# Xcel Energy (XEL.US)

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

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:33:16.430Z. Financial observations: FY1996–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: $75.12 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

## Checklist

### understandable: pass

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

- Financial history: 10 years

- Years with declining revenue: 5

- Years with a net loss: 0

- Operating margin variation: 0.08×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: 0.19×

- FY2018: 0.17×

- FY2019: 0.18×

- FY2020: 0.18×

- FY2021: 0.16×

- FY2022: 0.16×

- FY2023: 0.17×

- FY2024: 0.18×

- FY2025: 0.20×

- LTM to Jun 2026: 0.21×

### moat: fail

- ROIC median below threshold

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

- ROIC, median of available years: 5.6%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: 5.0%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: -5.4 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 40.3%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 45.7%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 0

- Capital spending / revenue: 35.5%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: -1.8%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: 5.7%

- FY2017: 5.5%

- FY2018: 5.9%

- FY2019: 5.8%

- FY2020: 5.8%

- FY2021: 5.5%

- FY2022: 5.7%

- FY2023: 5.5%

- FY2024: 4.8%

- FY2025: 5.0%

### economics: fail

- owner earnings cash conversion below threshold

- incremental invested capital return below threshold

- Owner earnings / net income, 5-yr: -0.20×

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: -$1.8B

- Net income, five-year total: $9.1B

- Return on incremental invested capital: 5.2%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: -0.3 pp

- Working capital / revenue, change between three-year averages: -1.8 pp

- Working capital / revenue, final three-year average: 6.7%

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

- FY2021: 1.00×

- FY2022: 1.00×

- FY2023: -0.86×

- FY2024: -1.32×

- FY2025: -0.52×

### management: fail

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

- buybacks leaned toward cheaper years (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: 5.7% vs 5.0%

- Per-share earnings: 2.21 to 3.43 (three-year endpoint medians)

- 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: 1.5%

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: 2.2%

- Market cap gain: $25B

- Cumulative retained earnings: $5.2B

- Diluted shares, 10-year annual growth: 1.5%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: 2.2%

- $1 test, starting fiscal year: FY2016

- $1 test, ending fiscal year: FY2025

- Per-share value growth: 5.7%

- Per-share value change: $1.22

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: $2.21

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: $3.43

- Buybacks concentrated in cheaper years (correlation): 0.50

- Average buyback yield: 0.1%

- Buyback history: 3 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: No

- Acquisition spending: $0

- Cumulative net income, 10 years: $15B

- ROIC, first three-year median: 5.7%

- ROIC, last three-year median: 5.0%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: $2.21

- FY2017: $2.26

- FY2018: $2.47

- FY2019: $2.64

- FY2020: $2.79

- FY2021: $2.96

- FY2022: $3.17

- FY2023: $3.21

- FY2024: $3.44

- FY2025: $3.43

### accounting: pass

- Sloan accruals: -2.5%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 0.97×

- Restructuring years, last five: 0

- Stock compensation / operating cash flow: 1.1%

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Operating cash / earnings: 2.02×

- Accounting red flags: 0

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 0.00×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: -4.7%

- FY2017: -4.6%

- FY2018: -4.0%

- FY2019: -3.7%

- FY2020: -2.5%

- FY2021: -1.0%

- FY2022: -3.6%

- FY2023: -5.5%

- FY2024: -3.9%

- FY2025: -2.5%

## Holders

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

## Price story

Up 27% since Oct 2023 · "Xcel Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates on Infrastructure Investment Recovery" (finance.yahoo.com, Jul 2026) · sales -0.4%

Story as of 2026-10-16T09:59:54.012Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

- 2025-07-31: Xcel Energy's quarterly profit boosted by rate hikes, rising power demand ([ca.finance.yahoo.com](https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/xcel-energys-quarterly-profit-boosted-110956909.html))

- 2025-09-22: Xcel Energy raised at BMO on strong rate base, EPS growth rate outlook ([seekingalpha.com](https://seekingalpha.com/news/4497431-xcel-energy-raised-at-bmo-on-strong-rate-base-eps-growth-rate-outlook?utm_source=feed_news_all&utm_medium=referral&feed_item_type=news))

- 2026-02-05: Xcel Energy Q4 Earnings and Revenues Lag Estimates, Expenses Rise ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/xcel-energy-q4-earnings-revenues-164300524.html))

### Sales · FY2025–2026

sales -0.4%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/72903/000007290326000009/xel-20251231.htm; observed 2026-02-25.

- FY2017: $11B 

- FY2018: $12B 

- FY2019: $12B 

- FY2020: $12B 

- FY2021: $13B 

- FY2022: $15B 

- FY2023: $14B 

- FY2024: $13B 

- FY2025: $15B 

- FY2026: $15B 

### Gross margin · FY2025

gross margin 47.2%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/72903/000007290326000009/xel-20251231.htm; observed 2026-02-25.

