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CMS, CMS Energy Corporation
CMS Energy CMS Energy was formed as a corporation in Michigan in 1987 and is an energy company operating primarily in Michigan.
Consumers' customer base consists of a mix of primarily residential, commercial, and diversified industrial customers.
NorthStar Clean Energy, through its subsidiaries and equity investments, is engaged in domestic independent power production, including the development and operation of renewable generation, and the marketing of independent power production.
The business
What it sells, where the money comes from, the kind of company it is.
The business in brief
read the 10-K →What this business is and what moves its needle, from its own SEC filings.
- Situation
- Regulated utility. Returns are set by regulation on an approved rate base; the capital spending regulators approve becomes the growth, recovered through allowed rates.
- What moves the needle
- Operating margin has run about 18% through the cycle, a solid margin the cost base and competition set as much as the price does. That margin has stayed fairly steady relative to where it runs (14%–20% over the years), so unit growth and cost discipline, not a moving line, are the lever. Capital spending runs about 28% of sales, well above depreciation, so the return earned on what it sinks into that plant weighs as much as the margin. Read this kind of business on rate base and the allowed return. On its own account, the filing leans hardest on cyclicality & demand, set against the numbers in what the filing emphasizes, below.
- Is it a good business?
- Return on capital has rarely cleared the cost of capital (median 5%, above 15% in 0 of 10 years). By owner earnings: roughly 11% of revenue reaches owners as cash, consistently. Modest returns here are the design, not a verdict: a regulated utility's prices are set by commission, so the questions are the return the regulator allows, how fast the invested base it earns that return on is growing, and the health of the relationship with the commissions that decide both — all of which live in the 10-K, not the multiple.
Every line is arithmetic on the company's filings, shown in full in the sections below.
The record
Ten years of arithmetic, read across the cycle.
The record, 2016–2025
realized figures from each filing · older years to the left| 2016’16 | 2017’17 | 2018’18 | 2019’19 | 2020’20 | 2021’21 | 2022’22 | 2023’23 | 2024’24 | 2025’25 | TTMTTMJun 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income statement | |||||||||||
| $6.4B | $6.6B | $6.9B | $6.6B | $6.4B | $7.3B | $8.6B | $7.5B | $7.5B | $8.5B | $8.8B | RevenueRevenue |
| $1.3B | $1.3B | $1.2B | $1.1B | $1.2B | $1.1B | $1.2B | $1.2B | $1.5B | $1.7B | $1.7B | Operating incomeOp. inc. |
| 19.6% | 20.3% | 16.9% | 16.8% | 19.2% | 15.6% | 14.2% | 16.6% | 19.8% | 20.2% | 18.9% | Operating marginOp. mgn |
| $826M | $886M | $774M | $764M | $809M | $823M | $902M | $954M | $1.1B | $1.2B | — | Pretax incomePretax |
| $551M | $460M | $657M | $680M | $755M | $1.4B | $837M | $887M | $1.0B | $1.1B | $1.0B | Net incomeNet inc. |
| 33% | 48% | 15% | 17% | 14% | 12% | 10% | 15% | 16% | 20% | 19% | Effective tax rateTax rate |
| Cash flow & returns | |||||||||||
| $1.6B | $1.7B | $1.7B | $1.8B | $1.3B | $1.8B | $855M | $2.3B | $2.4B | $2.2B | $2.1B | Operating cash flowOp. cash |
