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GATX, Gatx Corporation
Revenue is led by Rail North America (68%) and Rail International (22%), with 2 more segments behind.
The business
What it sells, where the money comes from, the kind of company it is.
Next report By 11/8 · the 10-Q for the quarter ended late September · due within 40 days of period end · has filed ~30 days after · the wire records it on arrival
The business in brief
read the 10-K →What this business is and what moves its needle, from its own SEC filings.
- What it is
- A logistics business, moving goods across a network of assets and partners.
- What moves the needle
- Operating margin has run about 32% through the cycle, a wide margin for the work it does — whether that reflects a durable edge or one that can fade is what the record weighs. That margin has stayed fairly steady relative to where it runs (28%–36% over the years), so unit growth and cost discipline, not a moving line, are the lever. Capital spending runs about 71% 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 volume, density and yield. On its own account, the filing leans hardest on pricing power & competition, 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 4%, above 15% in 0 of 10 years). Owner earnings, the cash-based check, have been thin too. This is price-taker territory, where the balance sheet and the cycle matter more than any multiple; the rest is in the 10-K.
Every line is arithmetic on the company's filings, shown in full in the sections below.
Where the money comes from
read the 10-K →Rail North America is 68% of revenue, with Rail International the other meaningful segment at 22%.
- Rail North America68%$1.2B
- Rail International22%$388M
- Portfolio Management7%$125M
- Other Business2%$41M
From the segment footnote of the company's own 10-K. Shares are of total revenue; the profit bar shows each segment's share of segment operating profit, before unallocated corporate costs.
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 | |||||||||||
| $1.4B | $1.4B | $1.2B | $1.2B | $1.2B | $1.3B | $1.3B | $1.4B | $1.6B | $1.7B | $2.1B | RevenueRevenue |
| 12% | 13% | 16% | 15% | 14% | 16% | 15% | 15% | 15% | 15% | 14% | SG&A / revenueSG&A/rev |
| $501M | $419M | $405M | $433M | $379M | $400M | $425M | $388M | $474M | $534M | $596M | Operating incomeOp. inc. |
| 35.3% | 30.4% | 34.4% | 36.0% | 31.3% | 31.8% | 33.4% | 27.5% | 29.9% | 30.7% | 29.1% | Operating marginOp. mgn |
| $305M | $214M | $171M | $145M | $125M | $195M | $177M | $246M | $261M | $279M | — | Pretax incomePretax |
| $257M | $502M | $211M | $211M | $151M | $143M | $156M | $259M | $284M | $333M | $368M | Net incomeNet inc. |
| 31% | — | 18% | 28% | 30% | 27% | 31% | 24% | 23% | 23% | 16% | Effective tax rateTax rate |
| Cash flow & returns | |||||||||||
| $629M | $497M | $485M | $426M | $437M | $507M | $534M | $520M | $602M | $648M | $838M | Operating cash flowOp. cash |
| — | — | — | — | — | $378M | $371M | $392M | $421M | $452M | $579M | Depreciation & amortizationD&A |
| $357M | ($15M) | $258M | $202M | $270M | ($32M) | ($6M) | ($149M) | ($127M) | ($138M) | ($132M) | Working capital & otherWC & other |
| $596M | $567M | $914M | $723M | $861M | $1.1B | $1.3B | $1.7B | — | — | — | CapexCapex |
| 42.0% | 41.2% | 77.7% | 60.1% | 71.2% | 89.9% | 98.6% | 118.0% | — | — | — | Capex / revenueCapex/rev |
| $34M | ($70M) | ($428M) | ($297M) | ($424M) | $129M | $162M | $128M | — | — | — | Owner earningsOwner earn. |
| 2.4% | −5.1% | −36.4% | −24.7% | −35.1% | 10.2% | 12.7% | 9.1% | — | — | — | Owner earnings marginOE mgn |
| $34M | ($70M) | ($428M) | ($297M) | ($424M) | ($623M) | ($722M) | ($1.1B) | — | — | — | Free cash flowFCF |
| 2.4% | −5.1% | −36.4% | −24.7% | −35.1% | −49.5% | −56.7% | −81.1% | — | — | — | Free cash flow marginFCF mgn |
| — | — | $0 | $0 | $203M | $1M | $0 | $0 | — | — | $0 | AcquisitionsAcquis. |