- FY2016: 38.9% 

- FY2017: 39.6% 

- FY2018: 38.6% 

- FY2019: 41.0% 

- FY2020: 43.1% 

- FY2021: 39.1% 

- FY2022: 38.3% 

- FY2023: 42.1% 

- FY2024: 45.7% 

- FY2025: 47.2% 

## Owner memo

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

### How it makes money

Operates in utilities regulated electric; annual sales are USD 14.7 billion.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/72903/000007290326000009/xel-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-25); FY2025: revenue 14669000000; grossProfit 6924000000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); XEL.US: Xcel Energy Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as an electric and natural gas delivery company in the United States. It operates through Regulated Electric Utility and Regulated Natural Gas Utility segments. The company generates, purchases, transmits, distributes, and sells electricity through its energy portfolio, including wind, nuclear, hydroelectric, biomass, and solar power from both owned generation facilities and PPAs, as well as its fossil fuel energy portfolio, such as coal and natural gas; sale and resale of wholesale transmission service; and engages in wholesale commodity and trading operations. It also purchases, transports, stores, distributes, and sells natural gas; develops and leases natural gas pipelines and storage facilities; operates interstate natural gas pipeline; and invests in rental housing projects, energy technology companies, and community solar garden nonregulated assets. It serves electric and natural gas customers in portions of Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, and Wisconsin. The company was formerly known as Northern States Power company. Xcel Energy Inc. was incorporated in 1909 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 42.1% to 47.2% during 2023–25; it earns 5.6% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-25); FY2023: grossProfit / revenue = 42.1%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-25); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 45.7%.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/72903/000007290326000009/xel-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-25); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 47.2%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-25); 10-year return on capital observations [[2016,0.05659848278871748],[2017,0.054767329470758054],[2018,0.05860285730746494],[2019,0.05755304344358713],[2020,0.057729033666175586],[2021,0.05482554377582002],[2022,0.05700065733871725],[2023,0.05513210817537388],[2024,0.04815240862949285],[2025,0.049538853327827106]]; median 0.055865295482045677. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Where the cash goes

Paid dividends in 10 of 10 years.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-25); FY2017: growth capex 810920170.4044056; upkeep 2508079829.5955944; owner earnings 248920170.4044056. Growth capex / owner earnings = 3.257751949498317.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-25); FY2021: growth capex 1987000000; upkeep 2257000000; owner earnings 1597000000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 1.2442078897933626.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-25); FY2022: growth capex 2084000000; upkeep 2554000000; owner earnings 1736000000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 1.2004608294930876.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-25); Dividend observations: [[2016,680521000],[2017,721000000],[2018,730000000],[2019,791000000],[2020,856000000],[2021,935000000],[2022,1012000000],[2023,1092000000],[2024,1175000000],[2025,1282000000]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 0.2% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); XEL.US SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 0.202 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-16.

### What could break it

"Our utilities have significant risks associated with wildfires." (SEC filing, Feb 2026)

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/72903/000007290326000009/xel-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-25); Our utilities have significant risks associated with wildfires.

### What the price says

The price is 3 times annual sales; cash earnings are negative.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-25); Closing price 75.12 USD; reporting-to-trading FX 1; FY2025 annual sales per share 24.904923599320885; price multiple 3.016271047787852. FY2025 cash earnings/share -1.770607099227915. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