| $811M | $881M | $933M | $989M | $1.0B | $1.1B | $1.1B | $1.2B | $1.2B | $1.3B | $1.4B | DepreciationDeprec. |
| $267M | $364M | $113M | $121M | ($522M) | ($648M) | ($1.1B) | $242M | $127M | ($142M) | ($228M) | Working capital & otherWC & other |
| $1.7B | $1.7B | $2.1B | $2.1B | $2.3B | $2.1B | $2.4B | — | — | — | — | CapexCapex |
| 26.1% | 25.3% | 30.2% | 31.7% | 36.0% | 28.3% | 27.6% | — | — | — | — | Capex / revenueCapex/rev |
| $818M | $824M | $770M | $801M | $233M | $705M | ($271M) | — | — | — | — | Owner earningsOwner earn. |
| 12.8% | 12.5% | 11.2% | 12.1% | 3.6% | 9.6% | −3.2% | — | — | — | — | Owner earnings marginOE mgn |
| ($43M) | $40M | ($371M) | ($307M) | ($1.0B) | ($257M) | ($1.5B) | — | — | — | — | Free cash flowFCF |
| −0.7% | 0.6% | −5.4% | −4.6% | −16.1% | −3.5% | −17.7% | — | — | — | — | Free cash flow marginFCF mgn |
| $347M | $377M | $407M | $436M | $467M | $509M | $546M | — | — | — | $571M | Dividends paidDiv. paid |
| ($1.9B) | ($1.9B) | ($2.6B) | ($2.8B) | ($2.9B) | ($1.2B) | ($2.5B) | ($3.4B) | ($3.1B) | ($4.0B) | — | Investing cash flowInv. cash |
| $255M | $110M | $874M | $1.0B | $1.6B | ($295M) | $1.3B | $1.1B | $614M | $2.2B | — | Financing cash flowFin. cash |
| ($31M) | ($53M) | ($29M) | ($18M) | $28M | $291M | ($294M) | $66M | ($70M) | $437M | — | Change in cashΔ cash |
| 6% | 5% | 6% | 5% | 6% | 6% | 5% | 5% | 5% | 5% | 5% | ROICROIC |
| 13% | 10% | 14% | 14% | 14% | 20% | 12% | 12% | 12% | 12% | 10% | Return on equityROE |
| 5% | 2% | 5% | 5% | 5% | 13% | 4% | — | — | — | 5% | Retained to equityRetained/eq |
| Balance sheet | |||||||||||
| $235M | $182M | $153M | $140M | $32M | $452M | $164M | $227M | $103M | $509M | $241M | Cash & investmentsCash+inv |
| $821M | $1.0B | $964M | $886M | $853M | $931M | $1.6B | — | — | — | $1.0B | ReceivablesReceiv. |
| $598M | $725M | $723M | $622M | $661M | $875M | $928M | — | — | — | $679M | Accounts payablePayables |
| $223M | $307M | $241M | $264M | $192M | $56M | $636M | — | — | — | $330M | Operating working capitalOper. WC |
| $2.3B | $2.5B | $2.5B | $2.3B | $2.4B | $2.6B | $3.4B | $2.8B | $2.8B | $3.5B | $2.9B | Current assetsCur. assets |
| $2.7B | $2.8B | $2.6B | $2.7B | $3.1B | $2.2B | $3.0B | $2.9B | $3.5B | $3.5B | $3.1B | Current liabilitiesCur. liab. |
| 0.9× | 0.9× | 0.9× | 0.9× | 0.8× | 1.2× | 1.2× | 1.0× | 0.8× | 1.0× | 0.9× | Current ratioCurr. ratio |
| $15.7B | $16.8B | $18.1B | $18.9B | $21.0B | $22.4B | $22.7B | $25.1B | $27.5B | $30.7B | — | Net PP&ENet PP&E |
| $2.1B | $1.8B | $1.8B | $2.5B | $2.7B | $2.3B | $3.7B | $3.9B | $3.8B | $3.5B | — | Regulatory assetsReg. assets |
| $2.1B | $3.8B | $3.8B | $3.8B | $3.9B | $3.9B | $3.9B | $4.0B | $4.2B | $4.2B | — | Regulatory liabilitiesReg. liab. |
| $21.6B | $23.1B | $24.5B | $26.8B | $29.7B | $28.8B | $31.4B | $33.5B | $35.9B | $39.9B | $40.9B | Total assetsAssets |
| $9.5B | $10.2B | $11.6B | $13.1B | $12.3B | $12.4B | $14.2B | $15.5B | $16.4B | $18.8B | $19.0B | Total debtDebt |
| $9.3B | $10.0B | $11.4B | $12.9B | $12.3B | $12.0B | $14.0B | $15.3B | $16.3B | $18.2B | $18.8B | Net debt / (cash)Net debt |
| $435M | $438M | $458M | $460M | $505M | $500M | $519M | $643M | $708M | $789M | $817M | Interest expenseInt. exp. |
| 2.9× | 3.1× | 2.5× | 2.4× | 2.4× | 2.3× | 2.4× | 1.9× | 2.1× | 2.2× | 2.0× | Interest coverageInt. cov. |