| $67M | $68M | $69M | $69M | $71M | $74M | $77M | $81M | $85M | $90M | $93M | Dividends paidDiv. paid |
| $120M | $100M | $116M | $150M | $0 | $13M | $47M | $3M | $22M | $65M | — | BuybacksBuybacks |
| ($406M) | ($428M) | ($660M) | ($448M) | ($905M) | ($918M) | ($1.1B) | ($1.2B) | ($1.4B) | ($1.0B) | — | Investing cash flowInv. cash |
| ($131M) | ($84M) | ($14M) | $67M | $356M | $463M | $504M | $844M | $771M | $4.9B | — | Financing cash flowFin. cash |
| ($1M) | $4M | ($4M) | ($500K) | ($100K) | ($2M) | ($5M) | $2M | ($5M) | $7M | — | Exchange-rate effectFX |
| — | — | ($193M) | $44M | $142M | $52M | ($41M) | $147M | ($49M) | $4.6B | — | Change in cashΔ cash |
| 7% | 7% | 6% | 6% | 4% | 4% | 4% | 3% | 4% | 3% | 3% | ROICROIC |
| 19% | 28% | 12% | 12% | 8% | 7% | 8% | 11% | 12% | 12% | 13% | Return on equityROE |
| 14% | 24% | 8% | 8% | 4% | 3% | 4% | 8% | 8% | 9% | 10% | Retained to equityRetained/eq |
| Balance sheet | |||||||||||
| $308M | $297M | $100M | $151M | $292M | $344M | $452M | $451M | $402M | $743M | $747M | Cash & investmentsCash+inv |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | $218M | $199M | $207M | $342M | ReceivablesReceiv. |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | $218M | $199M | $207M | $342M | Operating working capitalOper. WC |
| $5.8B | $6.2B | $6.5B | $6.5B | $7.2B | $7.8B | $8.3B | $9.4B | $10.4B | $11.4B | — | Net PP&ENet PP&E |
| $78M | $86M | $83M | $82M | $144M | $123M | $117M | $120M | $114M | $126M | $123M | GoodwillGoodwill |
| $7.1B | $7.4B | $7.6B | $8.3B | $8.9B | $9.5B | $10.1B | $11.3B | $12.3B | $18.0B | $17.7B | Total assetsAssets |
| $4.3B | $4.4B | $4.6B | $4.8B | $5.4B | $5.9B | $6.5B | $7.5B | $8.3B | $12.5B | $12.5B | Total debtDebt |
| $4.0B | $4.1B | $4.5B | $4.7B | $5.1B | $5.6B | $6.0B | $7.0B | $7.9B | $11.8B | $11.8B | Net debt / (cash)Net debt |
| 3.4× | 2.6× | 2.5× | 2.4× | 2.0× | 2.0× | 2.0× | 1.5× | 1.4× | 1.4× | 1.5× | Interest coverageInt. cov. |
| $5.8B | $5.6B | $5.8B | $6.5B | $7.0B | $7.5B | $8.0B | $9.1B | $9.9B | $14.4B | — | Total liabilitiesTotal liab. |
| $1.3B | $1.8B | $1.8B | $1.8B | $2.0B | $2.0B | $2.0B | $2.3B | $2.4B | $2.8B | $2.8B | Shareholders’ equityEquity |
| 1.1% | 0.7% | 1.4% | 1.0% | 1.3% | 1.4% | 1.0% | 1.3% | 1.5% | — | 1.1% | Stock comp / revenueSBC/rev |
| Per share | |||||||||||
| 40.9M | 39.4M | 38.3M | 36.4M | 35.4M | 36.0M | 35.9M | 35.7M | 35.9M | 35.9M | 35.8M | Shares out (diluted)Shares |
| $34.68 | $34.95 | $30.68 | $33.02 | $34.16 | $34.93 | $35.46 | $39.52 | $44.16 | $48.48 | $57.32 | Revenue / shareRev/sh |
| $6.29 | $12.74 | $5.52 | $5.80 | $4.27 | $3.98 | $4.34 | $7.26 | $7.92 | $9.28 | $10.28 | EPS (diluted)EPS |
| $0.82 | $-1.78 | $-11.18 | $-8.16 | $-11.98 | $3.58 | $4.52 | $3.59 | — | — | — | Owner earnings / shareOE/sh |
| $0.82 | $-1.78 | $-11.18 | $-8.16 | $-11.98 | $-17.30 | $-20.12 | $-32.06 | — | — | — | Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh |
| $1.65 | $1.73 | $1.81 | $1.90 | $2.01 | $2.06 | $2.13 | $2.26 | $2.36 | $2.50 | $2.60 | Dividends / shareDiv/sh |
| $14.56 | $14.39 | $23.85 | $19.86 | $24.32 | $31.39 | $34.98 | $46.64 | — | — | — | Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh |
| $32.94 | $45.50 | $46.69 | $50.41 | $55.29 | $56.09 | $56.53 | $63.67 | $67.94 | $76.62 | $77.78 | Book value / shareBVPS |
| 9-yr | 5-yr | |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue / share | +3.8%/yr | +7.3%/yr |
| Owner earnings / share | +23.4%/yr (7-yr) | — |
| EPS | +4.4%/yr | +16.8%/yr |
| Dividends / share | +4.7%/yr | +4.5%/yr |
| Capital spending / share | +18.1%/yr (7-yr) | +14.4%/yr |
| Book value / share | +9.8%/yr | +6.7%/yr |
The year, in the company's words
the filing →Verbatim from the 10-K's management discussion. Each sentence is shown only because its subject, direction, and stated figures check out against the filed numbers on this page. The words are the company's; the arithmetic is the record's.
