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PPL, PPL Corporation

Electric Utilities capital-intensive Regulated utility

PPL, through its regulated utility subsidiaries, delivers electricity to customers in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Virginia, and Rhode Island; delivers natural gas to customers in Kentucky and Rhode Island; and generates electricity from power plants in Kentucky.

PPL Electric , headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of PPL and a regulated public utility that is an electricity transmission and distribution service provider in eastern and central Pennsylvania.

PPL Electric delivers electricity in its Pennsylvania service area and provides electricity supply to retail customers in that area as a PLR under the Customer Choice Act.

Latest annual: FY2025 10-K

PPL · PPL Corporation

The business

What it sells, where the money comes from, the kind of company it is.

Revenue · FY2025

$9.0B

+6.9% YoY · 11% 5-yr CAGR

Vital signs · TTM, with 5-yr average

Revenue $9.3B 5-yr avg $7.9B

Operating margin 23.6% 5-yr avg 21.1%

ROIC 5% 5-yr avg 5%

Owner-earnings margin 14% 5-yr avg 12%

Free cash flow margin −17% 5-yr avg −6%

Next report By 8/9 · the 10-Q for the quarter ended late June · due within 40 days of period end · has filed ~33 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: Revenue is Kentucky Regulated (41%), Pennsylvania Regulated (34%) and Rhode Island Regulated (24%).
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 26% 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. Capital spending runs about 39% 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 9 years). By owner earnings: roughly 20% 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.

Where the money comes from

read the 10-K →

Revenue spreads across 4 segments, the largest Kentucky Regulated at 41%.

Revenue by reportable segment, FY2025

Kentucky Regulated41%$3.8B
Pennsylvania Regulated34%$3.1B
Rhode Island Regulated24%$2.2B
Corporate0%$1M

