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DTE, DTE Energy Company

Electric Utilities capital-intensive Regulated utility

DTE Electric is a public utility engaged in the generation, purchase, distribution, and sale of electricity to approximately 2.3 million customers in southeastern Michigan.

The entity was created to issue securitization bonds for qualified costs related to the River Rouge generation plant and tree trimming surge program and to recover debt service costs from DTE Electric customers DTE Securitization II DTE Electric Securitization Funding II, LLC, a special purpose entity wholly-owned by DTE Electric.

Its conditions of service, prices of goods and services, and other operating related matters are not directly regulated by the MPSC NO X Nitrogen Oxides NPDES National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System NRC U.S.

Latest annual: FY2025 10-K

DTE · DTE Energy Company

The business

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

Revenue · FY2025

$15.8B

+26.9% YoY · 7% 5-yr CAGR

Vital signs · TTM, with 5-yr average

Revenue $16.5B 5-yr avg $15.0B

Operating margin 13.1% 5-yr avg 13.7%

ROIC 6% 5-yr avg 6%

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 14% through the cycle, a solid margin the cost base and competition set as much as the price does. Read this kind of business on rate base and the allowed return. On its own account, the filing leans hardest on customer concentration, 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 6%, above 15% in 0 of 10 years). 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.

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
$10.6B	$12.6B	$14.2B	$12.2B	$11.4B	$15.0B	$19.2B	$12.7B	$12.5B	$15.8B	$16.5B	RevenueRevenue
$1.5B	$1.7B	$1.6B	$1.4B	$1.6B	$1.5B	$1.7B	$2.2B	$2.1B	$2.4B	$2.2B	Operating incomeOp. inc.
14.0%	13.6%	11.2%	11.8%	13.6%	10.0%	9.1%	17.6%	16.8%	15.0%	13.1%	Operating marginOp. mgn
$868M	$1.1B	$1.1B	$1.2B	$1.4B	$907M	$1.1B	$1.4B	$1.4B	$1.5B	$1.3B	Net incomeNet inc.
24%	13%	8%	6%	3%	—	3%	11%	-2%	6%	4%	Effective tax rateTax rate
											Cash flow & returns
$2.1B	$2.1B	$2.7B	$2.6B	$3.7B	$3.1B	$2.0B	$3.2B	$3.6B	$3.4B	$3.3B	Operating cash flowOp. cash
$976M	$1.0B	$1.1B	$1.2B	$1.3B	$1.4B	$1.5B	$1.6B	$1.7B	$1.8B	$1.9B	DepreciationDeprec.
$240M	($47M)	$436M	$311M	$1.0B	$783M	($574M)	$217M	$507M	$106M	$159M	Working capital & otherWC & other
$1.1B	$0	$0	$2.5B	$126M	$0	$0	$0	$0	$210M	$210M	AcquisitionsAcquis.
$531M	$592M	$620M	$692M	$760M	$791M	$685M	$752M	$810M	$871M	$887M	Dividends paidDiv. paid
$33M	$51M	$0	$0	$0	$66M	$55M	$0	$0	—	—	BuybacksBuybacks
6%	7%	7%	5%	5%	6%	6%	7%	6%	6%	6%	ROICROIC
10%	12%	11%	10%	11%	10%	10%	13%	12%	12%	10%	Return on equityROE
4%	6%	5%	4%	5%	1%	4%	6%	5%	5%	3%	Retained to equityRetained/eq
											Balance sheet
$92M	$66M	$71M	$93M	$472M	$28M	$33M	$26M	$24M	$208M	$1.3B	Cash & investmentsCash+inv
$1.5B	$1.8B	$1.8B	$1.6B	$1.5B	$1.7B	$2.0B	$1.6B	$1.7B	$2.0B	$1.9B	ReceivablesReceiv.
$1.1B	$1.2B	$1.3B	$1.1B	$1.0B	$1.4B	$1.6B	$1.4B	$1.4B	$1.8B	$1.6B	Accounts payablePayables
$443M	$587M	$460M	$566M	$542M	$281M	$434M	$271M	$303M	$278M	$288M	Operating working capitalOper. WC
$2.8B	$3.1B	$3.3B	$3.1B	$3.5B	$3.3B	$4.2B	$3.5B	$3.6B	$4.3B	$4.4B	Current assetsCur. assets
$2.4B	$2.8B	$4.4B	$4.0B	$2.7B	$6.3B	$5.2B	$5.9B	$5.1B	$5.4B	$4.6B	Current liabilitiesCur. liab.
1.1×	1.1×	0.7×	0.8×	1.3×	0.5×	0.8×	0.6×	0.7×	0.8×	1.0×	Current ratioCurr. ratio
$2.3B	$2.3B	$2.3B	$2.5B	$2.0B	$2.0B	$2.0B	$2.0B	$2.0B	$2.0B	$2.0B	GoodwillGoodwill
$32.0B	$33.8B	$36.3B	$42.3B	$45.5B	$39.7B	$42.7B	$44.8B	$48.8B	$54.1B	$55.1B	Total assetsAssets
$11.3B	$12.2B	$12.1B	$16.8B	$19.6B	$17.5B	$18.1B	$19.7B	$22.1B	$25.3B	$25.8B	Total debtDebt
$11.2B	$12.1B	$12.1B	$16.7B	$19.1B	$17.5B	$18.1B	$19.7B	$22.1B	$25.1B	$24.4B	Net debt / (cash)Net debt
3.1×	3.2×	2.9×	2.5×	2.6×	2.4×	2.6×	2.8×	2.2×	2.2×	2.0×	Interest coverageInt. cov.
$9.0B	$9.5B	$10.2B	$11.7B	$12.4B	$8.7B	$10.4B	$11.1B	$11.7B	$12.3B	$12.3B	Shareholders’ equityEquity
											Per share
179M	179M	181M	185M	193M	194M	196M	206M	207M	207M	208M	Shares out (diluted)Shares
$59.39	$70.43	$78.52	$65.77	$59.19	$77.13	$98.10	$61.87	$60.18	$76.40	$79.40	Revenue / shareRev/sh
$4.85	$6.34	$6.19	$6.32	$7.09	$4.68	$5.53	$6.78	$6.78	$7.06	$6.08	EPS (diluted)EPS
$2.97	$3.31	$3.43	$3.74	$3.94	$4.08	$3.49	$3.65	$3.91	$4.21	$4.26	Dividends / shareDiv/sh
$50.34	$53.14	$56.56	$63.09	$64.38	$44.87	$53.05	$53.64	$56.52	$59.43	$59.25	Book value / shareBVPS

