# Highwoods Properties (HIW.US)

Canonical: https://gigainvestors.com/s/HIW

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:29:02.591Z. Financial observations: FY1996–FY2026.

Listing currency: USD. Reporting currency: USD.

## Verdict

Not a wonderful business

Quality tests for Buy: not passed (profit record: pass; earnings resilience is evidence only). Published buy qualification: no.

Share price: $29.21 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

Estimated value: low $27.24 per share, central $30.83 per share, high $35.61 per share. Buy at or below the central value $30.83 per share. Valuation as of 2026-10-16T07:29:02.591Z; scenarios are not confidence intervals.

Expected annual return: 10.4% at the stated quote. About 10.4% a year at today's price (required return 10.0%). required return 10.0% a year (10% floor; US 10-year bond 5.1% + 4 points).

## Checklist

### understandable: pass

- 2 revenue declines in the last 10 years (informational)

- Financial history: 10 years

- Years with declining revenue: 2

- Years with a net loss: 0

- Operating margin variation: 0.06×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: 0.28×

- FY2018: 0.29×

- FY2019: 0.26×

- FY2020: 0.30×

- FY2021: 0.30×

- FY2022: 0.29×

- FY2023: 0.27×

- FY2024: 0.26×

- FY2025: 0.26×

- LTM to Mar 2026: 0.26×

### moat: fail

- ROIC median below threshold

- ROIC worst years below threshold (more than 1 bad year allowed)

- ROIC, median of available years: 2.9%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: 2.6%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: -0.3 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 67.3%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 67.6%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 0

- Capital spending / revenue: 21.8%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: 5.3%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: 2.9%

- FY2017: 3.0%

- FY2018: 3.7%

- FY2019: 2.6%

- FY2020: 3.4%

- FY2021: 2.9%

- FY2022: 2.7%

- FY2023: 2.6%

- FY2024: 3.0%

- FY2025: 2.8%

### economics: fail

- working capital as a share of revenue rose more than 10pp and ends positive

- Owner earnings / net income, 5-yr: 1.40×

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: $1.2B

- Net income, five-year total: $883M

- Return on incremental invested capital: >100%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: 4.1 pp

- Working capital / revenue, change between three-year averages: 26.7 pp

- Working capital / revenue, final three-year average: 28.4%

Chart: Annual owner cash / profit; fiscal year observations.

- FY2021: 1.00×

- FY2022: 1.12×

- FY2023: 1.83×

- FY2024: 2.12×

- FY2025: 1.59×

### management: fail

- Historical market-dollar context (not the management verdict): 2016 to 2025 (9 years)

- buybacks unrelated to price (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: 3.0% vs 2.8%

- Per-share earnings: 1.76 to 1.38 (three-year endpoint medians)

- per-share value declined or ends nonpositive

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 10-year annual growth: 1.3%

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: 0.7%

- Market cap gain: -$2.3B

- Cumulative retained earnings: -$121M

- Diluted shares, 10-year annual growth: 1.3%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: 0.7%

- $1 test, starting fiscal year: FY2016

- $1 test, ending fiscal year: FY2025

- Per-share value growth: -3.0%

- Per-share value change: -$0.38

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: $1.76

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: $1.38

- Buybacks concentrated in cheaper years (correlation): -0.05

- Average buyback yield: 0.1%

- Buyback history: 10 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: No

- Acquisition spending: $330M

- Cumulative net income, 10 years: $2.2B

- ROIC, first three-year median: 3.0%

- ROIC, last three-year median: 2.8%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: $5.17

- FY2017: $1.76

- FY2018: $1.62

- FY2019: $1.29

- FY2020: $3.26

- FY2021: $2.93

- FY2022: $1.48

- FY2023: $1.38

- FY2024: $0.94

- FY2025: $1.44

### accounting: pass

- Sloan accruals: -3.3%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 1.09×

- Restructuring years, last five: 1

- Stock compensation / operating cash flow: 2.2%

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Operating cash / earnings: 2.30×

- Accounting red flags: 0

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 0.10×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: 4.8%

- FY2017: -3.6%

- FY2018: -4.0%

- FY2019: -4.5%

- FY2020: -0.2%

- FY2021: -1.8%

- FY2022: -4.3%

- FY2023: -4.1%

- FY2024: -5.0%

- FY2025: -3.3%

## Holders

## Price story

Down 36% since Mar 2022 · "Highwoods Properties (HIW) Margin Miss Reinforces Concerns Over Earnings Quality and Growth Outlook" (finance.yahoo.com, Oct 2025) · sales +1.7%

Story as of 2026-10-16T09:58:52.916Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

Price needs cash profits to grow 0.2% a year for ten years

- 2026-04-29: HIW Q1 FFO Meets Estimates, Revenues Top on Rent Growth ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/hiw-q1-ffo-meets-estimates-150500531.html))

- 2026-07-29: HIW Q2 FFO Beats Estimates on Leasing and Rent Growth, 2026 View Up ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/articles/hiw-q2-ffo-beats-estimates-151800085.html))

### Sales · FY2025–2026

sales +1.7%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/921082/000092108226000005/hiw-20251231.htm; observed 2026-02-10.