- Revenue+9.8%
“Revenues In 2025, lease revenue increased $32.5 million, or 9.7%, due to more railcars on lease and higher lease rates at GRE and Rail India, as well as the impact of foreign exchange rates.”
✓ figure matches the filed record
Where the cash went
ReinvestBuybacksDividendsAcquisitionsRetainedBeyond op. cashEach year's outlays against its operating cash: the mix, and how it drifts. The hatched cap is spending beyond that year's operating cash — financed from the balance sheet or borrowing, not operations.
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 2023 the business earned $128M of owner earnings, the operating cash left after the $392M it takes just to hold its position. It put $1.3B more into growth; free cash flow, after that spending, was ($1.1B).
| FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 | FY2020 | FY2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reported net income | $259M | $156M | $143M | $151M | $211M |
| Depreciation & amortizationnon-cash charge added back | +$392M | +$371M | +$378M | — | — |
| Stock-based compensationreal costnon-cash, but a real cost | +$18M | +$13M | +$17M | +$16M | +$12M |
| Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items | −$149M | −$6M | −$32M | +$270M | +$202M |
| Cash from operations | $520M | $534M | $507M | $437M | $426M |
| Maintenance capital expenditurethe spending needed just to hold position and volume | −$392M | −$371M | −$378M | −$861M | −$723M |
| Owner earnings | $128M | $162M | $129M | ($424M) | ($297M) |
| Growth capital expenditurediscretionary; spent to get bigger, not to stand still | −$1.3B | −$885M | −$752M | — | — |
| Free cash flow | ($1.1B) | ($722M) | ($623M) | ($424M) | ($297M) |
| Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue | 9% | 13% | 10% | -35% | -25% |
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 $392M, roughly its depreciation, the rate its assets wear out). The other $1.3B 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. The cash-flow statement also adds stock comp back as non-cash, but it is a real cost paid in shares; counted as the expense it is (less $18M), owner earnings is nearer $110M.
Much of fiscal 2023'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.
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.
In dashed depreciation years the filer's own depreciation concepts changed scope and do not reconcile with the adjacent years; the add-back is withheld rather than guessed, and its amount remains inside "Working capital & other."
Quality & stewardship
Returns, the balance sheet, capital allocation, and pay.
Owner’s Scorecard
Will it survive?
- ThinOperating income $534M ÷ interest expense $392M
What this means
Operating profit covers interest, but with little room. A bad year, a refinancing at higher rates, or a revenue wobble closes the gap fast.
- How heavy is the debt, net of cash? $11.8B · 22.1× operating profitHeavy net debtCash $743M − debt $12.5B
What this means
Netting $743M of cash and short-term investments against $12.5B of debt leaves $11.8B owed, about 22.1× a year's operating profit (23.5× on the gross debt, before the cash). Net debt is the leverage figure that matters: the cash is already set against the debt. Strategic or illiquid investments aren't counted here.
- Not enough data
What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.
Is it a good business?
- Below average through the cycle10-yr median, range 3%–7%; 3% latest = NOPAT $449M ÷ invested capital $14.5BIndustry peers: median 4%
What this means
The rate the business earns on the money tied up in it, Buffett's north star, because over time a stock tracks the ROIC beneath it. Above ~15% sustained hints at a moat; a return below the cost of capital (~8%) erodes value as a business grows rather than building it — the test Buffett weighs most. The headline is the median of the last 10 years (it ran 3% most recently), so one peak or trough year doesn't set the verdict. Asset-light businesses (R&D expensed, little capital) read artificially high, pair this with Owner Earnings.
- Not enough dataIndustry peers: median -2%
What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.
- Cash-backedCash from ops $648M ÷ net income $333M
What this means
How much of reported profit showed up as operating cash. Above 1× is reassuring; well below suggests earnings lean on accruals. One year is noisy, growth and working-capital swings distort it, and this is operating cash, not free cash. Watch the multi-year trend.
How is the cash used?
- Not enough data
What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.
- Investing or harvesting? —Not enough data
What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.
Graham’s defensive tests · 2 of 4 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 NearRevenue ≥ $2B · $1.7B
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× · —
What this means
Current assets / liabilities not in the data yet.
