VRT · Technology(electronic components, nec) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-31
Vertiv Holdings Co reported revenue of $10.2 billion in fiscal 2025, after growing 10.1% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin widened from 0.4% in 2018 to 17.9%, and it earned 20.4% on its invested capital in the latest year. Of the $4.4 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 56.9% went to acquisitions and 19.0% back into the business; the share count rose 230.3%. On the accounting screens, it passes 5 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 202510.2B+10.1% a year over 9 years
Operating margin17.9%gross margin 36.3%
Return on invested capital20.4%11.7% on average over 5 years
Free cash flow after stock pay1.8B18.1% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA0.6×net debt 1.2B
Piotroski F-score5/9tests 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
05.0B10.0B15.0B
2018Revenue 4.3BOperating income 17.8M
2019Revenue 4.4BOperating income 206.1M
2020
2020Revenue 4.4BOperating income 213.5M
2021
2021Revenue 5.0BOperating income 259.9M
2022Revenue 5.7BOperating income 223.4M
2023Revenue 6.9BOperating income 872.2M
2024Revenue 8.0BOperating income 1.4B
2025Revenue 10.2BOperating income 1.8B
2018201920202020202120212022202320242025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
+21.6%
—
+10.1%
Operating income
+101.6%
—
+67.3%
Net income
+159.1%
—
—
Earnings per share
+156.3%
—
—
Dividend per share
+157.0%
—
—
Shares
+1.1%
—
+14.2%
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 · 7.5%
0.0%10.0%20.0%30.0%
2018
2019Return on invested capital 10.1%
2020
2020Return on invested capital 10.3%
2021
2021Return on invested capital 4.3%
2022Return on invested capital 2.2%
2023Return on invested capital 15.2%
2024Return on invested capital 16.5%
2025Return on invested capital 20.4%
2018201920202020202120212022202320242025
Economic profit
Economic profit
-500.0M0500.0M1.0B
2018
2019Economic profit 70.0M
2020
2020Economic profit 73.6M
2021
2021Economic profit -143.9M
2022Economic profit -246.8M
2023Economic profit 378.5M
2024Economic profit 481.5M
2025Economic profit 883.3M
2018201920202020202120212022202320242025
(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
33.8%
Return on assets
10.9%
Asset turnover
0.84×
Research & development
4.3% of revenue
Overheads (SG&A)
15.8% 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
-1.0B01.0B2.0B
2018Net income -314.0MFree cash flow -286.5MAfter stock-based pay -286.5M
2019Net income -140.8MFree cash flow 9.9MAfter stock-based pay 9.9M
2020
2020Net income -327.3MFree cash flow 164.5MAfter stock-based pay 151.5M
2021
2021Net income 119.6MFree cash flow 137.5MAfter stock-based pay 114.3M
2022Net income 76.6MFree cash flow -252.8MAfter stock-based pay -277.5M
2023Net income 460.2MFree cash flow 772.6MAfter stock-based pay 747.6M
2024Net income 495.8MFree cash flow 1.2BAfter stock-based pay 1.1B
2025Net income 1.3BFree cash flow 1.9BAfter stock-based pay 1.8B
2018201920202020202120212022202320242025
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2018–2025
4.4B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 19%844.9M
Acquisitions 57%2.5B
Dividends 3%136.3M
Share buybacks 14%599.9M
Kept, or used to pay down debt 7%330.9M
Over the same years it paid 166.4M in stock. The share count rose 230.3%. 433.5M of the buybacks went beyond offsetting that dilution.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$-4.00$-2.00$0.00$2.00$4.00$6.00
2018Earnings per share $-2.66Free cash flow per share $-2.42Dividend per share $0.00
2019Earnings per share $-1.19Free cash flow per share $0.08Dividend per share $0.00
2020
2020Earnings per share $-1.07Free cash flow per share $0.54Dividend per share $0.01
2021
2021Earnings per share $0.33Free cash flow per share $0.38Dividend per share $0.01
2022Earnings per share $0.20Free cash flow per share $-0.67Dividend per share $0.01
2023Earnings per share $1.19Free cash flow per share $2.00Dividend per share $0.02
2024Earnings per share $1.28Free cash flow per share $2.98Dividend per share $0.11
2025Earnings per share $3.41Free cash flow per share $4.85Dividend per share $0.17
2018201920202020202120212022202320242025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
100.0M200.0M300.0M400.0M
2018Diluted shares 118.3M
2019Diluted shares 118.3M
2020
2020Diluted shares 307.1M
2021
2021Diluted shares 360.1M
2022Diluted shares 378.2M
2023Diluted shares 386.2M
2024Diluted shares 386.3M
2025Diluted shares 390.7M
2018201920202020202120212022202320242025
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
01.0B2.0B3.0B4.0B
2018
2019Net debt 3.2B
2020
2020Net debt 1.6B
2021
2021Net debt 2.5B
2022Net debt 2.9B
2023Net debt 2.2B
2024Net debt 1.7B
2025Net debt 1.2B
2018201920202020202120212022202320242025
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
0.6×
Interest coverage
21× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
1.55 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
94 days collects in 111d, stock 82d, pays in 98d
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 beforepassed
✓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 beforefailed
✕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 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?
