# Whitehaven Coal (WHC.AU)

Canonical: https://gigainvestors.com/s/WHC.AU

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:38:01.711Z. Financial observations: FY2003–FY2026.

Listing currency: AUD. Reporting currency: AUD.

## 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: AUD 7.40 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

Estimated value: low AUD 11.23 per share, central AUD 12.67 per share, high AUD 14.58 per share. Buy at or below the central value AUD 12.67 per share. Valuation as of 2026-10-16T07:38:01.711Z; scenarios are not confidence intervals.

Expected annual return: 15.9% at the stated quote. About 15.9% a year at today's price (required return 10.0%). required return 10.0% a year (10% floor; AU 10-year bond 5.2% + 4 points).

## Checklist

### understandable: fail

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

- operating margin variation exceeds 0.35

- Financial history: 10 years

- Years with declining revenue: 4

- Years with a net loss: 1

- Operating margin variation: 0.70×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: 0.30×

- FY2018: 0.35×

- FY2019: 0.32×

- FY2020: 0.05×

- FY2021: -0.04×

- FY2022: 0.57×

- FY2023: 0.61×

- FY2024: 0.36×

- FY2025: 0.24×

- FY2026: 0.10×

### moat: fail

- ROIC median below threshold

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

- Recent gross margin fell 31.4pp below the typical margin (limit 4pp)

- ROIC, median of available years: 14.0%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: 1.4%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: 31.4 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 52.3%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 21.0%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 0

- Capital spending / revenue: 6.5%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: 12.5%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: 12.5%

- FY2018: 13.8%

- FY2019: 14.8%

- FY2020: 1.4%

- FY2021: -1.4%

- FY2022: 61.0%

- FY2023: 97.7%

- FY2024: 14.2%

- FY2025: 15.0%

- FY2026: 7.5%

### economics: pass

- Owner earnings / net income, 5-yr: 1.06×

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: AUD 6.4B

- Net income, five-year total: AUD 6.0B

- Return on incremental invested capital: >100%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: 0.6 pp

- Working capital / revenue, change between three-year averages: 6.7 pp

- Working capital / revenue, final three-year average: 15.2%

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

- FY2022: 1.03×

- FY2023: 1.00×

- FY2024: 0.53×

- FY2025: 1.30×

- FY2026: 1.73×

### management: pass

- Historical market-dollar context (not the management verdict): 2017 to 2026 (9 years)

- potential debt-funded buybacks (informational)

- buybacks leaned toward cheaper years (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: 13.8% vs 14.2%

- Per-share earnings: 0.40 to 0.67 (three-year endpoint medians)

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 10-year annual growth: -5.4%

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: -11.1%

- Market cap gain: AUD 1.5B

- Cumulative retained earnings: AUD 4.1B

- Diluted shares, 10-year annual growth: -5.4%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: -11.1%

- $1 test, starting fiscal year: FY2017

- $1 test, ending fiscal year: FY2026

- Per-share value growth: 6.6%

- Per-share value change: AUD 0.27

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: AUD 0.40

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: AUD 0.67

- Buybacks concentrated in cheaper years (correlation): 0.78

- Average buyback yield: 3.4%

- Buyback history: 10 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: Yes

- Acquisition spending: AUD 23M

- Cumulative net income, 10 years: AUD 7.0B

- ROIC, first three-year median: 13.8%

- ROIC, last three-year median: 14.2%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: AUD 0.40

- FY2018: AUD 0.52

- FY2019: AUD 0.52

- FY2020: AUD 0.03

- FY2021: AUD -0.53

- FY2022: AUD 2.14

- FY2023: AUD 3.21

- FY2024: AUD 0.44

- FY2025: AUD 0.78

- FY2026: AUD 0.67

### accounting: pass

- Sloan accruals: -3.6%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 1.06×

- Restructuring years, last five: 0

- Stock compensation / operating cash flow: 0.0%

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Operating cash / earnings: 2.09×

- Accounting red flags: 0

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 0.00×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: -5.1%

- FY2018: -7.9%

- FY2019: -8.0%

- FY2020: -2.1%

- FY2021: -14.7%

- FY2022: -9.3%

- FY2023: -12.0%

- FY2024: 0.2%

- FY2025: -4.1%

- FY2026: -3.6%

## Holders

## Price story

Down 26% since Nov 2022 · "Whitehaven Coal's annual profit halves on lower prices, higher costs" (ca.finance.yahoo.com, Aug 2025) · sales -7.4%

Story as of 2026-10-16T10:00:09.694Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

Price needs cash profits to shrink 6.5% a year for ten years

- 2025-08-20: Whitehaven Coal's annual profit halves on lower prices, higher costs ([ca.finance.yahoo.com](https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/australias-whitehaven-coals-annual-profit-225620258.html))

### Sales · FY2025–2026

sales -7.4%; source https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/; observed 2026-10-16.

