# Workiva (WK.US)

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

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:33:07.353Z. Financial observations: FY2011–FY2026.

Listing currency: USD. Reporting currency: USD.

## Verdict

Not a wonderful business

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

Share price: $77.21 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

## Checklist

### understandable: fail

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

- more than 2 net loss years

- negative average operating margin

- operating margin variation exceeds 0.35

- Financial history: 10 years

- Years with declining revenue: 0

- Years with a net loss: 9

- Operating margin variation: 0.61×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: -0.21×

- FY2018: -0.20×

- FY2019: -0.15×

- FY2020: -0.11×

- FY2021: -0.07×

- FY2022: -0.17×

- FY2023: -0.15×

- FY2024: -0.10×

- FY2025: -0.05×

- LTM to Jun 2026: 0.03×

### moat: fail

- Years with nonpositive invested capital use equity plus debt and leases; positive earnings with no positive capital are shown above 100%.

- ROIC median below threshold

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

- ROIC, median of available years: -10.1%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: -452.6%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: -1.8 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 74.9%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 76.7%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 10

- Capital spending / revenue: 0.6%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -191.5%

- FY2017: -1316.3%

- FY2018: -452.6%

- FY2019: -9.5%

- FY2020: -7.6%

- FY2021: -5.6%

- FY2022: -18.5%

- FY2023: -10.6%

- FY2024: -8.0%

- FY2025: -4.2%

### economics: fail

- owner earnings cash conversion below threshold

- incremental invested capital return below threshold

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: -$302M

- Net income, five-year total: -$337M

- Return on incremental invested capital: 0.8%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: 0.8 pp

- Working capital / revenue, change between three-year averages: 5.1 pp

- Working capital / revenue, final three-year average: 22.0%

Chart: Owner earnings · five years; fiscal year observations.

- FY2021: -$36M

- FY2022: -$84M

- FY2023: -$119M

- FY2024: -$46M

- FY2025: -$17M

### management: fail

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

- potential debt-funded buybacks (informational)

- buybacks leaned toward cheaper years (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: -452.6% vs -8.0%

- Per-share earnings: -1.08 to -0.99 (three-year endpoint medians)

- per-share value declined or ends nonpositive

- five-year and ten-year diluted share growth both above threshold

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 10-year annual growth: 3.5%

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: 3.0%

- Market cap gain: $4.3B

- Cumulative retained earnings: -$513M

- Diluted shares, 10-year annual growth: 3.5%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: 3.0%

- $1 test, starting fiscal year: FY2016

- $1 test, ending fiscal year: FY2025

- Per-share value change: $0.09

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: -$1.08

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: -$0.99

- Buybacks concentrated in cheaper years (correlation): 0.84

- Average buyback yield: 0.3%

- Buyback history: 10 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: Yes

- Acquisition spending: $235M

- Cumulative net income, 10 years: -$572M

- ROIC, first three-year median: -452.6%

- ROIC, last three-year median: -8.0%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -$1.08

- FY2017: -$1.07

- FY2018: -$1.15

- FY2019: -$1.03

- FY2020: -$1.00

- FY2021: -$0.74

- FY2022: -$1.72

- FY2023: -$2.36

- FY2024: -$0.99

- FY2025: -$0.47

### accounting: pass

- stock compensation exceeds 15% of operating cash flow

- Sloan accruals: -11.1%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 0.94×

- Restructuring years, last five: 0

- Stock compensation / operating cash flow: 87.8%

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Accounting red flags: 1

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -23.5%

- FY2017: -31.7%

- FY2018: -24.4%

- FY2019: -12.3%

- FY2020: -11.5%

- FY2021: -11.1%

- FY2022: -12.5%

- FY2023: -16.3%

- FY2024: -10.4%

- FY2025: -11.1%

## Holders

- [Andrew Adams](https://gigainvestors.com/MPF): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

## Price story

Down 48% since Oct 2021 · sales +9.2%

Story as of 2026-10-16T09:59:51.978Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

- 2025-08-13: WK Q2 Deep Dive: Broad-Based Platform Demand and Margin Expansion Fuel Guidance Raise ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wk-q2-deep-dive-broad-025054509.html))

- 2026-08-11: Workiva (WK) Turns Profitable As Investors Weigh Whether The Valuation Story Still Holds ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/workiva-wk-turns-profitable-investors-010936911.html))

### Sales · FY2025–2026

sales +9.2%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1445305/000144530526000016/wk-20251231.htm; observed 2026-02-19.

