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Xcel Energy Inc.

Data period: Annual Quarterly Graham uses annual
NASDAQ · Utilities
Xcel Energy Inc.
XEL · Utilities - Regulated Electric
$77.41
▼ -0.05 (-0.06%)
Cached · 10 min
Overall Grade
D
Defensive
D
Enterprising
Profitability
A
Gross Profit Margin 44.9%
Operating Margin 18.2%
Net Income Margin 13.8%
Fin. Health
F
Years to Pay Off Debt 70.5 yrs
Working Capital vs Long-Term Debt -$36.3B
Working Capital -$1.8B
Valuation
F
Margin of Safety 0.0%
Price-to-Book 2.03x
Cash Flow
F
Free Cash Flow -$1.3B
CapEx % of Net Income 543.5%
Owner Earnings $4.4B
About Xcel Energy Inc.
Xcel Energy Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as an electric and natural gas delivery company in the United States. It operates through Regulated Electric Utility and Regulated Natural Gas Utility segments. The company generates, purchases, transmits, distributes, and sells electricity through its energy portfolio, including wind, nuclear, hydroelectric, biomass, and solar power from both owned generation facilities and PPAs, as well as its fossil fuel energy portfolio, such as coal and natural gas; sale and resale of wholesale transmission service; and engages in wholesale commodity and trading operations. It also purchases, transports, stores, distributes, and sells natural gas; develops and leases natural gas pipelines and storage facilities; operates interstate natural gas pipeline; and invests in rental housing projects, energy technology companies, and community solar garden nonregulated assets. It serves electric and natural gas customers in portions of Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, and Wisconsin. The company was formerly known as Northern States Power company. Xcel Energy Inc. was incorporated in 1909 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Metric Explanations
What each dimension measures and where the thresholds come from.
Gross Profit Margin
Revenue minus cost of goods sold. Graham's ≥40% threshold identifies businesses with durable pricing power. Note: software and financial companies naturally exceed this; retailers and manufacturers rarely reach it due to their cost structures.
Operating Margin
Profit after operating costs before interest and taxes. A consistent ≥15% operating margin signals a business with real competitive advantages. Capital-intensive industries (airlines, auto, commodities) rarely hit this threshold due to their structural cost base — compare within industry for context.
Net Income Margin
Bottom-line profit as a percentage of revenue. The ≥20% target reflects Buffett's preference for highly profitable businesses. Financial engineering (buybacks, tax optimisation) can inflate this temporarily — look for consistency across multiple years rather than a single strong result.
Years to Pay Off Debt
Total Debt ÷ Net Income. Lower = stronger balance sheet. Important caveat: utilities, telecoms, REITs, and infrastructure companies carry large structural debt by design — their bond-like cash flows service it comfortably at ratios that would alarm Graham. Compare within sector.
Working Capital vs Long-Term Debt
Working Capital minus Long-Term Debt. Negative results are common and expected in capital-return-focused businesses like Apple, Domino's, and McDonald's — where aggressive buybacks and dividends intentionally reduce book equity. This does not indicate financial distress in high-FCF businesses.
Working Capital
Current Assets minus Current Liabilities. Negative working capital can be a deliberate efficiency strategy in businesses that collect cash before paying suppliers (retailers, fast food franchises, subscription businesses). Assess alongside free cash flow generation for full context.
Margin of Safety
How far below the Graham Number the stock trades. Graham required a 33% discount as a buffer against analytical error. However, the Graham Number itself assumes 1960s-era P/E and P/B norms — for modern asset-light businesses it often understates true intrinsic value, making 0% MoS appear misleadingly bad.
Price-to-Book
Market price vs book value per share. Rarely below 1.5x for quality businesses today. Intangible assets (brand, software, patents) don't appear on the balance sheet under accounting rules, making P/B artificially high for asset-light companies like software and consumer brands.
Free Cash Flow
Operating cash flow minus capital expenditures. Buffett's most important metric — cash a business actually generates for its owners after maintaining and growing its asset base. Consistently positive FCF is one of the strongest indicators of a durable, well-run business regardless of accounting profits.
CapEx % of Net Income
Capital expenditure as a share of net income. Low CapEx signals a capital-light business that doesn't need heavy reinvestment to sustain earnings — Buffett's ideal. High CapEx is structurally necessary in manufacturing, airlines, telecoms, and semiconductors. For these industries, a high reading reflects the business model, not poor management.
Owner Earnings
Net Income + Depreciation & Amortisation − Capital Expenditures. Buffett's preferred measure of a company's true annual earning power — what could theoretically be distributed to owners without impairing the business. More reliable than reported EPS because it accounts for the capital cost of maintaining the business.
Market Cap $48.3B
Enterprise Value $86.8B
P/E (TTM) 22.31
Dividend Yield 2.97%
Exchange NASDAQ
Gross Profit 44.9%
Operating Margin 18.2%
Net Margin 13.8%
Sector Utilities
Industry Utilities - Regulated Electric
Employees 11534
Country United States
📖
Full Graham Analysis

Mr. Market is currently offering Xcel Energy Inc. at $77.41.

The business passes only 2 of 6 of Graham's defensive criteria — well below his required standard.

At $77.41, the stock trades at a 180% premium to its Graham Number of $27.63. Graham would consider this price speculative.

There is no margin of safety at the current price. Graham would advise patience and waiting for a better entry point.