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	TTMTTMMar 2026
											Income statement
$7.5B	$7.4B	$7.8B	$5.6B	$5.5B	$5.8B	$7.9B	$8.3B	$8.5B	$9.0B	$9.3B	RevenueRevenue
$2.9B	$2.9B	$2.9B	$1.5B	$1.6B	$1.4B	$1.4B	$1.6B	$1.7B	$2.1B	$2.2B	Operating incomeOp. inc.
39.1%	39.0%	36.6%	27.2%	29.0%	24.6%	17.4%	19.6%	20.6%	23.5%	23.6%	Operating marginOp. mgn
$2.5B	$1.9B	$2.3B	$919M	$954M	$521M	$915M	$924M	$1.1B	$1.5B	—	Pretax incomePretax
$1.9B	$1.1B	$1.8B	$1.7B	$1.5B	($1.5B)	$756M	$740M	$888M	$1.2B	$1.2B	Net incomeNet inc.
25%	41%	20%	20%	33%	—	22%	20%	20%	20%	20%	Effective tax rateTax rate
											Cash flow & returns
$2.9B	$2.5B	$2.8B	$2.4B	$2.7B	$2.3B	$1.7B	$1.8B	$2.3B	$2.6B	$2.7B	Operating cash flowOp. cash
$926M	$1.0B	$1.1B	$949M	$1.0B	$1.1B	$1.2B	$1.3B	$1.3B	$1.3B	$1.3B	DepreciationDeprec.
$34M	$287M	($126M)	($304M)	$226M	$2.6B	($244M)	($269M)	$127M	$87M	$60M	Working capital & otherWC & other
$2.9B	$3.1B	$3.2B	$2.2B	$2.3B	$2.0B	$2.2B	$2.4B	$2.8B	$4.0B	$4.3B	CapexCapex
38.8%	42.1%	41.6%	40.0%	41.5%	34.1%	27.3%	28.8%	33.1%	44.6%	46.1%	Capex / revenueCapex/rev
$2.0B	$1.5B	$1.7B	$1.5B	$1.7B	$1.2B	$549M	$504M	$1.1B	$1.3B	$1.3B	Owner earningsOwner earn.
26.1%	19.5%	22.2%	26.4%	31.5%	20.5%	6.9%	6.1%	12.5%	14.6%	14.3%	Owner earnings marginOE mgn
($30M)	($672M)	($417M)	$184M	$476M	$297M	($425M)	($632M)	($465M)	($1.4B)	($1.6B)	Free cash flowFCF
−0.4%	−9.0%	−5.4%	3.3%	8.7%	5.1%	−5.4%	−7.6%	−5.5%	−15.5%	−17.4%	Free cash flow marginFCF mgn
—	—	—	—	$0	$0	$3.7B	$0	$0	—	$0	AcquisitionsAcquis.
$1.0B	$1.1B	$1.1B	$1.2B	$1.3B	$1.3B	$787M	$704M	$747M	$794M	$806M	Dividends paidDiv. paid
—	—	—	$0	$0	$1.0B	$0	$0	—	—	—	BuybacksBuybacks
($2.9B)	($3.2B)	($3.4B)	($3.1B)	($3.3B)	$8.0B	($5.7B)	($2.4B)	($2.8B)	($4.0B)	—	Investing cash flowInv. cash
($439M)	$824M	$690M	$836M	$386M	($7.4B)	$709M	$650M	$435M	$2.1B	—	Financing cash flowFin. cash
($28M)	$15M	($18M)	$10M	$17M	$8M	$0	$0	—	—	—	Exchange-rate effectFX
($503M)	$139M	$132M	—	—	—	($3.2B)	$25M	($43M)	$747M	—	Change in cashΔ cash
8%	6%	7%	4%	5%	—	4%	5%	5%	5%	5%	ROICROIC
19%	10%	16%	13%	11%	-11%	5%	5%	6%	8%	8%	Return on equityROE
9%	1%	6%	4%	1%	−20%	−0%	0%	1%	3%	3%	Retained to equityRetained/eq
											Balance sheet
$341M	$485M	$621M	$815M	$442M	$3.6B	$356M	$331M	$306M	$1.1B	$1.2B	Cash & investmentsCash+inv
$666M	$681M	$663M	$687M	$603M	$583M	$896M	$950M	$961M	$1.1B	$1.3B	ReceivablesReceiv.
$356M	$320M	$303M	$332M	$302M	$322M	$443M	$505M	$511M	$551M	$536M	InventoryInvent.
$820M	$924M	$989M	$956M	$745M	$679M	$1.2B	$1.1B	$1.2B	$1.6B	$1.4B	Accounts payablePayables
$202M	$77M	($23M)	$63M	$160M	$226M	$138M	$351M	$276M	$100M	$464M	Operating working capitalOper. WC
$2.1B	$2.3B	$2.4B	$2.8B	$20.9B	$5.0B	$2.8B	$2.9B	$2.9B	$3.9B	$4.3B	Current assetsCur. assets
$3.8B	$4.0B	$4.6B	$4.9B	$15.1B	$2.3B	$3.8B	$3.3B	$3.3B	$4.5B	$4.3B	Current liabilitiesCur. liab.
0.5×	0.6×	0.5×	0.6×	1.4×	2.2×	0.7×	0.9×	0.9×	0.9×	1.0×	Current ratioCurr. ratio
$30.1B	$33.1B	$34.5B	$36.5B	$24.5B	$25.5B	$30.2B	$31.4B	$33.1B	$36.1B	—	Net PP&ENet PP&E
$2.0B	$1.5B	$1.7B	$1.6B	$1.4B	$1.3B	$2.1B	$2.2B	$2.4B	$2.4B	—	Regulatory assetsReg. assets
$1.0B	$2.8B	$2.8B	$2.7B	$2.6B	$2.6B	$3.6B	$3.6B	$3.6B	$3.7B	—	Regulatory liabilitiesReg. liab.
$3.1B	$3.3B	$3.2B	$3.2B	$716M	$716M	$2.2B	$2.2B	$2.2B	$2.2B	$2.2B	GoodwillGoodwill
$38.3B	$41.5B	$43.4B	$45.7B	$48.1B	$33.2B	$37.8B	$39.2B	$41.1B	$45.2B	$46.3B	Total assetsAssets
$18.3B	$20.2B	$20.6B	$21.9B	$14.7B	$11.1B	$13.2B	$14.6B	$16.5B	$18.9B	$20.0B	Total debtDebt
$18.0B	$19.7B	$20.0B	$21.1B	$14.2B	$7.6B	$12.9B	$14.3B	$16.2B	$17.8B	$18.8B	Net debt / (cash)Net debt
$888M	$901M	$963M	$621M	$634M	$918M	$513M	$666M	$738M	$808M	$842M	Interest expenseInt. exp.
3.3×	3.2×	3.0×	2.5×	2.5×	1.6×	2.7×	2.4×	2.4×	2.6×	2.6×	Interest coverageInt. cov.
$9.9B	$10.8B	$11.7B	$13.0B	$13.4B	$13.7B	$13.9B	$13.9B	$14.1B	$14.9B	$15.0B	Shareholders’ equityEquity
0.4%	0.5%	0.3%	0.6%	0.5%	0.6%	0.5%	0.4%	0.5%	0.5%	0.6%	Stock comp / revenueSBC/rev
											Per share
680M	687M	709M	737M	769M	765M	737M	738M	740M	743M	757M	Shares out (diluted)Shares
$11.05	$10.83	$10.99	$7.60	$7.11	$7.56	$10.72	$11.26	$11.44	$12.16	$12.30	Revenue / shareRev/sh
$2.80	$1.64	$2.58	$2.37	$1.91	$-1.94	$1.03	$1.00	$1.20	$1.59	$1.61	EPS (diluted)EPS
$2.89	$2.11	$2.44	$2.01	$2.24	$1.55	$0.75	$0.68	$1.43	$1.77	$1.76	Owner earnings / shareOE/sh
$-0.04	$-0.98	$-0.59	$0.25	$0.62	$0.39	$-0.58	$-0.86	$-0.63	$-1.88	$-2.14	Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh
$1.51	$1.56	$1.60	$1.62	$1.66	$1.67	$1.07	$0.95	$1.01	$1.07	$1.06	Dividends / shareDiv/sh
$4.29	$4.56	$4.57	$3.04	$2.95	$2.58	$2.92	$3.24	$3.79	$5.42	$5.67	Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh
$14.55	$15.66	$16.45	$17.63	$17.38	$17.94	$18.88	$18.88	$19.03	$20.02	$19.84	Book value / shareBVPS