- FY2017: AUD 1.8B 

- FY2018: AUD 2.3B 

- FY2019: AUD 2.5B 

- FY2020: AUD 1.7B 

- FY2021: AUD 1.6B 

- FY2022: AUD 4.9B 

- FY2023: AUD 6.1B 

- FY2024: AUD 3.8B 

- FY2025: AUD 5.8B 

- FY2026: AUD 5.4B 

### Gross margin · FY2026

gross margin 21%; source https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/; observed 2026-10-16.

- FY2017: 59.4% 

- FY2018: 58.6% 

- FY2019: 54.6% 

- FY2020: 33.5% 

- FY2021: 26.9% 

- FY2022: 73.3% 

- FY2023: 75.7% 

- FY2024: 50.1% 

- FY2025: 35.0% 

- FY2026: 21.0% 

## Owner memo

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

### How it makes money

Operates in thermal coal; annual sales are AUD 5.4 billion.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:38:01.711Z); FY2026: revenue 5401000000; grossProfit 1133000000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); WHC.AU: Whitehaven Coal Limited develops and operates coal mines in Queensland and New South Wales. The company produces metallurgical and thermal coal. It operates mines, including open-cut and underground, located in the Gunnedah Coal Basin in New South Wales. The company sells coal in Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Europe, and internationally. Whitehaven Coal Limited was founded in 1999 and is based in Sydney, Australia.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 21% to 50.1% during 2024–26; it earns 14% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:38:01.711Z); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 50.1%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:38:01.711Z); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 35%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:38:01.711Z); FY2026: grossProfit / revenue = 21%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:38:01.711Z); 10-year return on capital observations [[2017,0.12459984286852059],[2018,0.1383981201015501],[2019,0.14827287045149692],[2020,0.014261704422128204],[2021,-0.013594822339505264],[2022,0.6102395926619083],[2023,0.9768379938110189],[2024,0.14202836438556185],[2025,0.15014130652260904],[2026,0.07503483760317291]]; median 0.14021324224355597. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Where the cash goes

Paid dividends in 10 of 10 years; bought back AUD 142 million of shares.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:38:01.711Z); FY2017: growth capex 0; upkeep 94623000; owner earnings 446508000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:38:01.711Z); FY2018: growth capex 122374000; upkeep 243149000; owner earnings 525576000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.23283787691979846.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:38:01.711Z); FY2019: growth capex 0; upkeep 190190000; owner earnings 602277200. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:38:01.711Z); FY2020: growth capex 0; upkeep 248346000; owner earnings 23016000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:38:01.711Z); FY2022: growth capex 0; upkeep 157991000; owner earnings 2007488000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:38:01.711Z); FY2023: growth capex 0; upkeep 257775000; owner earnings 2655648600. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:38:01.711Z); FY2024: growth capex 0; upkeep 454000000; owner earnings 188400000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:38:01.711Z); FY2025: growth capex 0; upkeep 393000000; owner earnings 845600000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:38:01.711Z); FY2026: growth capex 0; upkeep 343000000; owner earnings 664200000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:38:01.711Z); Dividend observations: [[2017,554767000],[2018,188052000],[2019,464854000],[2020,312197000],[2021,111337000],[2022,79794000],[2023,638801000],[2024,392000000],[2025,176000000],[2026,79000000]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:38:01.711Z); FY2026: cash repurchases 142000000 AUD.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 5.6% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); WHC.AU SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 5.606 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-16.

### What the price says

The price assumes cash profits shrink 6.5% yearly over ten years; actual growth was 34.6%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16T07:38:01.711Z); Ten-year compound average after fade. Initial solved rate -0.10405986288711416. Price 7.4; FX 1; discount 0.1; same standard ten-year fade to terminal 0.03. FY2016 owner earnings/share 0.059416279635532795 → FY2026 1.1576389881377733. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

