ZTS · Health care(pharmaceutical preparations) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2025-12-31
Zoetis Inc. reported revenue of $9.5 billion in fiscal 2025, after growing 6.6% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin widened from 32.0% in 2017 to 37.8%, and it earned 23.0% on its invested capital in the latest year. Of the $19.4 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 55.9% went to buybacks and 23.7% to dividends; the share count fell 10.0%. On the accounting screens, it passes 2 of 2 Piotroski tests and its Altman Z'' of 6.66 is in the safe zone; none of the six cross-checks between its statements fires.
Revenue, fiscal 20259.5B+6.6% a year over 9 years
Operating margin37.8%gross margin 71.8%
Return on invested capital23.0%21.8% on average over 4 years
Free cash flow after stock pay2.2B23.2% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA1.7×net debt 6.7B
Piotroski F-score2/2tests 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
02.5B5.0B7.5B10.0B
2017Revenue 5.3BOperating income 1.7B
2018Revenue 5.8BOperating income 1.9B
2019Revenue 6.3BOperating income 2.0B
2020Revenue 6.7BOperating income 2.2B
2021Revenue 7.8BOperating income 2.7B
2022Revenue 8.1BOperating income 2.9B
2023Revenue 8.5BOperating income 3.2B
2024Revenue 9.3BOperating income 3.4B
2025
2025Revenue 9.5BOperating income 3.6B
2017201820192020202120222023202420252025
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
+3.5%
+4.0%
+6.6%
Operating income
+4.1%
+5.7%
+8.6%
Net income
+4.5%
+5.6%
+13.4%
Earnings per share
+5.9%
+7.1%
+14.7%
Free cash flow per share
+13.6%
+7.2%
+9.5%
Dividend per share
+10.2%
+15.0%
+19.0%
Shares
-1.3%
-1.4%
-1.2%
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 · 5.8%
0.0%10.0%20.0%30.0%
2017Return on invested capital 14.3%
2018Return on invested capital 18.5%
2019Return on invested capital 18.4%
2020Return on invested capital 16.6%
2021Return on invested capital 19.9%
2022Return on invested capital 18.6%
2023Return on invested capital 21.9%
2024Return on invested capital 23.6%
2025
2025Return on invested capital 23.0%
2017201820192020202120222023202420252025
Economic profit
Economic profit
01.0B2.0B3.0B
2017Economic profit 574.2M
2018Economic profit 1.1B
2019Economic profit 1.2B
2020Economic profit 1.2B
2021Economic profit 1.6B
2022Economic profit 1.6B
2023Economic profit 1.9B
2024Economic profit 2.0B
2025
2025Economic profit 2.1B
2017201820192020202120222023202420252025
(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
80.2%
Return on assets
17.3%
Asset turnover
0.61×
Research & development
7.4% of revenue
Overheads (SG&A)
25.1% 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
01.0B2.0B3.0B
2017Net income 864.0MFree cash flow 1.1BAfter stock-based pay 1.1B
2018Net income 1.4BFree cash flow 1.5BAfter stock-based pay 1.4B
2019Net income 1.5BFree cash flow 1.3BAfter stock-based pay 1.3B
2020Net income 1.6BFree cash flow 1.7BAfter stock-based pay 1.6B
2021Net income 2.0BFree cash flow 1.7BAfter stock-based pay 1.7B
2022Net income 2.1BFree cash flow 1.3BAfter stock-based pay 1.3B
2023Net income 2.3BFree cash flow 1.6BAfter stock-based pay 1.6B
2024Net income 2.5BFree cash flow 2.3BAfter stock-based pay 2.2B
2025
2025Net income 2.7BFree cash flow 2.3BAfter stock-based pay 2.2B
2017201820192020202120222023202420252025
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2017–2025
19.4B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 23%4.5B
Acquisitions 10%1.9B
Dividends 24%4.6B
Share buybacks 56%10.8B
More than it generated: funded with cash or new debt -13%-2.5B
Over the same years it paid 560.0M in stock. The share count fell 10.0%. 10.3B of the buybacks went beyond offsetting that dilution.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$0.00$2.00$4.00$6.00$8.00
2017Earnings per share $1.75Free cash flow per share $2.28Dividend per share $0.42
2018Earnings per share $2.93Free cash flow per share $2.98Dividend per share $0.50
2019Earnings per share $3.11Free cash flow per share $2.77Dividend per share $0.65
2020Earnings per share $3.42Free cash flow per share $3.50Dividend per share $0.79
2021Earnings per share $4.27Free cash flow per share $3.64Dividend per share $0.99
2022Earnings per share $4.49Free cash flow per share $2.82Dividend per share $1.30
2023Earnings per share $5.07Free cash flow per share $3.51Dividend per share $1.50
2024Earnings per share $5.47Free cash flow per share $5.05Dividend per share $1.73
2025
2025Earnings per share $6.02Free cash flow per share $5.14Dividend per share $2.00
2017201820192020202120222023202420252025
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
440.0M460.0M480.0M500.0M
2017Diluted shares 493.2M
2018Diluted shares 486.9M
2019Diluted shares 481.8M
2020Diluted shares 478.6M
2021Diluted shares 476.7M
2022Diluted shares 470.4M
2023Diluted shares 462.3M
2024Diluted shares 454.8M
2025
2025Diluted shares 443.8M
2017201820192020202120222023202420252025
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
02.0B4.0B6.0B8.0B
2017Net debt 3.4B
2018Net debt 4.8B
2019Net debt 4.5B
2020Net debt 3.6B
2021Net debt 3.1B
2022Net debt 4.3B
2023Net debt 4.5B
2024Net debt 4.6B
2025
2025Net debt 6.7B
2017201820192020202120222023202420252025
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
1.7×
Interest coverage
16× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
3.03 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
327 days collects in 61d, stock 333d, pays in 67d
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.