Per-share growththe realized rate an owner's share compounded

	9-yr	5-yr
Revenue / share	+1.1%/yr	+11.3%/yr
Owner earnings / share	−5.3%/yr	−4.6%/yr
EPS	−6.1%/yr	−3.6%/yr
Dividends / share	−3.8%/yr	−8.4%/yr
Capital spending / share	+2.6%/yr	+12.9%/yr
Book value / share	+3.6%/yr	+2.9%/yr

Where the cash went

ReinvestBuybacksDividendsAcquisitionsRetainedBeyond op. cash

Each 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.

FY2016FY2025

Owner-earnings bridge

FY2021–FY2025cash-flow statement, SEC EDGAR →

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 2025 the business earned $1.3B of owner earnings, the operating cash left after the $1.3B it takes just to hold its position. It put $2.7B more into growth; free cash flow, after that spending, was ($1.4B).

Reported net income$1.2B

Owner earnings$1.3B · 15% of revenue

	FY2025	FY2024	FY2023	FY2022	FY2021
Reported net income	$1.2B	$888M	$740M	$756M	($1.5B)
Depreciation & amortizationnon-cash charge added back	+$1.3B	+$1.3B	+$1.3B	+$1.2B	+$1.1B
Stock-based compensationreal costnon-cash, but a real cost	+$49M	+$46M	+$33M	+$37M	+$37M
Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items	+$87M	+$127M	−$269M	−$244M	+$2.6B
Cash from operations	$2.6B	$2.3B	$1.8B	$1.7B	$2.3B
Maintenance capital expenditurethe spending needed just to hold position and volume	−$1.3B	−$1.3B	−$1.3B	−$1.2B	−$1.1B
Owner earnings	$1.3B	$1.1B	$504M	$549M	$1.2B
Growth capital expenditurediscretionary; spent to get bigger, not to stand still	−$2.7B	−$1.5B	−$1.1B	−$974M	−$891M
Free cash flow	($1.4B)	($465M)	($632M)	($425M)	$297M
Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue	15%	13%	6%	7%	21%

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 $1.3B, roughly its depreciation, the rate its assets wear out). The other $2.7B 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 $49M), owner earnings is nearer $1.3B.

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.

III

Quality & stewardship

Returns, the balance sheet, capital allocation, and pay.

Owner’s Scorecard

FY2025 10-K · source on SEC EDGAR →

The allowed return, earned and credited

Earned return on equity 9.2%

Earning the allowed return

Median over 10 readable years · latest FY2025: 7.9% (net income $1.2B ÷ equity $14.9B)

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 6.9%

Construction credit in earnings

Equity allowance for funds used during construction $81M ÷ net income $1.2B

What this means
While a plant is under construction the commission lets the utility credit itself the allowed return on the capital tied up — a real, allowed profit that arrives as a bookkeeping entry now and as cash only after the plant enters rates. A large share means heavy reinvestment at the allowed return, the thing Berkshire's utility letters prize; it also means that much of this year's earnings has not yet been collected from anyone.

