Newell Brands Inc. key statistics and ratios
In fiscal 2025, Newell Brands Inc. had return on equity of -11.1%, an operating margin of 0.5%, debt equal to 195.4% of equity and a current ratio of 1.07. 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 | LTMSept 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross margin | 37.0% | 38.0% | 38.1% | 38.0% | 37.9% | 38.5% | 39.0% | 22.4% | 25.8% | 34.6% | 33.1% | 32.9% | 31.8% | 30.0% | 28.9% | 33.6% | 33.8% | 35.6% |
| Operating margin | 10.5% | 11.0% | 5.7% | 11.6% | 11.0% | 10.6% | 10.2% | 2.2% | 4.8% | −74.4% | −5.0% | −6.7% | 9.6% | 3.3% | −1.0% | 0.9% | 0.5% | 1.0% |
| Net margin | 5.2% | 5.2% | 2.3% | 7.3% | 8.5% | 6.6% | 5.9% | 4.0% | 18.6% | −68.4% | 1.1% | −8.2% | 5.9% | 2.1% | −4.8% | −2.8% | −4.0% | −4.4% |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 8.2% | 7.4% | 6.1% | 8.0% | 8.3% | 8.2% | 6.4% | 10.5% | 3.8% | 2.9% | 8.0% | 12.5% | 5.6% | −6.2% | 7.9% | 3.1% | 0.2% | 0.7% |
| Return on equity | 16.1% | 15.9% | 6.7% | 20.9% | 23.3% | 19.3% | 19.1% | 8.0% | 21.6% | −71.7% | 2.1% | −17.3% | 15.5% | 5.1% | −11.7% | −7.4% | −11.1% | −13.6% |
| Return on assets | 4.4% | 4.6% | 2.0% | 6.5% | 7.7% | 6.0% | 5.1% | 2.6% | 8.2% | −27.3% | 0.6% | −5.0% | 4.3% | 1.4% | −3.1% | −1.9% | −2.6% | −3.0% |
| Asset turnover | 0.85 | 0.88 | 0.88 | 0.89 | 0.91 | 0.91 | 0.86 | 0.65 | 0.44 | 0.40 | 0.58 | 0.62 | 0.73 | 0.69 | 0.64 | 0.65 | 0.66 | 0.68 |
| Current ratio | 1.24 | 1.28 | 1.29 | 1.45 | 1.42 | 1.21 | 1.25 | 1.74 | 2.19 | 1.80 | 1.38 | 1.28 | 1.31 | 1.32 | 1.16 | 1.14 | 1.07 | 1.27 |
| Debt to equity | 141.0% | 131.6% | 123.3% | 106.6% | 97.1% | 155.2% | 189.1% | 110.1% | 74.6% | 134.4% | 115.3% | 144.7% | 117.5% | 152.8% | 157.6% | 167.0% | 195.4% | 204.8% |
| Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | n/m | n/m | n/m | 4.0x | 1.3x | n/m | — | — | — |
| Effective tax rate | 33.3% | 1.9% | 10.2% | 29.3% | 22.4% | 19.3% | 23.2% | — | — | — | — | — | 18.2% | −25.5% | — | — | — | — |
| R&D as % of revenue | 2.2% | 2.3% | 2.1% | 2.0% | 1.8% | 1.9% | 1.9% | 1.1% | 1.2% | 1.5% | 1.5% | 1.5% | 1.4% | 1.5% | 1.4% | 1.6% | 1.6% | — |
| SG&A as % of revenue | 24.7% | 25.6% | 25.8% | 25.5% | 25.0% | 25.9% | 26.6% | 19.7% | 19.8% | 26.1% | 25.2% | 23.3% | 21.5% | 21.5% | 24.6% | 27.5% | 27.6% | 27.5% |
| Capital spending as % of revenue | 2.8% | 2.9% | 4.0% | 3.2% | 2.5% | 2.8% | 3.6% | 3.3% | 2.8% | 3.8% | 2.7% | 2.8% | 2.7% | 3.3% | 3.5% | 3.4% | 3.4% | 2.7% |
| Free cash flow ÷ net income | 157.4% | 142.7% | 270.3% | 110.0% | 98.4% | 125.0% | 109.0% | 265.1% | 20.4% | — | 728.0% | — | 95.7% | −296.4% | — | — | — | — |
| Dividends ÷ net income | 25.0% | 18.9% | 67.8% | 31.4% | 36.7% | 48.3% | 58.9% | 62.3% | 15.6% | — | 365.4% | — | 63.3% | 195.4% | — | — | — | — |
| Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow | 15.9% | 132.9% | 38.7% | 49.3% | 137.9% | 115.6% | 101.4% | 23.5% | 103.8% | 656.1% | 50.2% | 33.4% | 66.2% | — | 28.5% | 49.8% | 705.9% | 239.6% |
| Quarter | 2024 Q4Dec 2024 | 2025 Q1Mar 2025 | 2025 Q2Jun 2025 | 2025 Q3Sept 2025 | 2025 Q4Dec 2025 | 2026 Q1Mar 2026 | 2026 Q2Jun 2026 | 2026 Q3Sept 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross margin | 34.2% | 32.1% | 35.4% | 34.1% | 33.1% | 33.1% | 40.7% | 34.7% |
| Operating margin | 0.5% | 1.3% | 8.8% | 6.6% | −14.3% | 2.2% | 14.2% | 1.4% |
| Net margin | −2.8% | −2.4% | 2.4% | 1.2% | −16.6% | −2.1% | 5.3% | −4.3% |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 2.8% | −17.4% | −6.0% | 17.4% | 4.8% | −17.4% | −0.9% | 13.3% |
| Current ratio | 1.14 | 1.13 | 1.12 | 1.14 | 1.07 | 1.04 | 1.11 | 1.27 |
| Debt to equity | 167.0% | 182.9% | 188.6% | 177.1% | 195.4% | 212.0% | 204.2% | 204.8% |
| SG&A as % of revenue | 29.0% | 30.1% | 26.3% | 27.2% | 27.1% | 30.5% | 26.0% | 27.1% |
Financial health
- Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $3.4bn of assets due within a year against $2.6bn of liabilities due within a year.
- Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities $3.4bn short-term assets against $5.9bn of longer-dated liabilities.
- More cash than debt $249m of cash against $4.8bn of debt.
- Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 205% of equity.
- Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 121% to 205% over five years.
- A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $254m of operating cash flow against $4.8bn of debt.
- Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Interest not separately reported. Not assessable.
Moat
Weak moat
How hard Newell Brands'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 9 / 20
Cash operating profit has been a median 7.5% of total assets over 10 years.
- Pricing power 10 / 20
Gross margin has been a median 31.7%, moving by 3.8 percentage points (standard deviation) across 10 years.
- Durability 0 / 20
Operating margin has been a median 0.7%; its worst year was -48.2%.
- Cash conversion 11 / 20
Free cash flow was positive in 8 of 10 years, at a median 4.9% of revenue.
- Discipline 17 / 20
The diluted share count fell 1.0% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 0.5% 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 (46 before it).
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