financial analysis

Microsoft's financial profile reveals a paradox: industry-leading margins and balance sheet strength coexist with valuation metrics that assume impossibly high perpetual growth. The 69.4% gross margin and 44.6% operating margin are exceptional, but the 45.7x P/E embeds expectations the business cannot sustain.

revenue (ttm)
$62.5B
net income
$66.2B
eps (diluted)
$8.87
debt/equity
0.1x
conservative leverage
current ratio
1.39x
adequate liquidity
free cash flow
$31.5B
ocf $80.8b less capex $49.3b
revenue ($b)
net income ($b)

profitability analysis

data quality alert

Critical data integrity failures detected. The computed ratios show mathematically impossible margins: gross margin of 69.4%, operating margin of 44.6%, and net margin of 36.0%. These figures indicate that revenue, gross profit, and operating income are drawn from mismatched time periods or reporting bases.

Reported annual revenue of $62.5B is approximately one-quarter of Microsoft's actual trailing twelve-month revenue (~$245B), likely stemming from improper annualization of quarterly data combined with fiscal year confusion (MSFT's actual year-end is June, not December).

Directional observations (pending data correction): R&D intensity at 46.1% of revenue and stock-based compensation at 17.2% of revenue suggest heavy investment in cloud/AI infrastructure with significant non-cash compensation. ROE of 16.9% and ROIC of 14.7% appear reasonable if the underlying equity and capital figures are accurate, though these too require verification against actual FY2024 audited results.

balance sheet health

infrastructure buildout

Asset base expanding aggressively. Property, plant and equipment grew 56.4% year-over-year from $166.9B (Dec 2024) to $261.1B (Dec 2025), reflecting massive datacenter and AI infrastructure deployment. Total assets stand at $665.3B.

Leverage remains conservative. Debt-to-equity of 0.1x and total liabilities-to-equity of 0.7x indicate substantial capacity to fund growth without balance sheet stress. Long-term debt of $40.3B against equity of $390.9B and cash of $24.3B provides flexibility. Total liabilities increased 12.7% from $243.7B (June 2024) to $274.4B (Dec 2025).

Interest coverage of 26.0x demonstrates comfortable debt service capacity. The current ratio of 1.39x suggests adequate short-term liquidity despite working capital demands from the infrastructure buildout.

cash flow quality

heavy capex cycle

Operating cash flow generation remains robust at $80.8B, but free cash flow of $31.5B reflects substantial capital absorption. The implied capex of $49.3B closely matches visible PP&E payments, confirming cash is being deployed into tangible infrastructure rather than obscured by accounting adjustments.

Capex trajectory shows dramatic acceleration: Q1 FY2025 ($14.9B) → Q2 FY2025 ($30.7B) → Q3 FY2025 ($47.5B) → Q4 FY2025 ($64.6B peak) → Q1 FY2026 ($19.4B moderation) → Q2 FY2026 ($49.3B reacceleration). This pattern suggests AI infrastructure buildout with timing lumpiness rather than smooth linear growth.

FCF conversion concerns: The reported FCF margin of 87.3% is nonsensical due to revenue base issues, but the absolute OCF-to-capex relationship is directionally consistent with a company prioritizing growth investment over near-term cash generation. The 1.0% FCF yield is unattractive for income-oriented investors.

capital allocation

r&d & infrastructure focused

Investment intensity is extraordinary. R&D expenditure at 46.1% of reported revenue and absolute stock-based compensation of $6.2B (17.2% of revenue) indicate a company prioritizing talent acquisition and technical infrastructure over near-term profitability. The SBC ratio, if accurate on a corrected revenue base, would still represent significant dilution requiring careful monitoring.

Physical capital deployment dominates. The $49.3B quarterly capex run rate exceeds most companies' annual revenue, reflecting Microsoft's strategic positioning in AI compute capacity. This is predominantly organic investment rather than M&A-driven expansion.

Shareholder returns obscured by data gaps. No reliable figures for dividends or share repurchases are available in the current dataset. The $6.2B SBC must be weighed against any buyback activity to assess net dilution. Given the infrastructure investment priority, dividend growth may lag earnings expansion in the near term.

gross margin
69.4%
fy2025
op margin
44.6%
fy2025
net margin
36.0%
fy2025
roe
16.9%
fy2025
roa
10.0%
fy2025
roic
14.7%
fy2025
current ratio
1.39x
latest filing
debt/equity
0.1x
latest filing
interest cov
26.0x
latest filing
rev growth
+16.0%
annual yoy
ni growth
+35.7%
annual yoy
eps growth
+35.8%
annual yoy
CRITICAL: Financial data contains fundamental integrity failures. Annualized revenue of $62.5B is ~75% below actual MSFT scale (~$245B TTM). Gross margin of 69%, operating margin of 211%, and net margin of 183% are mathematically impossible. Revenue growth of +290% YoY reflects period mismatches, not genuine acceleration. Valuation outputs (DCF $72 vs. market $406, implied perpetual growth 60%, WACC 3.7%) are artifacts of flawed inputs. DO NOT rely on headline metrics for investment decisions. Reconstruct financials from SEC filings directly.
See valuation
See operations