VRNS · Technology(services-prepackaged software) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-31
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Varonis Systems Inc reported revenue of $623.5 million in fiscal 2025, after growing 15.9% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin narrowed from -7.2% in 2016 to -23.5%. Of the $371.8 million its operations generated over 10 years, 57.8% went to buybacks and 27.0% back into the business; the share count rose 42.2%. On the accounting screens, it passes 4 of 8 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of 0.74 is in the distress zone and its Beneish M-score is below the -1.78 line; 1 of the six cross-checks between its statements fires.
Revenue, fiscal 2025623.5M+15.9% a year over 9 years
Operating margin-23.5%gross margin 78.8%
Return on invested capital—
Free cash flow after stock pay4.6M0.7% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA—net debt —
Piotroski F-score4/8tests of improvement passed
Share counts are in today's shares. The SEC's filings restate only recent years after a split, so these jumps were read as splits and the older years scaled to match — otherwise per-share figures would compare different units:
3-for-1 before fiscal 2020.
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
-200M0200M400M600M800M
2016Revenue 165.9MOperating income -12.0M
2017Revenue 215.4MOperating income -13.4M
2018Revenue 270.3MOperating income -29.1M
2019Revenue 254.2MOperating income -76.0M
2020Revenue 292.7MOperating income -78.4M
2021Revenue 390.1MOperating income -98.7M
2022Revenue 473.6MOperating income -121.2M
2023Revenue 499.2MOperating income -117.2M
2024Revenue 551.0MOperating income -117.7M
2025Revenue 623.5MOperating income -146.5M
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
+9.6%
+16.3%
+15.9%
Free cash flow per share
+547.2%
—
+44.2%
Shares
+1.5%
+3.9%
+4.0%
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.
Needs a cost of capital, which comes from the valuation below.
Return on equity
-21.6%
Return on assets
-7.2%
Asset turnover
0.35×
Research & development
38.1% of revenue
Overheads (SG&A)
15.9% 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
-200M-100M0100M200M
2016Net income -14.2MFree cash flow 3.5MAfter stock-based pay -9.4M
2017Net income -13.8MFree cash flow 11.0MAfter stock-based pay -8.8M
2018Net income -28.6MFree cash flow 14.0MAfter stock-based pay -21.0M
2019Net income -78.8MFree cash flow -36.1MAfter stock-based pay -82.2M
2020Net income -94.0MFree cash flow -16.0MAfter stock-based pay -84.5M
2021Net income -116.9MFree cash flow -3.3MAfter stock-based pay -113.1M
2022Net income -124.5MFree cash flow 475,000After stock-based pay -142.4M
2023Net income -100.9MFree cash flow 54.3MAfter stock-based pay -85.5M
2024Net income -95.8MFree cash flow 108.5MAfter stock-based pay -18.2M
2025Net income -129.3MFree cash flow 134.8MAfter stock-based pay 4.6M
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2016–2025
371.8M generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 27%100.5M
Acquisitions 8%29.4M
Dividends 0%0
Share buybacks 58%215.0M
Kept, or used to pay down debt 7%26.9M
Over the same years it paid 831.8M in stock. The share count rose 42.2%. The buybacks did not even cover what was handed out in stock.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
-$2-$1$0$1$2
2016Earnings per share $-0.18Free cash flow per share $0.04
2017Earnings per share $-0.16Free cash flow per share $0.13
2018Earnings per share $-0.32Free cash flow per share $0.16
2019Earnings per share $-0.87Free cash flow per share $-0.40
2020Earnings per share $-1.00Free cash flow per share $-0.17
2021Earnings per share $-1.11Free cash flow per share $-0.03
2022Earnings per share $-1.14Free cash flow per share $0.00
2023Earnings per share $-0.92Free cash flow per share $0.50
2024Earnings per share $-0.86Free cash flow per share $0.97
2025Earnings per share $-1.13Free cash flow per share $1.18
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
80M90M100M110M120M
2016Diluted shares 80.5M
2017Diluted shares 84.4M
2018Diluted shares 88.7M
2019Diluted shares 90.8M
2020Diluted shares 94.3M
2021Diluted shares 105.3M
2022Diluted shares 109.3M
2023Diluted shares 109.1M
2024Diluted shares 111.7M
2025Diluted shares 114.4M
2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
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 ÷ EBITDA
—
Interest coverage
— operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
1.97 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
— collects in 142d
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 8 tests passed
✕ProfitableReturn on assets above zerofailed
✓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 beforepassed
✕No new sharesShare count did not growfailed
✕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?
0.74distress zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets 0.36 × 6.56+2.34
Retained earnings ÷ assets -0.49 × 3.26-1.58
Operating income ÷ assets -0.08 × 6.72-0.55
Equity ÷ liabilities 0.50 × 1.05+0.53
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?
-3.08below the -1.78 line
-1.78
Receivables vs sales 1.11+1.02
Gross margin slipping 1.05+0.56
Soft assets 0.56+0.23
Sales growth 1.13+1.01
Slower depreciation 1.04+0.12
Overheads vs sales 0.98-0.17
Profit not in cash -0.15-0.72
Leverage rising 0.86-0.28
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.
The effective tax rate is -11.2%.
Benign
A favourable geographic mix, or legitimate tax credits.
Worrying
Not sustainable; projecting it forward inflates the valuation.
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.
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.
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—none in the period
Under pre-arranged plans—of the sales followed a 10b5-1 plan set months earlier
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.
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.