The invested base and the regulatory ledger

Net utility plant $32.6B

Growing ≈ 1.5%/yr

Utility plant net of depreciation, as filed · FY2016→FY2025: $28.7B → $32.6B, ≈ 1.5%/yr

What this means
The closest filed figure to the rate base — the invested capital the commission sets the allowed return on. Its growth rate is the utility's reinvestment runway: under regulation, earnings power compounds roughly as fast as the base the return is earned on, funded by capital the regulator lets the company recover with interest. Rate base itself is not tagged in any structured filing, so this is the proxy, labeled as what it is.
Regulatory assets & liabilities $2.4B / $3.7B

Owes ratepayers

Regulatory assets $2.4B · regulatory liabilities $3.7B · net $1.3B 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 Pass

Revenue ≥ $2B · $9.0B

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 Pass

Debt ≤ 2× equity (Graham's utility test) · $18.9B vs $14.9B 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 Near

A profit every year (10-yr record) · 1 loss year

What this means
Graham wanted earnings in each of the past ten years, the stability a defensive owner leans on.
Dividend record Pass

Uninterrupted 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 Miss

Earnings +33% over the record · −42%

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 $1.24/share (latest year $1.57), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is $19.78/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 9 of 10

What this means
Lost money in 1 year(s), look at what happened there before trusting the average.
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 38% → 21% (3-yr avg ends)

In the filing’s words The filing attributes gains to higher prices, but the margin in the record has not followed — the claim outruns the result here.

What this means
Through the cycle the operating margin slipped — about 38% early to 21% lately, median 25% — competition or costs are biting in.
Reinvestment, incremental ROIC returns capital

What this means
The capital base barely grew: this business returns cash through dividends and buybacks rather than reinvesting. Judge it on the cash returned, not on compounding.
Owner earnings growth −4%/yr

What this means
Owner earnings shrank about 4% a year over the record.
Worst year 2022 · 17.4% op. margin

What this means
Stayed profitable even in its hardest year, the resilience that survives recessions.
Share count +1.0%/yr

What this means
Roughly flat share count, little dilution, little buyback.
Dividend record paid

What this means
Paid a dividend in 10 of the years on record.

All figures as filed; the source filing is linked above.

Current Position

as of the latest quarter, Mar 31, 2026

Can 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.

Current assets$4.3B

Cash & short-term investments$1.2B
Receivables$1.3B
Inventory$536M
Other current assets$1.2B

Current liabilities$4.3B

Debt due within a year$994M
Accounts payable$1.4B
Other current liabilities$1.9B

Current ratio1.00×all current assets ÷ what's due · Graham looked for 2×

Quick ratio0.88×stricter: inventory excluded

Cash ratio0.29×strictest: cash alone against what's due

Working capital$14Mthe cushion left after near-term bills

Debt due this year vs. cash$994M due · $1.2B cash covered by cash on hand, no refinancing forced · both figures from the Mar 31, 2026 balance sheet

Revenue, latest quarter vs. a year ago+10.8%the freshest read on whether the business is still growing

Current ratio, recent quarters1.1× → 1.0×

Deeper floors

Tangible book value$12.4Bequity stripped of goodwill & intangibles

Debt incl. operating leases$20.0Bno operating-lease liability tagged this quarter, so debt alone

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.

'26$904M

'27$428M

'28$1.4B

'29$116M

'30$2.2B

later$14.1B

Bars scaled to the largest single year; “later” is everything due after 2030, shown apart since it dwarfs the years.

Due in the next 12 months$904Mthe first rung: what must be repaid or rolled over within the year

Within two years$1.3Bthe near wall, the part most exposed to today’s credit conditions

Biggest single year$2.2Bin 2030the lumpiest maturity, where a refinancing, if needed, is largest

Total scheduled principal$19.1Bevery year plus what lies beyond, as the footnote totals it

Against what the business has and earns

Cash & short-term investments, Mar 31, 2026$1.2B

One year of owner earnings (FY2025)$1.3B

Together, against $904M due next year2.8×

Cash on hand as of Mar 31, 2026 plus a year’s owner earnings comes to $2.6B against the $904M due in the twelve months after the Dec 31, 2025 schedule: 2.8 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, 2016–2025

Over the record, the business generated $24.1B of operating cash; how management split it reads as a reinvestor, most operating cash is plowed back into the business.