- FY2017: $703M 

- FY2018: $720M 

- FY2019: $736M 

- FY2020: $737M 

- FY2021: $768M 

- FY2022: $829M 

- FY2023: $834M 

- FY2024: $826M 

- FY2025: $806M 

- FY2026: $820M 

### Gross margin · FY2025

gross margin 67.6%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/921082/000092108226000005/hiw-20251231.htm; observed 2026-02-10.

- FY2016: 65.3% 

- FY2017: 66.3% 

- FY2018: 66.3% 

- FY2019: 66.2% 

- FY2020: 68.5% 

- FY2021: 69.2% 

- FY2022: 68.7% 

- FY2023: 67.8% 

- FY2024: 67.0% 

- FY2025: 67.6% 

## Owner memo

Memo as of 2026-10-16T08:06:05.509Z.

### How it makes money

Operates in property rentals; annual sales are USD 806.1 million.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/921082/000092108226000005/hiw-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-10); FY2025: revenue 806112000; grossProfit 544739000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 67% to 67.8% during 2023–25; it earns 2.9% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-10); FY2023: grossProfit / revenue = 67.8%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-10); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 67%.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/921082/000092108226000005/hiw-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-10); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 67.6%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-10); 10-year return on capital observations [[2016,0.029450465502021864],[2017,0.03047590110707491],[2018,0.03676246940306689],[2019,0.026197350032537845],[2020,0.033544012899954144],[2021,0.02922664268922412],[2022,0.027476857397893736],[2023,0.02577935489150351],[2024,0.029839373187910467],[2025,0.027631840874106427]]; median 0.02933855409562299. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Can it raise prices

Kept about a 69% gross margin through 2022 cost inflation.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/921082/000092108226000005/hiw-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-10); Gross margin observations: [[2021,0.692143430984353],[2022,0.6865762930238899],[2023,0.6777182651736158]]; range within 2 percentage points.

### Where the cash goes

Paid dividends in 10 of 10 years; bought back USD 2.1 million of shares.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-10); FY2016: growth capex 0; upkeep 110249000; owner earnings 634181000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-10); FY2017: growth capex 0; upkeep 1840000; owner earnings 411357000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-10); FY2018: growth capex 0; upkeep 50649000; owner earnings 351141000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-10); FY2019: growth capex 93366229.15111029; upkeep 330855770.8488897; owner earnings 60566229.15111029. Growth capex / owner earnings = 1.541555920844359.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-10); FY2020: growth capex 0; upkeep 2363000; owner earnings 586624000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-10); FY2021: growth capex 123890000; upkeep 259255000; owner earnings 313277000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.39546471652882276.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-10); FY2022: growth capex 0; upkeep 269286000; owner earnings 177382000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-10); FY2023: growth capex 0; upkeep 176602000; owner earnings 271524000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-10); FY2024: growth capex 0; upkeep 184829000; owner earnings 216465000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/921082/000092108226000005/hiw-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-10); FY2025: growth capex 0; upkeep 200750000; owner earnings 253816000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-10); Dividend observations: [[2016,169362000],[2017,264502000],[2018,193794000],[2019,199423000],[2020,201819000],[2021,206668000],[2022,212669000],[2023,213508000],[2024,214836000],[2025,219087000]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/921082/000092108226000005/hiw-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-10); FY2025: cash repurchases 2130000 USD.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 1.3% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); HIW.US SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 1.31 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-16.

### What the price says

The price assumes cash profits grow 0.2% yearly over ten years.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-10); Ten-year compound average after fade. Initial solved rate -0.009981795572010788. Price 29.21; FX 1; discount 0.1; same standard ten-year fade to terminal 0.03. FY2015 owner earnings/share -0.9805658788986304 → FY2025 2.295523197974134. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