- FY2017: $208M 

- FY2018: $244M 

- FY2019: $298M 

- FY2020: $352M 

- FY2021: $443M 

- FY2022: $538M 

- FY2023: $630M 

- FY2024: $739M 

- FY2025: $885M 

- FY2026: $966M 

### Gross margin · FY2025

gross margin 78.5%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1445305/000144530526000016/wk-20251231.htm; observed 2026-02-19.

- FY2016: 71.1% 

- FY2017: 71.0% 

- FY2018: 73.0% 

- FY2019: 71.5% 

- FY2020: 74.4% 

- FY2021: 76.6% 

- FY2022: 75.9% 

- FY2023: 75.5% 

- FY2024: 76.7% 

- FY2025: 78.5% 

## Owner memo

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

### How it makes money

Operates in software application; annual sales are USD 884.6 million.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1445305/000144530526000016/wk-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-19); FY2025: revenue 884568000; grossProfit 694138000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); WK.US: Workiva Inc., together with its subsidiaries, provides cloud-based reporting solutions in the United States and internationally. The company provides Workiva platform, a multi-tenant cloud software that provides data-linking capabilities; audit trail services; administrators access management; and connects and transforms data from various enterprise resource planning, human capital management, and customer relationship management systems, as well as other third-party cloud and on-premise applications. It serves public and private companies, government agencies, and higher-education institutions. Workiva Inc. was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Ames, Iowa.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 75.5% to 78.5% during 2023–25; it lost 10.1% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-19); FY2023: grossProfit / revenue = 75.5%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-19); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 76.7%.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1445305/000144530526000016/wk-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-19); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 78.5%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-19); 10-year return on capital observations [[2016,-1.9151435246995994],[2017,-13.162606242948478],[2018,-4.5261818181818185],[2019,-0.09502812106762037],[2020,-0.07581821043759077],[2021,-0.0564631937241611],[2022,-0.1849498745875632],[2023,-0.10610553102972038],[2024,-0.08044484123077086],[2025,-0.041785965323336456]]; median -0.10056682604867037. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Can it raise prices

Kept about a 76% gross margin through 2022 cost inflation.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1445305/000144530526000016/wk-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-19); Gross margin observations: [[2021,0.7657646886314673],[2022,0.7585219614222636],[2023,0.7552183277543136]]; range within 2 percentage points.

### Where the cash goes

Paid dividends in 4 of 10 years; bought back USD 71.6 million of shares.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-19); Dividend observations: [[2016,0],[2017,0],[2018,0],[2019,28684000],[2020,12759000],[2021,1683000],[2022,12000],[2023,0],[2024,0],[2025,0]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1445305/000144530526000016/wk-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-19); FY2025: cash repurchases 71628000 USD.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 4% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); WK.US SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 4.027 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-16.

### What the price says

The price is 4.9 times annual sales; cash earnings are negative.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-19); Closing price 77.21 USD; reporting-to-trading FX 1; FY2025 annual sales per share 15.719360838257865; price multiple 4.911777316803231. FY2025 cash earnings/share -0.3066150390962608. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