Reinvested$27.2B · 113%
Dividends$10.0B · 42%
Buybacks$1.0B · 4%

Returned to owners$11.0B
85% of the owner earnings the business produced over the span, $10.0B as dividends and $1.0B as buybacks.
Source of funding−$14.1B
Reinvestment and shareholder returns ran $14.1B beyond the operating cash the business generated, so the gap was financed off the balance sheet.
Average price paid for buybacks—
Buybacks ran $1.0B over the span, but the filings don't tag the share count needed to deduce the average price paid.
Net change in share count11.3%
The diluted count rose from 680M to 757M: issuance (stock pay, deals) outran any buybacks, so owners were diluted on net.
Dividend record$1.07/sh
Paid in 10 of the years on record, the per-share dividend shrinking about 4% a year. It was cut at least once along the way.

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”	Owner earnings
2021	Mr. Sorgi	$11.4M	$11.5M	$1.2B
2022	Mr. Sorgi	$9.1M	$9.1M	$549M
2023	Mr. Sorgi	$12.0M	$10.7M	$504M
2024	Mr. Sorgi	$11.4M	$21.1M	$1.1B
2025	Mr. Sorgi	$13.2M	$15.9M	$1.3B

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.

CEO pay ratio74:1
What the chief earns for every dollar the median employee makes, per the 2026 proxy. A high ratio alone settles nothing; some businesses are genuinely top-heavy in scarce skill. A runaway figure is where Buffett starts asking whether the board is doing its job.
Stock-based compensation$49M
The slice of the business handed to employees in shares in fiscal 2025, 0.5% of revenue, equal to 2.3% of operating profit. Buffett's oldest accounting fight: this is compensation, compensation is an expense, real whether or not the headline earnings admit it. One trap: the cash-flow statement adds SBC back, so the operating cash, and the owner earnings drawn from it, are flattered by exactly this amount; counted as the cost it is, what an owner keeps is lower.

Peers, Electric 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
EIXEdison International	$19.3B	6%	6.2%	25%
DTBDTE Energy Co	$15.8B	11%	5.8%	26%
FEFirstEnergy Corp.	$15.1B	9%	7.5%	33%
ESEversource Energy (D/B/A)	$13.5B	9%	8.9%	35%
ETREntergy Corporation	$12.9B	10%	7.3%	25%
CNPCenterPoint Energy Inc (Holding Co)	$9.4B	10%	—	24%
PPLPPL Corporation	$9.0B	9%	1.5%	42%
PNWPinnacle West	$5.3B	9%	5.6%	29%
Group median	—	9%	6.2%	27%

The price

What a price has to assume.

What the price implies

reverse-DCF

Type today's close and see the owner-earnings growth you'd have to believe to justify it, beside what PPL Corporation has delivered.

PPL Corporation’s latest year shows negative owner earnings, the mark of a build-out: total capital spending outruns the cash the business throws off today. So the tool opens on the steady-state base (maintenance capex in place of the build-out spend), the cash it would earn at rest; clear the toggle below to read the latest year exactly as reported.

Today’s price $

Through the cycle, PPL Corporation earns about $1.8B on its 20.0% median owner-earnings margin. This year’s 14.6% margin runs below that; the reported figure may understate a lean year. Normalize, below, values the price on that through-cycle figure rather than the latest year.

Base Normalize · through-cycle ($1.8B) Net of stock comp (−$53M TTM) Steady-state · maintenance capex ($1.4B)

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The assumptions Required return 9% Years of high growth 10 Terminal growth 2.5%

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.

Implied by the price—

Owner-earnings growth · ’21→’25+8%/yr

Owner-earnings growth · ’16→’25−4%/yr

Owner-earnings yield—

P/E (3-yr earnings ’23–’25)—

P/B—

Graham’s price gate—

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.

Against a high-grade bond: Graham’s yardstick bond yield%

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.

Free cash flow ($1.6B) on 752M shares outstanding, per the 10-Q cover, as of 2026-04-30; net debt $18.8B. The base opens on the steady-state figure (the latest year is negative on total capex mid-build-out); clear Steady-state to use the year as filed. Net of stock comp treats option pay as the expense it is. Capex ($4.3B) runs well above depreciation ($1.3B), so this is a build-out; Steady-state swaps total capex for maintenance (≈ depreciation), lifting the base to about $1.4B, the cash it would throw off if it stopped expanding. The dials set the multiple a growth belief justifies; the price, and every dollar on this page, is yours.

Weigh PPL against another business →

The owners of PPL: the meeting and the votes →

Cite: Owner Scorecard, "PPL Corporation (PPL), the owner's record," https://ownerscorecard.com/c/PPL, data as of 2026-07-18.

Manual order: ← PPG its page in the Manual PPLC →

Industry order: ← POR the Electric Utilities chapter PPLC →