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

- 2016-10: AUD 3.03 per share

- 2016-11: AUD 2.75 per share

- 2016-12: AUD 2.61 per share

- 2017-01: AUD 2.84 per share

- 2017-02: AUD 2.89 per share

- 2017-03: AUD 2.99 per share

- 2017-04: AUD 2.74 per share

- 2017-05: AUD 2.53 per share

- 2017-06: AUD 2.87 per share

- 2017-07: AUD 2.97 per share

- 2017-08: AUD 3.50 per share

- 2017-09: AUD 3.68 per share

- 2017-10: AUD 3.73 per share

- 2017-11: AUD 3.85 per share

- 2017-12: AUD 4.46 per share

- 2018-01: AUD 4.94 per share

- 2018-02: AUD 4.37 per share

- 2018-03: AUD 4.45 per share

- 2018-04: AUD 4.62 per share

- 2018-05: AUD 5.26 per share

- 2018-06: AUD 5.78 per share

- 2018-07: AUD 5.43 per share

- 2018-08: AUD 5.03 per share

- 2018-09: AUD 5.44 per share

- 2018-10: AUD 4.85 per share

- 2018-11: AUD 4.26 per share

- 2018-12: AUD 4.32 per share

- 2019-01: AUD 4.95 per share

- 2019-02: AUD 4.40 per share

- 2019-03: AUD 4.05 per share

- 2019-04: AUD 4.20 per share

- 2019-05: AUD 3.93 per share

- 2019-06: AUD 3.66 per share

- 2019-07: AUD 3.70 per share

- 2019-08: AUD 3.43 per share

- 2019-09: AUD 3.11 per share

- 2019-10: AUD 3.31 per share

- 2019-11: AUD 3.15 per share

- 2019-12: AUD 2.64 per share

- 2020-01: AUD 2.51 per share

- 2020-02: AUD 2.00 per share

- 2020-03: AUD 1.93 per share

- 2020-04: AUD 1.82 per share

- 2020-05: AUD 1.81 per share

- 2020-06: AUD 1.43 per share

- 2020-07: AUD 1.39 per share

- 2020-08: AUD 0.93 per share

- 2020-09: AUD 1.05 per share

- 2020-10: AUD 1.07 per share

- 2020-11: AUD 1.33 per share

- 2020-12: AUD 1.65 per share

- 2021-01: AUD 1.50 per share

- 2021-02: AUD 1.52 per share

- 2021-03: AUD 1.77 per share

- 2021-04: AUD 1.28 per share

- 2021-05: AUD 1.58 per share

- 2021-06: AUD 1.94 per share

- 2021-07: AUD 2.22 per share

- 2021-08: AUD 2.53 per share

- 2021-09: AUD 3.23 per share

- 2021-10: AUD 2.61 per share

- 2021-11: AUD 2.42 per share

- 2021-12: AUD 2.61 per share

- 2022-01: AUD 2.68 per share

- 2022-02: AUD 3.21 per share

- 2022-03: AUD 4.15 per share

- 2022-04: AUD 4.92 per share

- 2022-05: AUD 5.28 per share

- 2022-06: AUD 4.84 per share

- 2022-07: AUD 6.21 per share

- 2022-08: AUD 7.96 per share

- 2022-09: AUD 9.01 per share

- 2022-10: AUD 9.03 per share

- 2022-11: AUD 10.04 per share

- 2022-12: AUD 9.42 per share

- 2023-01: AUD 8.40 per share

- 2023-02: AUD 7.23 per share

- 2023-03: AUD 6.73 per share

- 2023-04: AUD 7.20 per share

- 2023-05: AUD 5.66 per share

- 2023-06: AUD 6.71 per share

- 2023-07: AUD 6.92 per share

- 2023-08: AUD 6.09 per share

- 2023-09: AUD 7.11 per share

- 2023-10: AUD 7.40 per share

- 2023-11: AUD 7.14 per share

- 2023-12: AUD 7.44 per share

- 2024-01: AUD 8.43 per share

- 2024-02: AUD 6.92 per share

- 2024-03: AUD 7.10 per share

- 2024-04: AUD 7.72 per share

- 2024-05: AUD 8.06 per share

- 2024-06: AUD 7.65 per share

- 2024-07: AUD 7.72 per share

- 2024-08: AUD 6.69 per share

- 2024-09: AUD 7.22 per share

- 2024-10: AUD 6.81 per share

- 2024-11: AUD 6.58 per share

- 2024-12: AUD 6.20 per share

- 2025-01: AUD 6.12 per share

- 2025-02: AUD 5.63 per share

- 2025-03: AUD 5.47 per share

- 2025-04: AUD 4.99 per share

- 2025-05: AUD 5.56 per share

- 2025-06: AUD 5.43 per share

- 2025-07: AUD 6.44 per share

- 2025-08: AUD 6.62 per share

- 2025-09: AUD 6.59 per share

- 2025-10: AUD 7.20 per share

- 2025-11: AUD 6.93 per share

- 2025-12: AUD 7.75 per share

- 2026-01: AUD 8.83 per share

- 2026-02: AUD 7.81 per share

- 2026-03: AUD 9.25 per share

- 2026-04: AUD 8.41 per share

- 2026-05: AUD 8.75 per share

- 2026-06: AUD 7.63 per share

- 2026-07: AUD 6.98 per share

- 2026-08: AUD 8.55 per share

- 2026-09: AUD 7.71 per share

- 2026-10: AUD 7.75 per share

## Annual estimated value (AUD per share)

- FY2018: low AUD 1.61 per share, central AUD 2.27 per share, high AUD 2.66 per share

- FY2019: low AUD 6.52 per share, central AUD 7.72 per share, high AUD 8.98 per share

- FY2020: low AUD 4.31 per share, central AUD 4.89 per share, high AUD 5.67 per share

- FY2021: low AUD 3.89 per share, central AUD 4.41 per share, high AUD 5.12 per share

- FY2022: low AUD 18.28 per share, central AUD 25.58 per share, high AUD 29.84 per share

- FY2023: low AUD 27.21 per share, central AUD 37.50 per share, high AUD 43.49 per share

- FY2024: low AUD 3.57 per share, central AUD 4.92 per share, high AUD 5.71 per share

- FY2025: low AUD 12.49 per share, central AUD 14.03 per share, high AUD 16.08 per share

- FY2026: low AUD 16.09 per share, central AUD 18.14 per share, high AUD 20.88 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

Prior published observations retained from 2026-10-15T06:43:37.188Z where newer inputs omit a numeric field or fiscal period.

## Sources

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.