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

- 2016-10: $41.55 per share

- 2016-11: $39.01 per share

- 2016-12: $40.70 per share

- 2017-01: $41.32 per share

- 2017-02: $43.71 per share

- 2017-03: $44.45 per share

- 2017-04: $45.05 per share

- 2017-05: $47.91 per share

- 2017-06: $45.88 per share

- 2017-07: $47.31 per share

- 2017-08: $49.50 per share

- 2017-09: $47.32 per share

- 2017-10: $49.52 per share

- 2017-11: $51.61 per share

- 2017-12: $48.11 per share

- 2018-01: $45.64 per share

- 2018-02: $43.28 per share

- 2018-03: $45.48 per share

- 2018-04: $46.84 per share

- 2018-05: $45.52 per share

- 2018-06: $45.68 per share

- 2018-07: $46.86 per share

- 2018-08: $48.05 per share

- 2018-09: $47.21 per share

- 2018-10: $49.01 per share

- 2018-11: $52.45 per share

- 2018-12: $49.27 per share

- 2019-01: $52.36 per share

- 2019-02: $54.86 per share

- 2019-03: $56.21 per share

- 2019-04: $56.50 per share

- 2019-05: $57.34 per share

- 2019-06: $59.49 per share

- 2019-07: $59.61 per share

- 2019-08: $64.22 per share

- 2019-09: $64.89 per share

- 2019-10: $63.51 per share

- 2019-11: $61.49 per share

- 2019-12: $63.49 per share

- 2020-01: $69.19 per share

- 2020-02: $62.32 per share

- 2020-03: $60.30 per share

- 2020-04: $63.56 per share

- 2020-05: $65.03 per share

- 2020-06: $62.50 per share

- 2020-07: $69.04 per share

- 2020-08: $69.47 per share

- 2020-09: $69.01 per share

- 2020-10: $70.03 per share

- 2020-11: $67.36 per share

- 2020-12: $66.67 per share

- 2021-01: $63.99 per share

- 2021-02: $58.59 per share

- 2021-03: $66.51 per share

- 2021-04: $71.30 per share

- 2021-05: $70.88 per share

- 2021-06: $65.88 per share

- 2021-07: $68.25 per share

- 2021-08: $68.75 per share

- 2021-09: $62.50 per share

- 2021-10: $64.59 per share

- 2021-11: $63.73 per share

- 2021-12: $67.70 per share

- 2022-01: $69.66 per share

- 2022-02: $67.33 per share

- 2022-03: $72.17 per share

- 2022-04: $73.26 per share

- 2022-05: $75.34 per share

- 2022-06: $70.76 per share

- 2022-07: $73.18 per share

- 2022-08: $74.25 per share

- 2022-09: $64.00 per share

- 2022-10: $65.11 per share

- 2022-11: $70.22 per share

- 2022-12: $70.11 per share

- 2023-01: $68.77 per share

- 2023-02: $64.57 per share

- 2023-03: $67.44 per share

- 2023-04: $69.91 per share

- 2023-05: $65.29 per share

- 2023-06: $62.17 per share

- 2023-07: $62.73 per share

- 2023-08: $57.13 per share

- 2023-09: $57.22 per share

- 2023-10: $59.27 per share

- 2023-11: $60.84 per share

- 2023-12: $61.91 per share

- 2024-01: $59.87 per share

- 2024-02: $52.69 per share

- 2024-03: $53.75 per share

- 2024-04: $53.73 per share

- 2024-05: $55.45 per share

- 2024-06: $53.41 per share

- 2024-07: $58.28 per share

- 2024-08: $61.23 per share

- 2024-09: $65.30 per share

- 2024-10: $66.81 per share

- 2024-11: $72.56 per share

- 2024-12: $67.52 per share

- 2025-01: $67.20 per share

- 2025-02: $72.10 per share

- 2025-03: $70.79 per share

- 2025-04: $70.70 per share

- 2025-05: $70.10 per share

- 2025-06: $68.10 per share

- 2025-07: $73.44 per share

- 2025-08: $72.39 per share

- 2025-09: $80.65 per share

- 2025-10: $81.17 per share

- 2025-11: $82.11 per share

- 2025-12: $73.86 per share

- 2026-01: $76.06 per share

- 2026-02: $83.36 per share

- 2026-03: $79.44 per share

- 2026-04: $82.95 per share

- 2026-05: $79.50 per share

- 2026-06: $80.30 per share

- 2026-07: $78.20 per share

- 2026-08: $75.69 per share

- 2026-09: $70.48 per share

- 2026-10: $74.64 per share

## Annual estimated value (USD per share)

- FY2017: low $5.35 per share, central $6.08 per share, high $7.06 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 2026-10-15T06:39:01.750Z where newer inputs omit a numeric field or fiscal period.

## Sources

[Original 10-K filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/72903/000007290326000009/xel-20251231.htm); period 2025-12-31, filed 2026-02-25.

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.

## Reported holder observations

- [Andrew Adams](https://gigainvestors.com/MPF): 392,497 XEL shares; USD 31,518,000 reported position value; 0.29% of portfolio; reduce; quarter 2026 Q2.

# XEL — Xcel Energy Inc.

Held by 1 investor · USD 31,518,000 total · 2026 Q2 · reported price USD 80.30 (split-adjusted).
Page: https://gigainvestors.com/s/XEL

## Holders (2026 Q2)

| Investor | Value | % of their portfolio | This quarter |
|---|---:|---:|---|
| Andrew Adams (https://gigainvestors.com/MPF) | USD 31,518,000 | 0.3% | reduce -2.43% |

## Total held by quarter

- 2024 Q1: USD 19,585,425 · 1 holder · USD 53.75
- 2024 Q2: USD 19,214,568 · 1 holder · USD 53.41
- 2024 Q3: USD 24,159,041 · 1 holder · USD 65.30
- 2024 Q4: USD 25,339,513 · 1 holder · USD 67.52
- 2025 Q1: USD 26,497,688 · 1 holder · USD 70.79
- 2025 Q2: USD 25,634,951 · 1 holder · USD 68.10
- 2025 Q3: USD 31,131,545 · 1 holder · USD 80.65
- 2025 Q4: USD 29,269,241 · 1 holder · USD 73.86
- 2026 Q1: USD 31,955,773 · 1 holder · USD 79.44
- 2026 Q2: USD 31,518,000 · 1 holder · USD 80.30