People Inc key statistics and ratios

In fiscal 2025, People Inc had return on equity of -2.0%, an operating margin of -4.1%, debt equal to 30.4% of equity and a current ratio of 2.75. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.

Financial ratios

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal years, plus the last twelve months (LTM) when newer.

People Inc: financial ratios, annual
Fiscal year	2018Dec 2018	2019Dec 2019	2020Dec 2020	2021Dec 2021	2022Dec 2022	2023Dec 2023	2024Dec 2024	2025Dec 2025	LTMSept 2026
Gross margin	80.2%	76.1%	70.5%	65.0%	63.1%	72.1%	61.8%	66.2%	—
Operating margin	1.4%	0.2%	−19.4%	−3.7%	−9.1%	−5.4%	−1.1%	−4.1%	−5.9%
Net margin	9.7%	0.9%	9.8%	16.2%	−22.4%	6.1%	−20.6%	−4.3%	−13.8%
Free-cash-flow margin	12.4%	6.2%	3.4%	0.8%	−4.3%	2.2%	12.9%	1.9%	5.8%
Return on equity	9.2%	0.9%	5.9%	8.7%	−17.9%	4.4%	−9.3%	−2.0%	−7.2%
Return on assets	—	0.6%	4.1%	5.6%	−10.3%	2.6%	−5.4%	−1.2%	−4.8%
Asset turnover	—	0.61	0.42	0.34	0.46	0.42	0.26	0.28	0.35
Current ratio	—	2.10	5.49	2.23	2.37	2.36	2.80	2.75	4.01
Debt to equity	0.0%	9.7%	10.9%	29.3%	34.9%	33.6%	35.5%	30.4%	32.4%
Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest)	2.7x	0.5x	n/m	n/m	n/m	n/m	n/m	n/m	n/m
Effective tax rate	4.3%	—	−18.7%	19.0%	—	25.0%	—	—	—
R&D as % of revenue	7.0%	5.3%	6.7%	6.2%	6.1%	5.5%	8.7%	8.2%	8.5%
Capital spending as % of revenue	2.2%	3.8%	2.2%	2.4%	2.7%	2.1%	0.6%	0.8%	1.3%
Free cash flow ÷ net income	127.5%	684.4%	34.8%	4.8%	—	36.1%	—	—	—
Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow	—	36.3%	67.8%	123.4%	—	172.6%	0.0%	702.7%	107.8%

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal quarters.

People Inc: financial ratios, quarterly
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	65.8%	61.1%	54.4%	53.6%	82.1%	62.2%	—	—
Operating margin	6.7%	5.0%	−1.7%	−6.1%	−7.7%	−9.5%	−3.3%	−0.7%
Net margin	−27.6%	−45.0%	47.7%	−4.9%	−7.0%	−17.0%	116.1%	−159.6%
Free-cash-flow margin	14.5%	−6.5%	−2.5%	6.7%	5.3%	0.5%	7.9%	10.2%
Current ratio	2.80	2.70	2.87	2.56	2.75	3.69	3.69	4.01
Debt to equity	26.4%	31.0%	29.2%	29.8%	30.1%	31.2%	27.8%	32.1%
R&D as % of revenue	8.0%	7.4%	7.7%	7.5%	8.7%	9.4%	7.7%	8.0%

Returns use average equity or assets over the year. Return on equity is left blank when equity is negative or so small that the ratio says nothing (above ±200%); interest cover is left blank above 200 times. Price-based ratios such as P/E are on the valuation page.

Financial health

2 of 6 checks passed · September 30, 2026

What it owns · $6.6bn

Short-term assets $1.8bnLonger-term assets $4.8bn

What it owes, and who funded it · $4.8bn

Short-term liabilities $438mShareholders' equity $4.4bn

Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $1.8bn of assets due within a year against $438m 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 $1.3bn of cash against $1.4bn of debt.
Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 32% of equity.
Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 29% to 32% over five years.
A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $170m of operating cash flow against $1.4bn of debt.
Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of −$141m against $105m of interest.

From People Inc's latest balance sheet as filed. Checks are fixed, documented rules (methodology), counted only where the company reports the figures — a dot means the filing doesn't break the item out. Descriptions of reported data, not advice.

Moat

42 /100

Weak moat

How hard People's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 7 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.

Returns on capital 0 / 20

Net income has been a median -2.7% of total assets over 7 years.
Pricing power 17 / 20

Gross margin has been a median 68.2%, moving by 5.1 percentage points (standard deviation) across 7 years.
Durability 10 / 20

Operating margin has been a median -5.9%; its worst year was -20.1%.
Cash conversion 11 / 20

Free cash flow was positive in 6 of 7 years, at a median 4.4% of revenue.
Discipline 19 / 20

The diluted share count fell 34.3% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 2.6% of revenue.

AI disruption exposure: High. In this industry, the core product is information work that AI systems increasingly perform. The score above includes a 15-point deduction for that exposure (57 before it).

A rules-based reading of reported figures, not a forecast and not investment advice. How the score is built: methodology.

Compare with peers

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Figures from People Inc's SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), retrieved November 2, 2026. How we read and check them: methodology and data sources. Not investment advice. Back to People Inc.