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

	9-yr	5-yr
Revenue / share	+2.8%/yr	+5.2%/yr
EPS	+4.3%/yr	−0.1%/yr
Dividends / share	+4.0%/yr	+1.3%/yr
Book value / share	+1.9%/yr	−1.6%/yr

The record, charted

FY2016–2025

Each measure over its full record; the current point and the worst year marked.

Share count

207Mpeak FY2024

ROIC

6%low FY2019

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

III

Quality & stewardship

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

Owner’s Scorecard

FY2025 10-K · source on SEC EDGAR →

Will it survive?

Can it pay its interest? 2.2×

Adequate

Operating income $2.4B ÷ interest expense $1.1B

What this means
Comfortable in a normal year, but below the margin of safety Graham looked for. Worth checking how stable the coverage has been across a full cycle.
How heavy is the debt, net of cash? $25.6B · 10.8× operating profit

Heavy net debt

Cash $208M − debt $25.8B

What this means
Netting $208M of cash and short-term investments against $25.8B of debt leaves $25.6B owed, about 10.8× a year's operating profit (10.9× 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.
How long is cash tied up? —

Not enough data

What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.

Is it a good business?

Return on invested capital 6%

Below average through the cycle

10-yr median, range 5%–7%; 6% latest = NOPAT $2.2B ÷ invested capital $37.9B

Industry peers: median 5%

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 6% 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.
Owner-earnings margin —

Not enough data

Industry peers: median 13%

What this means
The filing data didn't include the inputs for this check.
Are earnings backed by cash? 2.33×

Cash-backed

Cash from ops $3.4B ÷ net income $1.5B

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?

Where do the earnings go? —

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 · 4 of 6 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 · $15.8B

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 Miss

Current ratio ≥ 2× · 0.80×

What this means
Current assets at least twice current liabilities, near-term bills covered without touching the business. Strict by design: many cash-rich modern firms run leaner and miss it, holding their cushion in longer-dated securities.
Conservative debt Miss

Debt ≤ working capital · $25.8B vs ($1.1B) WC

What this means
Graham's rule that borrowings not exceed net current assets. Capital-heavy and buyback-heavy firms routinely fail it, read it next to interest coverage, not alone.
Earnings stability Pass

A 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 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 Pass

Earnings +33% over the record · +37%

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 $6.83/share (latest year $7.03), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is $59.14/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 13% → 16% (3-yr avg ends)

What this means
Through the cycle the operating margin widened — about 13% early to 16% lately, median 14% — pricing power intact or improving.
Reinvestment, incremental ROIC 6%

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 2022 · 9.1% op. margin

What this means
Stayed profitable even in its hardest year, the resilience that survives recessions.
Share count +1.6%/yr

What this means
The share count is rising, dilution works against you on a per-share basis.
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 record and the register agree: capital is compounding and the filing reasons in an owner’s terms — per-share value, return on capital, the long term — not a promoter’s.