3.08safe zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets 0.20 × 6.56+1.30
Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.08 × 3.26+0.27
Operating income ÷ assets 0.15 × 6.72+1.01
Equity ÷ liabilities 0.48 × 1.05+0.50
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?
-2.44below the -1.78 line
-1.78
Receivables vs sales 1.03+0.95
Gross margin slipping 1.01+0.53
Soft assets 0.98+0.40
Sales growth 1.28+1.14
Slower depreciation 1.22+0.14
Overheads vs sales 0.92-0.16
Profit not in cash -0.06-0.30
Leverage rising 0.91-0.30
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$91.30discounted at 7.5% a year · 67% 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
26.8×
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA
17.2×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue
3.6×
Free cash flow yield
5.2%
From cash flows to a value per share
10 years of cash flow, today12.2B
Everything after, today24.6B
The whole business36.9B
Minus net debt-1.2B
What belongs to shareholders35.7B
Divided among 390.7M shares: <strong>$91.30</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
-1.0B01.0B2.0B3.0B
2018Reported -286.5M
2019Reported 9.9M
2020
2020Reported 151.5M
2021
2021Reported 114.3M
2022Reported -277.5M
2023Reported 747.6M
2024Reported 1.1B
2025Reported 1.8B
2026Projected 1.1B
2027Projected 1.3B
2028Projected 1.5B
2029Projected 1.7B
2030Projected 1.9B
2031Projected 2.0B
2032Projected 2.2B
2033Projected 2.3B
2034Projected 2.4B
2035Projected 2.5B
2018202020212022202420262028203020322034
Year by year
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
Revenue
12.2B
14.4B
16.6B
18.9B
21.2B
23.3B
25.2B
26.8B
28.0B
28.7B
Growth
19.5%
17.6%
15.7%
13.8%
11.9%
10.1%
8.2%
6.3%
4.4%
2.5%
Cash margin
8.7%
8.7%
8.7%
8.7%
8.7%
8.7%
8.7%
8.7%
8.7%
8.7%
Free cash flow
1.1B
1.3B
1.5B
1.7B
1.9B
2.0B
2.2B
2.3B
2.4B
2.5B
Worth today
992.4M
1.1B
1.2B
1.2B
1.3B
1.3B
1.3B
1.3B
1.3B
1.2B
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%
6.5%
95
104
116
132
152
7.0%
85
93
102
114
129
7.5%
77
84
91
101
112
8.0%
71
76
82
90
99
8.5%
65
69
75
81
88
Year-one growth and the final margin
margin ↓ · growth →
15.5%
17.5%
19.5%
21.5%
23.5%
7.0%
64
69
75
81
88
7.9%
70
77
83
90
98
8.7%
77
84
91
99
108
9.6%
84
91
99
108
117
10.5%
91
99
107
117
127
All the inputs moving at once
4,998 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$59.74
Median$91.00
90th percentile$143.69
$50.00$100.00$150.00$200.00
Half of the simulations land between <b>$73.21</b> and <b>$115.13</b>; one in ten below $59.74, one in ten above $143.69.
Does the long run make sense?
8.5×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 8.5 times that year's EBITDA.
7%To grow 2.5% forever while reinvesting 36% of its after-tax operating profit, the business must earn 7% on the new capital — it has earned 12% on average over the last five years.
67%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.