| $37M | $37M | $37M | $37M | $581M | $557M | $580M | $581M | $518M | $567M | — | Noncontrolling interestsNCI |
| $4.3B | $4.4B | $4.8B | $5.0B | $5.5B | $6.6B | $7.0B | $7.5B | $8.2B | $9.1B | $9.8B | Shareholders’ equityEquity |
| Per share | |||||||||||
| 279M | 281M | 283M | 284M | 286M | 290M | 290M | 292M | 298M | 301M | 309M | Shares out (diluted)Shares |
| $22.94 | $23.44 | $24.29 | $23.30 | $22.42 | $25.32 | $29.64 | $25.58 | $25.19 | $28.37 | $28.53 | Revenue / shareRev/sh |
| $1.98 | $1.64 | $2.32 | $2.39 | $2.64 | $4.67 | $2.89 | $3.04 | $3.36 | $3.56 | $3.32 | EPS (diluted)EPS |
| $2.93 | $2.93 | $2.72 | $2.82 | $0.81 | $2.44 | $-0.93 | — | — | — | — | Owner earnings / shareOE/sh |
| $-0.15 | $0.14 | $-1.31 | $-1.08 | $-3.62 | $-0.89 | $-5.24 | — | — | — | — | Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh |
| $1.24 | $1.34 | $1.44 | $1.53 | $1.63 | $1.76 | $1.88 | — | — | — | $1.85 | Dividends / shareDiv/sh |
| $5.99 | $5.93 | $7.33 | $7.38 | $8.07 | $7.17 | $8.19 | — | — | — | — | Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh |
| $15.25 | $15.82 | $16.81 | $17.65 | $19.20 | $22.91 | $24.19 | $25.86 | $27.59 | $30.38 | $31.64 | Book value / shareBVPS |
| 9-yr | 5-yr | |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue / share | +2.4%/yr | +4.8%/yr |
| EPS | +6.8%/yr | +6.2%/yr |
| Dividends / share | +7.1%/yr (6-yr) | +7.0%/yr |
| Capital spending / share | +5.3%/yr (6-yr) | +6.7%/yr |
| Book value / share | +8.0%/yr | +9.6%/yr |
Where the cash went
ReinvestBuybacksDividendsAcquisitionsRetainedEach year's operating cash, by what management did with it: the mix, and how it drifts.
Net income is the accountant's number; owner earnings is the cash an owner could take out. The walk between them, off the cash-flow statement, and whether the gap is widening or holding.
In fiscal 2022 the business earned ($271M) of owner earnings, the operating cash left after the $1.1B it takes just to hold its position. It put $1.2B more into growth; free cash flow, after that spending, was ($1.5B).
| FY2022 | FY2021 | FY2020 | FY2019 | FY2018 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reported net income | $837M | $1.4B | $755M | $680M | $657M |
| Depreciation & amortizationnon-cash charge added back | +$1.1B | +$1.1B | +$1.0B | +$989M | +$933M |
| Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items | −$1.1B | −$648M | −$522M | +$121M | +$113M |
| Cash from operations | $855M | $1.8B | $1.3B | $1.8B | $1.7B |
| Maintenance capital expenditurethe spending needed just to hold position and volume | −$1.1B | −$1.1B | −$1.0B | −$989M | −$933M |
| Owner earnings | ($271M) | $705M | $233M | $801M | $770M |
| Growth capital expenditurediscretionary; spent to get bigger, not to stand still | −$1.2B | −$962M | −$1.3B | −$1.1B | −$1.1B |
| Free cash flow | ($1.5B) | ($257M) | ($1.0B) | ($307M) | ($371M) |
| Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue | -3% | 10% | 4% | 12% | 11% |
Owner earnings is the cash an owner could pull out without starving the business: operating cash less the maintenance capital it must spend to hold its position (here about $1.1B, roughly its depreciation, the rate its assets wear out). The other $1.2B of its capital spending is growth it chose, not upkeep it owed; charged only with the maintenance it must do, the business earns well more than the year's free cash flow shows.