## Monthly share-price history (USD per share)

- 2016-10: $49.63 per share

- 2016-11: $48.06 per share

- 2016-12: $51.01 per share

- 2017-01: $51.41 per share

- 2017-02: $52.49 per share

- 2017-03: $49.13 per share

- 2017-04: $50.88 per share

- 2017-05: $50.40 per share

- 2017-06: $50.71 per share

- 2017-07: $51.52 per share

- 2017-08: $52.23 per share

- 2017-09: $52.09 per share

- 2017-10: $51.05 per share

- 2017-11: $50.79 per share

- 2017-12: $50.91 per share

- 2018-01: $47.88 per share

- 2018-02: $43.01 per share

- 2018-03: $43.82 per share

- 2018-04: $44.02 per share

- 2018-05: $47.83 per share

- 2018-06: $50.73 per share

- 2018-07: $49.11 per share

- 2018-08: $49.74 per share

- 2018-09: $47.26 per share

- 2018-10: $42.64 per share

- 2018-11: $43.37 per share

- 2018-12: $38.69 per share

- 2019-01: $44.32 per share

- 2019-02: $46.31 per share

- 2019-03: $46.78 per share

- 2019-04: $44.58 per share

- 2019-05: $43.86 per share

- 2019-06: $41.30 per share

- 2019-07: $45.33 per share

- 2019-08: $43.21 per share

- 2019-09: $44.94 per share

- 2019-10: $46.80 per share

- 2019-11: $48.55 per share

- 2019-12: $48.91 per share

- 2020-01: $50.11 per share

- 2020-02: $44.88 per share

- 2020-03: $35.42 per share

- 2020-04: $38.81 per share

- 2020-05: $38.27 per share

- 2020-06: $37.33 per share

- 2020-07: $38.34 per share

- 2020-08: $37.26 per share

- 2020-09: $33.57 per share

- 2020-10: $29.77 per share

- 2020-11: $38.30 per share

- 2020-12: $39.63 per share

- 2021-01: $37.49 per share

- 2021-02: $39.96 per share

- 2021-03: $42.94 per share

- 2021-04: $44.79 per share

- 2021-05: $45.68 per share

- 2021-06: $45.17 per share

- 2021-07: $47.69 per share

- 2021-08: $45.69 per share

- 2021-09: $43.86 per share

- 2021-10: $44.84 per share

- 2021-11: $43.20 per share

- 2021-12: $44.59 per share

- 2022-01: $43.12 per share

- 2022-02: $43.60 per share

- 2022-03: $45.74 per share

- 2022-04: $40.84 per share

- 2022-05: $39.29 per share

- 2022-06: $34.19 per share

- 2022-07: $35.57 per share

- 2022-08: $30.41 per share

- 2022-09: $26.96 per share

- 2022-10: $28.23 per share

- 2022-11: $29.80 per share

- 2022-12: $27.98 per share

- 2023-01: $30.37 per share

- 2023-02: $26.50 per share

- 2023-03: $23.19 per share

- 2023-04: $22.92 per share

- 2023-05: $20.68 per share

- 2023-06: $23.91 per share

- 2023-07: $25.27 per share

- 2023-08: $23.83 per share

- 2023-09: $20.61 per share

- 2023-10: $17.89 per share

- 2023-11: $18.95 per share

- 2023-12: $22.96 per share

- 2024-01: $22.97 per share

- 2024-02: $24.45 per share

- 2024-03: $26.18 per share

- 2024-04: $26.20 per share

- 2024-05: $25.97 per share

- 2024-06: $26.27 per share

- 2024-07: $30.97 per share

- 2024-08: $32.22 per share

- 2024-09: $33.51 per share

- 2024-10: $33.54 per share

- 2024-11: $32.46 per share

- 2024-12: $30.58 per share

- 2025-01: $29.79 per share

- 2025-02: $29.13 per share

- 2025-03: $29.64 per share

- 2025-04: $28.44 per share

- 2025-05: $29.70 per share

- 2025-06: $31.09 per share

- 2025-07: $29.01 per share

- 2025-08: $31.53 per share

- 2025-09: $31.82 per share

- 2025-10: $28.63 per share

- 2025-11: $27.80 per share

- 2025-12: $25.82 per share

- 2026-01: $25.85 per share

- 2026-02: $22.49 per share

- 2026-03: $21.41 per share

- 2026-04: $24.31 per share

- 2026-05: $26.10 per share

- 2026-06: $30.16 per share

- 2026-07: $33.13 per share

- 2026-08: $30.60 per share

- 2026-09: $29.02 per share

- 2026-10: $29.21 per share

## Annual estimated value (USD per share)

- FY2016: low $14.93 per share, central $16.94 per share, high $19.62 per share

- FY2017: low $17.19 per share, central $19.56 per share, high $22.71 per share

- FY2018: low $36.12 per share, central $41.10 per share, high $47.73 per share

- FY2019: low $37.69 per share, central $43.92 per share, high $51.07 per share

- FY2020: low $46.36 per share, central $54.23 per share, high $62.94 per share

- FY2021: low $39.53 per share, central $46.48 per share, high $54.06 per share

- FY2022: low $34.40 per share, central $39.14 per share, high $45.45 per share

- FY2023: low $27.61 per share, central $31.41 per share, high $36.46 per share

- FY2024: low $27.19 per share, central $30.93 per share, high $35.91 per share

- FY2025: low $25.19 per share, central $28.65 per share, high $33.26 per share

Historical values use today's bond yield for every fiscal year

Historical values use today's FX rate into trading currency for every fiscal year

Historical values use current restated fundamentals and current commodity classification; they are not point-in-time estimates

## Sources

[Original 10-K filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/921082/000092108226000005/hiw-20251231.htm); period 2025-12-31, filed 2026-02-10.

Estimates depend on assumptions and are not guarantees or investment advice. Underlying data remains subject to its source licenses; public reading does not grant bulk redistribution rights.