Negative NCAV — liabilities exceed current assets. Common in capital-return businesses (buybacks, debt-funded dividends) and capital-intensive industries. Not automatically a warning sign..

Conclusion: By Graham's standards, this stock is speculative at its current price. The intelligent investor would look elsewhere or wait.

Showing Key Metrics
Income Highlights
Metric Q1 2026 Q4 2025
Gross Profit % 44.9% 45.5%
Operating Margin % 18.2% 16.5%
Net Income % 13.8% 15.9%
Diluted EPS 0.89 0.95
Balance Sheet Highlights
Metric Q1 2026 Q4 2025 Q4 2024
Total Assets $84.8B $81.4B N/A
Total Debt $39.2B $34.8B N/A
Working Capital -$1.8B -$2.1B N/A
Years to Pay Debt 70.51 61.34 N/A
Cash Flow Highlights
Metric Q1 2026 Q4 2025 Q4 2024
Free Cash Flow -$1.3B -$3.2B N/A
Owner Earnings $4.4B $4.8B N/A
CapEx % of Net Income 543.5% 606.3% N/A
📊 Quarterly mode — Graham Fair Value & 7 Criteria require annual data. Switch to Annual for full analysis.
Quarter vs Same Quarter Last Year
YoY strips seasonality
Revenue Growth (YoY)
Prior year: $3.9B ▲ $4.0B +2.9%
Revenue growth vs same quarter last year strips seasonality. Consistent double-digit growth is a Buffett hallmark.
Gross Margin
Prior year: 43.1% ▲ 44.9% +1.7pp
Buffett: consistent gross margin above 40% signals durable pricing power and competitive moat.
Operating Margin
Prior year: 18.7% ▲ 18.2% -0.5pp
Graham: operating margin reflects true business economics before financing. Trend matters as much as level.
Net Margin
Prior year: 12.4% ▲ 13.8% +1.5pp
Net margin can be distorted by one-time items, tax timing, or interest costs — compare to operating margin for signal quality.
Quarterly Health Checks
3 Graham/Buffett criteria that are valid and reliable on quarterly data
✅ Adequate Size
Graham required scale for resilience. Quarterly revenue × 4 gives an annualised proxy.
$4.0B/qtr (≈$16.1B ann.)
vs > $1.5B annualised revenue
❌ Financial Condition
Current assets vs current liabilities — a real-time liquidity snapshot. Valid and reliable on quarterly data.
0.77x current ratio
vs ≥ 2.0x
❌ Free Cash Flow
Buffett's most important single metric. A positive FCF quarter means the business generated real cash for owners after maintaining its asset base.
-$1.3B
vs Positive
Operating Cash Flow
$1.7B
Latest quarter · Buffett's cash reality check
ROIC
0.7%
Based on latest annual operating income
Return on Invested Capital — Buffett's preferred measure for asset-light businesses. ROIC > 15% consistently signals a durable competitive advantage (moat). More meaningful than P/B for software, pharma, and consumer brand companies where most value is intangible and off-balance-sheet.
Market Cap / Net Assets
2.0x
Net Assets: $23.8B
Peers & Industry
No auto-detected peers for Utilities - Regulated Electric. You can manually compare XEL against any stock using the Compare tool.
"The management of a business is its most important single factor — more important than market position, patents, or financial structure."
— Benjamin Graham
Capital Allocation & Alignment
Insider Ownership
0.20%
Low — management has little skin in the game
Return on Equity (ROE)
2.3%
Weak — poor returns on equity
Return on Assets (ROA)
0.7%
Poor — assets are not generating adequate returns
Debt Trend YoY
+12.7% YoY
Debt is growing — management is leveraging up
Leadership Team
Robert Frenzel
President, CEO & Chairman
Age 54
Pay: $4,554,431
0.819% of net income
Brian Van Abel
Executive VP & CFO
Age 43
Pay: $1,919,165
0.345% of net income
Amanda Rome
Executive VP, Group President of Utilities & Chief Customer Officer
Age 44
Pay: $1,771,506
0.319% of net income
Top Institutional Holders
Institution % Owned Shares
Blackrock Inc. 10.48% 53,911,407
Vanguard Capital Management LLC 7.68% 39,489,162
State Street Corporation 7.22% 37,125,656
Vanguard Portfolio Management LLC 6.76% 34,776,475
Bank of America Corporation 5.73% 29,441,811
JPMORGAN CHASE & CO 5.58% 28,698,967
Capital Research Global Investors 5.30% 27,258,524
Massachusetts Financial Services Co. 3.52% 18,078,640
⚠️ Current ratio below 1 — liquidity risk
Risk Analysis
Beta (Market Risk)
0.41
Low volatility — more stable than the market
Short Interest
6.7% of float
Moderate short interest
Debt-to-Equity
1.65x
Moderate leverage
Current Ratio
0.77x
Weak liquidity — current liabilities exceed current assets
52-Week Price Range
Low: $66.32 Current: $77.41 High: $84.23
Currently at 62% of 52-week range

Xcel Energy Inc. (XEL) fundamental analysis — Overall grade D based on profitability, financial health, valuation and cash flow. Graham's Fair Value: $27.63. Margin of safety: 0%. Gross profit margin: 44.9%. Operating margin: 18.2%. Net margin: 13.8%. Market cap: $48.3B. Sector: Utilities. Industry: Utilities - Regulated Electric. Analysis powered by 360investing — free fundamental stock analysis based on Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett principles.

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