Much of fiscal 2022's profit didn't arrive as operating cash; it sits in “working capital & other” above. That can be a real inventory or timing swing, or profit that doesn't run through operating cash at all: a heavy tax year, equity-method earnings, or investment income booked through investing. For a year like this, owner earnings understates the cash earned; the full cash-flow statement carries the rest.
A regulated utility reads differently here. What it spends above depreciation goes into rate base, where the commission lets it earn the allowed return and recover the capital, with interest, over decades — growth that is financed, not taken out of owners' pockets this year. So the truth sits between the bridge's two ends: owner earnings excuses the build-out entirely, free cash flow charges it entirely, and the scorecard's utility-plant figure shows how fast the base earning that return is compounding.
Maintenance capex is estimated as depreciation where a growing business invests above it; free cash flow is the figure the scorecard's free-cash margin reads.
Quality & stewardship
Returns, the balance sheet, capital allocation, and pay.
Owner’s Scorecard
The allowed return, earned and credited
- Earned return on equity 12.6%Earning the allowed returnMedian over 10 readable years · latest FY2025: 11.7% (net income $1.1B ÷ equity $9.1B)
What this means
A commission caps what a regulated utility may earn on shareholders' capital, so the question is not whether the return is high but whether the company actually earns what it is allowed — persistent under-earning means costs the regulator will not put in rates, and a return above the band usually means unregulated businesses in the mix. Read through the record, because a single year carries rate-case timing noise.
- AFUDC in earnings —Not enough data
What this means
The equity allowance for funds used during construction is not tagged in this filer's structured data — the construction credit, if any, lives in the 10-K's rate-matters note.
The invested base and the regulatory ledger
- Net utility plant —Not enough data
What this means
No undimensioned utility-plant figure is tagged in this filer's structured data.
- Regulatory assets & liabilities $3.5B / $4.2BOwes ratepayersRegulatory assets $3.5B · regulatory liabilities $4.2B · net $717M liability position, as filed
What this means
The ledger of the regulatory relationship: assets are costs the commission has agreed the utility may collect from ratepayers in future rates, liabilities are amounts it must give back. Both are promises whose worth depends entirely on the commissions that made them — which is why they are shown as filed and never netted into earnings adjustments here.
Graham’s defensive tests · 3 of 5 met
Graham’s numerical criteria for the defensive investor (The Intelligent Investor, ch. 14), run on the filings. A floor of safety, not a buy signal; many fine modern businesses fail his strictest liquidity rules by design.
- Adequate size PassRevenue ≥ $2B · $8.5B
What this means
Big enough to weather a storm. Graham's 1972 floor was ~$100M of sales (≈ $700M today); we use a $2B revenue line as a conservative modern stand-in.
- Strong liquidity —Current ratio ≥ 2× (waived for utilities) · exempt
What this means
Graham exempted public utilities from this test: their working capital “takes care of itself” through the continuous bond-and-share financing of growth, so a thin current ratio is the industry's structure, not a warning. His substitute test — debt no more than twice book equity — is the next line.
- Conservative debt NearDebt ≤ 2× equity (Graham's utility test) · $18.8B vs $9.1B equity
What this means
Graham's own substitution for public utilities: debt not exceeding twice the stock equity at book value, in place of the working-capital tests an industrial faces. A utility finances its plant with bonds by design; the question is whether the borrowing stays inside the equity behind it.
- Earnings stability PassA profit every year (10-yr record) · no losses
What this means
Graham wanted earnings in each of the past ten years, the stability a defensive owner leans on.
- Dividend record MissUninterrupted dividends · 7 of 10 yrs
What this means
An unbroken dividend was Graham's mark of durability. He wanted twenty years; the filings show about ten, and a single suspension breaks the streak. Non-payers, many fine modern compounders, fall outside his defensive net by design.
- Earnings growth PassEarnings +33% over the record · +78%
What this means
At least a third more earnings than a decade ago, averaging three years at each end. Net income (not per-share), so stock splits don't distort it, buybacks and dilution show up in the share-count line instead.