2of 2 tests passed
–ProfitableReturn on assets above zero — not reportedno data
✓Cash from operationsOperating cash flow above zeropassed
–Profitability improvedReturn on assets higher than a year before — not reportedno data
✓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 before — not reportedno data
–No new sharesShare count did not grow — not reportedno data
–Better gross marginGross margin higher than a year before — not reportedno data
–Sells more per assetAsset turnover higher than a year before — not reportedno data
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?
6.66safe zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets 0.29 × 6.56+1.92
Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.89 × 3.26+2.90
Operating income ÷ assets 0.23 × 6.72+1.56
Equity ÷ liabilities 0.27 × 1.05+0.29
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?
The accounts lack too many of the lines it needs.
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$199.41discounted at 5.8% a year · 74% 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
33.1×
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA
23.4×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue
10.1×
Free cash flow yield
2.5%
From cash flows to a value per share
10 years of cash flow, today24.9B
Everything after, today70.3B
The whole business95.2B
Minus net debt-6.7B
What belongs to shareholders88.5B
Divided among 443.8M shares: <strong>$199.41</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
2017Reported 1.1B
2018Reported 1.4B
2019Reported 1.3B
2020Reported 1.6B
2021Reported 1.7B
2022Reported 1.3B
2023Reported 1.6B
2024Reported 2.2B
2025
2025Reported 2.2B
2026Projected 2.8B
2027Projected 3.0B
2028Projected 3.1B
2029Projected 3.2B
2030Projected 3.4B
2031Projected 3.5B
2032Projected 3.6B
2033Projected 3.7B
2034Projected 3.8B
2035Projected 3.9B
2017201920212023202520262028203020322034
Year by year
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
Revenue
9.9B
10.4B
10.9B
11.3B
11.8B
12.2B
12.6B
13.0B
13.3B
13.7B
Growth
5.0%
4.7%
4.4%
4.2%
3.9%
3.6%
3.3%
3.1%
2.8%
2.5%
Cash margin
28.5%
28.5%
28.5%
28.5%
28.5%
28.5%
28.5%
28.5%
28.5%
28.5%
Free cash flow
2.8B
3.0B
3.1B
3.2B
3.4B
3.5B
3.6B
3.7B
3.8B
3.9B
Worth today
2.7B
2.7B
2.6B
2.6B
2.5B
2.5B
2.4B
2.4B
2.3B
2.2B
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%
4.8%
207
244
296
378
525
5.2%
177
203
239
290
371
5.8%
154
174
199
234
284
6.2%
136
151
171
196
230
6.8%
122
134
149
167
192
Year-one growth and the final margin
margin ↓ · growth →
1.0%
3.0%
5.0%
7.0%
9.0%
22.8%
133
147
162
178
195
25.7%
149
164
181
199
218
28.5%
164
181
199
219
241
31.4%
180
198
218
240
263
34.2%
195
215
237
261
286
All the inputs moving at once
4,874 valuations, each with growth, final margin, discount rate and growth forever drawn at random around the values on the left (spreads of 3.0%, 4.3%, 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$124.46
Median$197.82
90th percentile$353.89
$200.00$400.00$600.00
Half of the simulations land between <b>$154.18</b> and <b>$263.67</b>; one in ten below $124.46, one in ten above $353.89.
Does the long run make sense?
20.9×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 20.9 times that year's EBITDA.
48%To grow 2.5% forever while reinvesting 5% of its after-tax operating profit, the business must earn 48% on the new capital — it has earned 22% on average over the last five years.
74%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.