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

- 2016-10: $16.55 per share

- 2016-11: $14.90 per share

- 2016-12: $13.65 per share

- 2017-01: $12.60 per share

- 2017-02: $14.95 per share

- 2017-03: $15.65 per share

- 2017-04: $16.80 per share

- 2017-05: $18.20 per share

- 2017-06: $19.05 per share

- 2017-07: $19.60 per share

- 2017-08: $20.20 per share

- 2017-09: $20.85 per share

- 2017-10: $22.35 per share

- 2017-11: $21.75 per share

- 2017-12: $21.40 per share

- 2018-01: $22.30 per share

- 2018-02: $22.75 per share

- 2018-03: $23.70 per share

- 2018-04: $22.50 per share

- 2018-05: $26.00 per share

- 2018-06: $24.40 per share

- 2018-07: $25.25 per share

- 2018-08: $36.85 per share

- 2018-09: $39.50 per share

- 2018-10: $34.09 per share

- 2018-11: $37.41 per share

- 2018-12: $35.89 per share

- 2019-01: $41.90 per share

- 2019-02: $49.45 per share

- 2019-03: $50.70 per share

- 2019-04: $53.14 per share

- 2019-05: $55.64 per share

- 2019-06: $58.09 per share

- 2019-07: $57.49 per share

- 2019-08: $48.11 per share

- 2019-09: $43.83 per share

- 2019-10: $41.67 per share

- 2019-11: $43.37 per share

- 2019-12: $42.05 per share

- 2020-01: $45.49 per share

- 2020-02: $42.74 per share

- 2020-03: $32.33 per share

- 2020-04: $38.35 per share

- 2020-05: $44.54 per share

- 2020-06: $53.49 per share

- 2020-07: $55.90 per share

- 2020-08: $59.00 per share

- 2020-09: $55.76 per share

- 2020-10: $55.31 per share

- 2020-11: $74.99 per share

- 2020-12: $91.62 per share

- 2021-01: $97.47 per share

- 2021-02: $101.15 per share

- 2021-03: $88.26 per share

- 2021-04: $94.00 per share

- 2021-05: $94.90 per share

- 2021-06: $111.33 per share

- 2021-07: $129.77 per share

- 2021-08: $140.27 per share

- 2021-09: $140.96 per share

- 2021-10: $149.55 per share

- 2021-11: $139.47 per share

- 2021-12: $130.49 per share

- 2022-01: $118.28 per share

- 2022-02: $105.30 per share

- 2022-03: $118.00 per share

- 2022-04: $96.51 per share

- 2022-05: $73.01 per share

- 2022-06: $65.99 per share

- 2022-07: $65.50 per share

- 2022-08: $67.89 per share

- 2022-09: $77.80 per share

- 2022-10: $77.81 per share

- 2022-11: $80.56 per share

- 2022-12: $83.97 per share

- 2023-01: $86.53 per share

- 2023-02: $89.20 per share

- 2023-03: $102.41 per share

- 2023-04: $93.42 per share

- 2023-05: $96.86 per share

- 2023-06: $101.66 per share

- 2023-07: $105.29 per share

- 2023-08: $111.85 per share

- 2023-09: $101.34 per share

- 2023-10: $87.09 per share

- 2023-11: $96.17 per share

- 2023-12: $101.53 per share

- 2024-01: $92.94 per share

- 2024-02: $86.12 per share

- 2024-03: $84.80 per share

- 2024-04: $78.80 per share

- 2024-05: $76.97 per share

- 2024-06: $72.99 per share

- 2024-07: $73.77 per share

- 2024-08: $78.17 per share

- 2024-09: $79.12 per share

- 2024-10: $79.76 per share

- 2024-11: $97.25 per share

- 2024-12: $109.50 per share

- 2025-01: $98.22 per share

- 2025-02: $87.52 per share

- 2025-03: $75.91 per share

- 2025-04: $75.27 per share

- 2025-05: $67.29 per share

- 2025-06: $68.45 per share

- 2025-07: $63.83 per share

- 2025-08: $82.24 per share

- 2025-09: $86.08 per share

- 2025-10: $85.01 per share

- 2025-11: $92.56 per share

- 2025-12: $86.25 per share

- 2026-01: $77.02 per share

- 2026-02: $61.58 per share

- 2026-03: $59.63 per share

- 2026-04: $53.48 per share

- 2026-05: $49.78 per share

- 2026-06: $48.51 per share

- 2026-07: $59.80 per share

- 2026-08: $80.00 per share

- 2026-09: $66.57 per share

- 2026-10: $77.21 per share

## Annual estimated value (USD 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/1445305/000144530526000016/wk-20251231.htm); period 2025-12-31, filed 2026-02-19.

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.