- Moderate price —P/E ≤ 15 and P/E × P/B ≤ 22.5 · decided by the price
What this means
Graham's valuation gate, the wall he kept between a sound business and a sound investment. Three-year average earnings are $3.15/share (latest year $3.42), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is $29.16/share. Enter a price in “What the price implies” just below for the P/E, P/B, and whether it clears. But this is the rule Buffett outgrew: there's no hard P/E law, and a wonderful business can deserve a far richer multiple if the thesis holds, treat it as the bargain-hunter's floor, not a verdict on the price.
Durability & moat, 2016–2025
Whether the record’s returns held, and what the capital reinvested earned.
- Profitable years 10 of 10
What this means
Never lost money over the record, the earnings stability Graham insisted on.
- Return on capital ≥ 15% 0 of 10 yrs
What this means
A moat shows up as a high return on invested capital that holds year after year, not one good vintage.
- Operating margin 19% → 19% (3-yr avg ends)
What this means
Through the cycle the operating margin held roughly steady — about 19% early, 19% lately, median 17%.
- Reinvestment, incremental ROIC 4%
What this means
Reinvested capital came back at only a modest incremental return — near the cost of capital, where extra growth adds little per dollar. The record shows whether it is a soft stretch or a thinning moat.
- Owner earnings growth −20%/yr
What this means
Owner earnings shrank about 20% a year over the record.
- Worst year 2022 · 14.2% op. margin
What this means
Stayed profitable even in its hardest year, the resilience that survives recessions.
- Share count +0.9%/yr
What this means
Roughly flat share count, little dilution, little buyback.
- Dividend record rising
What this means
Paid and raised the dividend across the record, the continuity Graham prized.
All figures as filed; the source filing is linked above.
Current Position
as of the latest quarter, Jun 30, 2026Can the business pay what it owes this year, off the freshest balance sheet: the quality of the assets, the debt actually coming due, and what a low ratio means here.
- Cash & short-term investments$241M
- Receivables$1.0B
- Other current assets$1.6B
- Debt due within a year$864M
- Accounts payable$679M
- Other current liabilities$1.5B
From the company's latest filing.
Debt maturity
the debt note, SEC EDGAR →Not how much it owes, but when it falls due, and against what. The ladder the company files, beside cash on hand and a year's owner earnings.
Bars scaled to the largest single year.
Against what the business has and earns
Cash on hand as of Jun 30, 2026 comes to $241M against the $600M due in the twelve months after the Dec 31, 2025 schedule: about 40% of it, so the near maturities lean on refinancing or the rest of the year’s cash.
Maturity schedule extracted from the company’s Dec 31, 2025 annual report and reconciled to the balance-sheet debt.
How the cash was used, 2016–2022
Over the record, the business generated $10.8B of operating cash; how management split it reads as a reinvestor, most operating cash is plowed back into the business.
- Reinvested$14.3B · 132%
- Dividends$3.1B · 29%
- Returned to owners$3.1B
80% of the owner earnings the business produced over the span, $3.1B as dividends and $0 as buybacks.
- Source of funding−$6.6B
Reinvestment and shareholder returns ran $6.6B beyond the operating cash the business generated, so the gap was financed off the balance sheet: debt rose from $9.5B to $19.0B.
- Net change in share count10.8%
The diluted count rose from 279M to 309M: issuance (stock pay, deals) outran any buybacks, so owners were diluted on net.
- Dividend record$1.88/sh
Paid in 7 of the years on record, the per-share dividend growing about 7% a year. It was never cut over the span.
- Return on what it retained−26%
Of the earnings it kept rather than paid out ($2.2B over the span), annual owner earnings (first three years vs last three) fell $582M, so each retained $1 gave back about 0.26 of yearly owner earnings. Buffett's test, run on owner earnings instead of market value.
Buybacks are gross of stock issued to staff; the share-count line above is the net of that, the figure that decides whether owners gained. The average price paid blends a year of purchases (and any accelerated repurchase), so it is close, not exact. The record of where the cash went and on what terms.
