Diluted shares 203.0M
20212022202320242025
Debt and liquidity
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
0200M400M600M
2021
2022
2023Net debt 589.0M
2024Net debt 444.0M
2025Net debt 196.0M
20212022202320242025
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
0.3×
Interest coverage
13× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
1.32 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
— collects in 50d
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 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 fellpassed
✓More liquidCurrent ratio higher than a year beforepassed
✕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?
3.08safe zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets 0.08 × 6.56+0.54
Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.16 × 3.26+0.52
Operating income ÷ assets 0.18 × 6.72+1.20
Equity ÷ liabilities 0.78 × 1.05+0.81
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?
-2.80below the -1.78 line
-1.78
Receivables vs sales 1.04+0.96
Gross margin slipping 0.98+0.52
Soft assets 0.94+0.38
Sales growth 1.06+0.95
Slower depreciation 1.01+0.12
Overheads vs sales 0.96-0.17
Profit not in cash -0.09-0.44
Leverage rising 0.84-0.27
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$25.03discounted at 9.1% a year · 55% 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
15.6×
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA
7.4×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue
1.7×
Free cash flow yield
7.0%
From cash flows to a value per share
10 years of cash flow, today2.4B
Everything after, today2.9B
The whole business5.3B
Minus net debt-196.0M
What belongs to shareholders5.1B
Divided among 203.0M shares: <strong>$25.03</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
0200M400M600M
2021
2022Reported 208.0M
2023Reported 252.0M
2024Reported 264.0M
2025Reported 356.0M
2026Projected 306.1M
2027Projected 324.7M
2028Projected 342.9M
2029Projected 360.6M
2030Projected 377.6M
2031Projected 393.8M
2032Projected 408.9M
2033Projected 422.7M
2034Projected 435.2M
2035Projected 446.1M
20212023202520272029203120332035
Year by year
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
Revenue
3.3B
3.4B
3.6B
3.8B
4.0B
4.2B
4.3B
4.5B
4.6B
4.7B
Growth
6.5%
6.1%
5.6%
5.2%
4.7%
4.3%
3.8%
3.4%
2.9%
2.5%
Cash margin
9.4%
9.4%
9.4%
9.4%
9.4%
9.4%
9.4%
9.4%
9.4%
9.4%
Free cash flow
306.1M
324.7M
342.9M
360.6M
377.6M
393.8M
408.9M
422.7M
435.2M
446.1M
Worth today
280.6M
272.8M
264.1M
254.6M
244.4M
233.7M
222.4M
210.8M
198.9M
186.9M
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%
8.1%
26
28
30
32
35
8.6%
24
25
27
29
32
9.1%
22
24
25
27
29
9.6%
21
22
23
25
26
10.1%
19
20
22
23
24
Year-one growth and the final margin
margin ↓ · growth →
2.5%
4.5%
6.5%
8.5%
10.5%
7.5%
18
19
21
23
25
8.5%
19
21
23
25
27
9.4%
21
23
25
27
30
10.4%
23
25
27
29
32
11.3%
24
27
29
32
34
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$17.65
Median$25.08
90th percentile$35.94
$20.00$30.00$40.00$50.00
Half of the simulations land between <b>$20.80</b> and <b>$30.16</b>; one in ten below $17.65, one in ten above $35.94.
Does the long run make sense?
6.3×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 6.3 times that year's EBITDA.
10%To grow 2.5% forever while reinvesting 25% of its after-tax operating profit, the business must earn 10% on the new capital — it has earned 21% on average over the last five years.
55%of the value comes from after year 10. The more of it, the more the answer depends on the part nobody can see.
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.