Does AI threaten the moat?

Low contestability

The moat is physical, regulated or balance-sheet-funded, the kind AI cuts costs within but does not contest.

In its own filing Raised, but not as a competitor

The filing raises AI among its risks, but in other terms (security, regulation, energy or the like), not as a competitor to its product.

AI is unlikely to contest a moat that is physical, regulated or balance-sheet-funded; here it reads more as a cost tool than a threat.

Read from the filing's own risk factors, paired with the industry's structure under its SIC code; the durability is read above, the price below.

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$4.4B

Cash & short-term investments$1.3B
Receivables$1.9B
Other current assets$1.2B

Current liabilities$4.6B

Debt due within a year$465M
Accounts payable$1.6B
Other current liabilities$2.5B

Current ratio0.95×all current assets ÷ what's due · Graham looked for 2×

Quick ratio0.95×stricter: inventory excluded

Cash ratio0.28×strictest: cash alone against what's due

Working capital($218M)the cushion left after near-term bills

Debt due this year vs. cash$465M due · $1.3B 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+15.8%the freshest read on whether the business is still growing

Current ratio, recent quarters0.7× → 1.0×

Deeper floors

Tangible book value$10.1Bequity stripped of goodwill & intangibles

Debt incl. operating leases$26.0B$261M of it operating leases

Deferred revenue$260Mcustomer cash collected before delivery; operating float

From the company's latest filing.

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”	Net income
2021	$11.1M	$18.2M	$907M
2022	$10.5M	$13.1M	$1.1B
2023	$10.3M	$12.7M	$1.4B
2024	$12.6M	$13.1M	$1.4B
2025	$6.7M	$5.8M	$1.5B
2025	$14.2M	$12.8M	$1.5B

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.

Inverting the record

Invert: instead of why DTE Energy Company is a good business, the question is what would make owning it a mistake, and whether those marks are in the record. Disconfirming tests across 2016–2025.

None of the 3 tests turned up a mark; each came back clean. A clean panel says only that these particular ways of being wrong are not written into the record.

Each test came back clean

Is it less profitable than it was?
Did reported profit become cash?
Did receivables and inventory outpace sales?

Each test is read from the filings and is noisy alone; a flag can mark a cyclical trough or a year of heavy investment as easily as a problem. The filing says which.

What an owner would ask, FY2025

read the 10-K →

Which reported numbers are a judgment call?
Management names Pension & retirement, Acquisitions 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, Electric Utilities

The same industry, side by side on owner economics. Each figure is a through-cycle median, so a peak or trough year can’t distort it; the group median at the foot is the line to read each against.

Company	Revenue	Gross margin	Op. margin	ROIC	Owner earn. margin
AEPAmerican Electric Power Company Inc.	$21.7B	—	19.2%	6%	26%
EIXEdison International	$19.3B	—	13.1%	4%	7%
VSTVistra	$17.6B	—	10.8%	7%	17%
DDominion Energy Inc.	$16.5B	—	23.1%	4%	21%
DTEDTE Energy Company	$15.8B	—	13.6%	6%	—
FEFirstEnergy Corp.	$15.1B	—	18.4%	5%	11%
ESEversource Energy (D/B/A)	$13.5B	—	20.2%	5%	8%
ETREntergy Corporation	$12.9B	—	15.3%	5%	13%
Group median	—	—	16.9%	5%	—

The price

What a price has to assume.

What the price implies

reverse-DCF

DTE Energy Company 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.

Today’s price $

The assumptions Required return 9% Years to get there 10 Revenue growth 0%

Revenue, delivered2%/yr’20→’25

Mature owner-earnings margin 15%

Enter a price to run it.

Owner earnings it must reach—

Margin the price demands—

Owner-earnings margin today—

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.

Weigh DTE against another business →

Cite: Owner Scorecard, "DTE Energy Company (DTE), the owner's record," https://ownerscorecard.com/c/DTE, data as of 2026-07-09.

Manual order: ← DTB its page in the Manual DTG →

Industry order: ← DTB the Electric Utilities chapter DTG →