Kirby Corp key statistics and ratios
In fiscal 2025, Kirby Corp had return on equity of 10.5%, an operating margin of 14.8%, debt equal to 27.3% of equity and a current ratio of 1.53. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating margin | 20.0% | 18.0% | 16.9% | 17.3% | 19.5% | 18.5% | 17.7% | 14.0% | 4.2% | 5.2% | 8.5% | −19.4% | −11.5% | 6.9% | 10.8% | 12.2% | 14.8% | 14.0% |
| Net margin | 11.6% | 10.5% | 9.9% | 9.9% | 11.3% | 11.0% | 10.6% | 8.0% | 14.1% | 2.6% | 5.0% | −12.6% | −11.0% | 4.4% | 7.2% | 8.8% | 10.5% | 10.2% |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 11.8% | 9.8% | 4.6% | 0.6% | 15.5% | 3.3% | 8.3% | 10.4% | 8.0% | 1.5% | 9.3% | 13.7% | 10.0% | 4.4% | 4.5% | 12.7% | 12.1% | 13.6% |
| Return on equity | 12.0% | 10.5% | 14.1% | 13.4% | 13.7% | 13.2% | 10.0% | 6.0% | 11.3% | 2.5% | 4.3% | −8.4% | −8.3% | 4.1% | 7.2% | 8.8% | 10.5% | 10.4% |
| Return on assets | 7.7% | 6.8% | 7.7% | 6.3% | 6.9% | 7.2% | 5.5% | 3.4% | 6.7% | 1.4% | 2.4% | −4.5% | −4.4% | 2.2% | 4.0% | 5.0% | 6.0% | 5.8% |
| Asset turnover | 0.66 | 0.65 | 0.78 | 0.64 | 0.61 | 0.66 | 0.52 | 0.42 | 0.47 | 0.54 | 0.47 | 0.36 | 0.40 | 0.51 | 0.55 | 0.56 | 0.57 | 0.57 |
| Current ratio | 2.19 | 2.66 | 1.48 | 1.68 | 1.57 | 1.35 | 1.77 | 1.77 | 1.99 | 1.80 | 1.78 | 2.25 | 1.85 | 1.89 | 1.68 | 1.45 | 1.53 | 1.68 |
| Debt to equity | 19.0% | 17.3% | 55.6% | 67.0% | 37.3% | 31.8% | 34.3% | 30.1% | 32.0% | 44.1% | 40.8% | 47.8% | 40.4% | 35.6% | 32.1% | 26.2% | 27.3% | 30.2% |
| Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest) | 19.5x | 18.3x | 17.4x | 15.0x | 15.6x | 22.2x | 20.3x | 14.0x | 4.4x | 3.3x | 4.3x | n/m | n/m | 4.3x | 6.4x | 8.1x | 10.7x | 11.0x |
| Effective tax rate | 38.0% | 38.1% | 37.1% | 37.6% | 37.3% | 37.4% | — | 37.3% | — | 30.7% | 24.7% | — | — | 25.6% | 24.2% | 20.9% | 24.6% | 24.3% |
| SG&A as % of revenue | 11.2% | 10.6% | 9.2% | 8.4% | 7.9% | 8.2% | 9.0% | 9.9% | 10.0% | 10.2% | 9.8% | 11.9% | 11.9% | 10.9% | 10.8% | 10.3% | 10.6% | 10.5% |
| Capital spending as % of revenue | 17.8% | 12.3% | 12.2% | 14.8% | 11.3% | 13.8% | 16.1% | 13.0% | 8.0% | 10.2% | 8.7% | 6.8% | 4.4% | 6.2% | 13.0% | 10.5% | 7.9% | 6.7% |
| Free cash flow ÷ net income | 101.0% | 93.3% | 46.9% | 6.5% | 137.4% | 29.7% | 78.9% | 130.6% | 56.2% | 57.5% | 185.2% | — | — | 99.4% | 62.1% | 144.3% | 114.4% | 133.9% |
| Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow | 0.5% | 21.9% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 18.3% | 134.8% | 1.0% | 0.0% | 1.7% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 18.8% | 81.4% | 42.2% | 87.3% | 70.2% |
| 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 | 15.3% | 6.3% | 13.4% | 15.4% | 14.8% | 15.2% | 12.8% | 13.3% |
| Net margin | 10.8% | 5.3% | 9.7% | 11.0% | 10.6% | 10.8% | 9.6% | 9.7% |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 15.7% | 18.8% | −5.4% | 2.6% | 18.4% | 31.1% | 5.9% | 0.1% |
| Current ratio | 1.67 | 1.45 | 1.58 | 1.74 | 1.70 | 1.53 | 1.59 | 1.68 |
| Debt to equity | 29.4% | 25.9% | 32.8% | 32.8% | 31.0% | 27.0% | 28.6% | 30.0% |
| SG&A as % of revenue | 10.1% | 10.3% | 12.1% | 10.0% | 10.1% | 10.3% | 12.0% | 9.6% |
Financial health
- Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $1.2bn of assets due within a year against $736m 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 $39m of cash against $1.0bn of debt.
- Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 30% of equity.
- Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 40% to 30% over five years.
- A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $710m of operating cash flow against $1.0bn of debt.
- Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of $489m against $44m of interest.
Moat
Weak moat
How hard Kirby'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 2 / 20
Net income has been a median 3.0% of total assets over 10 years.
- Durability 1 / 20
Operating margin has been a median 7.8%; its worst year was -15.2%.
- Cash conversion 14 / 20
Free cash flow was positive in 10 of 10 years, at a median 7.3% of revenue.
- Discipline 19 / 20
The diluted share count fell 6.5% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 0.6% of revenue.
AI disruption exposure: Medium. In this industry, AI could change how the product is made or sold, without replacing the core asset. The score above includes a 5-point deduction for that exposure (44 before it).
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