Black Hills Corp key statistics and ratios
In fiscal 2025, Black Hills Corp had return on equity of 8.0%, an operating margin of 23.3%, debt equal to 122.9% of equity and a current ratio of 1.35. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.
Financial ratios
| Fiscal year | 2009Dec 2009 | 2010Dec 2010 | 2011Dec 2011 | 2012Dec 2012 | 2013Dec 2013 | 2014Dec 2014 | 2015Dec 2015 | 2016Dec 2016 | 2017Dec 2017 | 2018Dec 2018 | 2019Dec 2019 | 2020Dec 2020 | 2021Dec 2021 | 2022Dec 2022 | 2023Dec 2023 | 2024Dec 2024 | 2025Dec 2025 | LTMJun 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross margin | 50.3% | 53.5% | 54.8% | 65.3% | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Operating margin | 10.4% | 15.0% | 14.6% | 23.5% | 20.3% | 18.9% | 23.8% | 21.8% | 24.8% | 22.6% | 23.4% | 25.2% | 21.0% | 17.8% | 20.3% | 23.6% | 23.3% | 23.9% |
| Net margin | 6.8% | 5.6% | 3.9% | 6.9% | 9.0% | 9.4% | −2.5% | 4.7% | 10.5% | 14.7% | 11.5% | 13.4% | 12.1% | 10.1% | 11.2% | 12.8% | 12.6% | 13.0% |
| Free-cash-flow margin | −6.4% | −26.6% | −17.1% | −2.7% | −2.4% | −6.0% | 12.5% | −8.7% | 6.1% | 1.8% | −18.0% | −13.3% | −38.1% | −0.8% | 16.7% | −1.2% | −6.3% | −13.3% |
| Return on equity | 7.5% | 6.3% | 4.4% | 6.9% | 9.2% | 9.9% | −2.3% | 4.7% | 10.7% | 13.3% | 8.8% | 9.2% | 8.9% | 8.9% | 8.4% | 8.1% | 8.0% | 7.7% |
| Return on assets | 2.5% | 2.0% | 1.3% | 2.1% | 3.0% | 3.2% | −0.7% | 1.3% | 2.7% | 3.8% | 2.7% | 2.9% | 2.7% | 2.8% | 2.7% | 2.8% | 2.8% | 2.7% |
| Asset turnover | 0.36 | 0.35 | 0.32 | 0.30 | 0.34 | 0.34 | 0.28 | 0.28 | 0.25 | 0.26 | 0.24 | 0.22 | 0.23 | 0.27 | 0.24 | 0.22 | 0.22 | 0.21 |
| Current ratio | 0.97 | 0.86 | 0.86 | 0.55 | 0.91 | 0.70 | 1.98 | 0.88 | 0.88 | 0.78 | 0.58 | 0.71 | 0.90 | 0.64 | 0.70 | 0.97 | 1.35 | 0.52 |
| Debt to equity | 112.1% | 130.9% | 140.1% | 109.5% | 115.3% | 119.5% | 132.6% | 245.7% | 194.6% | 144.0% | 148.0% | 147.2% | 163.1% | 155.9% | 136.9% | 125.2% | 122.9% | 114.0% |
| Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest) | 1.5x | 2.0x | 2.0x | 2.4x | 2.3x | 3.7x | 3.5x | 2.5x | 3.0x | 2.8x | 2.9x | 3.0x | 2.7x | 2.8x | 2.8x | 2.8x | 2.7x | 2.7x |
| Effective tax rate | 30.2% | 26.5% | 31.7% | 35.5% | 34.7% | 33.7% | 35.7% | 28.7% | 26.0% | −9.2% | 12.2% | 11.9% | 2.8% | 8.5% | 8.5% | 11.3% | 12.7% | 12.5% |
| Capital spending as % of revenue | 28.9% | 38.7% | 34.6% | 29.7% | 27.8% | 28.6% | 21.1% | 29.6% | 19.4% | 26.1% | 47.2% | 45.2% | 34.8% | 23.7% | 23.8% | 35.0% | 35.5% | 40.6% |
| Free cash flow ÷ net income | −93.4% | −472.5% | −436.3% | −39.4% | −26.2% | −63.5% | — | −184.3% | 57.8% | 12.1% | −157.0% | −99.1% | −313.5% | −7.6% | 148.3% | −9.1% | −50.2% | −102.0% |
| Dividends ÷ net income | 67.6% | 82.2% | 119.0% | 80.0% | 58.8% | 53.2% | — | 120.0% | 54.6% | 41.2% | 62.5% | 59.5% | 61.3% | 60.6% | 64.1% | 66.8% | 67.9% | 69.2% |
| Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow | — | — | — | — | — | — | 45.9% | — | 94.6% | 340.7% | — | — | — | — | 43.2% | — | — | — |
| Quarter | 2024 Q3Sept 2024 | 2024 Q4Dec 2024 | 2025 Q1Mar 2025 | 2025 Q2Jun 2025 | 2025 Q3Sept 2025 | 2025 Q4Dec 2025 | 2026 Q1Mar 2026 | 2026 Q2Jun 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating margin | 18.9% | 27.3% | 25.5% | 18.8% | 18.3% | 27.0% | 25.9% | 21.4% |
| Net margin | 6.1% | 16.4% | 16.7% | 6.3% | 5.8% | 16.5% | 16.8% | 8.4% |
| Free-cash-flow margin | −21.4% | −10.1% | 9.3% | −6.9% | −20.8% | −16.0% | −11.7% | −5.1% |
| Current ratio | 1.12 | 0.97 | 0.76 | 0.64 | 0.91 | 1.35 | 0.65 | 0.52 |
| Debt to equity | 123.3% | 121.4% | 117.0% | 116.9% | 116.2% | 122.9% | 111.6% | 111.7% |
Financial health
- Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $745m of assets due within a year against $1.4bn of liabilities due within a year.
- Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities Not assessable from the reported split. Not assessable.
- More cash than debt $72m of cash against $4.4bn of debt.
- Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 112% of equity.
- Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 148% to 112% over five years.
- A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $628m of operating cash flow against $4.4bn of debt.
- Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of $549m against $203m of interest.
Moat
Weak moat
How hard Black Hills's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.
- Returns on capital 1 / 20
Net income has been a median 2.7% of total assets over 10 years.
- Durability 17 / 20
Operating margin has been a median 23.4%; its worst year was 17.3%.
- Cash conversion 3 / 20
Free cash flow was positive in 3 of 10 years, at a median -2.8% of revenue.
- Discipline 10 / 20
The diluted share count rose 21.6% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 0.4% of revenue.
AI disruption exposure: Low. In this industry, the business rests on physical assets, regulated networks or products AI itself depends on.
Compare with peers
- Avista Corp statistics
- MDU Resources Group Inc statistics
- Northwestern Energy Group, Inc. statistics
- Pinnacle West Capital statistics
- NiSource statistics
Head to head: AVA vs BKHBKH vs MDUBKH vs NWE
More: Multi-Utilities stocks compared, Utilities sector, rankings of US companies