Management, ownership & pay
read the proxy →From the proxy: how much of the business the people running it own, and how they are paid, beside what the business earned for its owners in the same years.
| Fiscal year | Chief executive | Pay, as filed | “Actually paid” | Net income |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Rochow | $6.9M | $7.7M | $1.4B |
| 2022 | Rochow | $8.7M | $8.2M | $837M |
| 2023 | Rochow | $9.6M | $9.6M | $887M |
| 2024 | Rochow | $10.4M | $15.6M | $1.0B |
| 2025 | Rochow | $10.5M | $12.3M | $1.1B |
Both pay figures are the company’s own, from the pay-versus-performance table its proxy statement files. “As filed” is the Summary Compensation Table total: salary, bonus, and equity awards at their value on the day of grant. “Actually paid” is the SEC’s prescribed recalculation, which re-marks those equity awards to what they became as they vested; it can swing far above or below the filed figure in either direction, and negative years occur. Net income is the whole business's, as filed, for the same fiscal years.
What an owner would ask, FY2025
read the 10-K →- Which reported numbers are a judgment call?Management names Pension & retirement, Income taxes, Stock compensation, Contingencies as critical estimates
each rests partly on management's judgment; the filing's note sets out the assumptionsverify →
The questions the record and the charts do not answer on their own; each carries the figure and the place to look.
Peers, Multi-Utilities
The same industry, side by side on owner economics. Each column names the period it is read over; the group median at the foot is the line to read each figure against.
| Company | Revenuelatest FY, USD | ROEmedian over the record | Plant growthannualized over the record | Dividend / cashmedian over the record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| XELXcel Energy Inc. | $14.7B | 10% | — | 25% |
| PEGPublic Service Enterprise Group Inc | $12.2B | 11% | 4.1% | 32% |
| WECWEC Energy Group Inc. | $9.8B | 11% | — | 33% |
| AEEAmeren Corporation | $8.8B | 10% | — | 24% |
| CMSCMS Energy Corporation | $8.5B | 13% | — | 24% |
| NINiSource Inc | $6.5B | 8% | 9.1% | 27% |
| EVRGEvergy | $6.0B | 8% | 14.5% | 29% |
| LNTAlliant Energy | $4.4B | 11% | 8.0% | 57% |
| Group median | — | 11% | — | 28% |
The price
What a price has to assume.
What the price implies
reverse-DCFType today's close and see the owner-earnings growth you'd have to believe to justify it, beside what CMS Energy Corporation has delivered.
CMS Energy Corporation’s latest year runs above its own through-cycle margin — the reported figure may flatter a peak. So the tool opens on the through-cycle base, Graham’s averaging cutting both ways; clear the toggle below to read the latest year exactly as reported.
Through the cycle, CMS Energy Corporation earns about $957M on its 11.2% median owner-earnings margin. This year’s — margin runs in line with that. Normalize, below, values the price on that through-cycle figure rather than the latest year.
—
9.0% = the 4.68% 10-year Treasury (Jul 30, 2026) + 4.32 points of equity premium. The rate you require is yours to set.
Enter a price above to run it.
A dated snapshot of the price you typed, the assumptions you set, and what the page showed for them. A snapshot is never edited after it is saved. Your notebook is yours alone — the commitment states what is stored and what we will never do.
Graham capped the multiple at 15×; Buffett and Munger let that rule go: a wonderful business can deserve 50× if the thesis holds. The gate marks the bargain-hunter's floor.
Prefilled with the 10-year Treasury (4.68%, as of Jul 30, 2026). Edit it for today’s exact figure, or a AAA corporate yield.
Graham measured a stock against the bond you could own instead, the heart of his margin of safety. Enter a price above to weigh the owner-earnings yield against this bond.
Owner earnings — on 314M shares outstanding, per the 10-Q cover, as of 2026-07-13; net debt $18.8B. The base opens on the through-cycle figure (the latest year sits off the record’s own median, and Graham’s averaging cuts both ways); clear Normalize to use the year as filed. Net of stock comp treats option pay as the expense it is. The dials set the multiple a growth belief justifies; the price, and every dollar on this page, is yours.
Manual order: ← CMPR its page in the Manual CMSA →
Industry order: ← AVA the Multi-Utilities chapter CMSA →