- 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 PassUninterrupted dividends · paid every year (10)
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 MissEarnings +33% over the record · −10%
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 $8.28/share (latest year $9.44), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is $77.92/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 33% → 29% (3-yr avg ends)
What this means
The recent-years average (29%) sits below the early years (33%), but the latest year (31%) is back near the early level: a cyclical trough dragging the window down, not a one-way slide. The through-cycle median is 31% — read it across the cycle, not on the dip.
- Reinvestment, incremental ROIC 0%
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.
- Worst year 2023 · 27.5% op. margin
What this means
Stayed profitable even in its hardest year, the resilience that survives recessions.
- Share count −1.4%/yr
What this means
The share count is shrinking, buybacks are quietly growing your slice of the business.
- Dividend record rising
What this means
Paid and raised the dividend across the record, the continuity Graham prized.
- How management talks about it Owner’s terms
What this means
The filing reasons in an owner’s terms — per-share, return on capital, the long term — and the record has held; the words and the results are of a piece.
All figures as filed; the source filing is linked above.
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; “later” is everything due after 2030, shown apart since it dwarfs the years.
Against what the business has and earns
Cash on hand as of Jun 30, 2026 comes to $747M against the $653M due in the twelve months after the Dec 31, 2025 schedule: 1.1 times it.
Maturity schedule extracted from the company’s Dec 31, 2025 annual report and reconciled to the total the table states.
How the cash was used, 2016–2023
Over the record, the business generated $4.0B of operating cash; how management split it reads as a reinvestor, most operating cash is plowed back into the business.
- Reinvested$7.7B · 191%
- Dividends$577M · 14%
- Buybacks$549M · 14%
- Returned to owners$1.1B
$577M as dividends and $549M as buybacks.
- Source of funding−$4.8B
Reinvestment and shareholder returns ran $4.8B beyond the operating cash the business generated, so the gap was financed off the balance sheet: debt rose from $4.3B to $12.5B.
- Average price paid for buybacks$64.31
Across the years where the filing reports a share count, 9M shares were bought for $549M, about $64.31 each. Year to year the price paid ranged from $44.48 (2016) to $106.04 (2023); its heaviest year, 2019, paid $75.00 ($150M).
- Net change in share count−12.5%
The diluted count fell from 41M to 36M, so the buybacks outran the stock issued to staff.
- Dividend record$2.26/sh
Paid in 8 of the years on record, the per-share dividend growing about 5% a year. It was never cut over the span.
- Return on what it retained38%
Of the earnings it kept rather than paid out ($766M over the span), annual owner earnings (first three years vs last three) grew $295M, so each retained $1 added about 0.38 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 | Pay, as filed | “Actually paid” | Owner earnings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | $7.5M | $8.8M | $129M |
| 2022 | $6.1M | −$2.1M | $162M |
| 2022 | $4.6M | $4.5M | $162M |
| 2023 | $6.5M | $5.1M | $128M |
| 2024 | $6.8M | $7.6M | — |
| 2025 | $8.2M | $7.0M | — |
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. Owner earnings are the whole business's, from the record above, 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, Railroads
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 | Op. marginmedian over the record | ROICmedian over the record | Owner earn. marginmedian over the record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9021West Japan Railway (JR West) | $11.6B | 10.7% | 6% | — |
| 9005Tokyu | $6.9B | 7.0% | 4% | — |
| 9001Tobu Railway | $4.1B | 10.9% | 4% | 1% |
| 9008Keio | $3.1B | 8.9% | 5% | -4% |
| 9007Odakyu Electric Railway | $2.6B | 9.7% | 4% | -1% |
| 9009Keisei Electric Railway | $2.1B | 10.3% | 3% | — |
| GATXGatx Corporation | $1.7B | 31.6% | 4% | -1% |
| FIPFTAI Infrastructure Inc. Common Stock | $503M | -26.0% | -3% | -47% |
| Group median | — | 10.0% | 4% | -1% |
The price
What a price has to assume.
What the price implies
reverse-DCFGatx Corporation is profitable, but its owner-earnings base could not be formed from this filing’s tagged data (operating cash flow or capital spending is missing), so the owner-earnings reverse-DCF has no base to grow. We read the price from both ends instead: type a price to see the profitability it demands, then set the mature margin you would believe and weigh the two against each other. Nothing leaves your browser unless you enter it in your notebook.
Revenue, delivered8%/yr’20→’25
Enter a price 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.
Two reads of one future. From your price: the owner earnings the company must reach, valued at a mature multiple and discounted back at your rate, expressed as the margin it implies on revenue grown at your rate. From your belief: the mature margin you would credit, set on the dial above. When the margin the price demands runs above the one you would believe, you are paying for a future taken on faith. For a deep cyclical at a trough, normalized through-cycle earnings are the better lens; this mode is for the genuinely unprofitable, and for the profitable business whose capital spending currently outruns its cash.
Manual order: ← GAP its page in the Manual GBCI →
Industry order: ← FIP the Railroads chapter NSC →