Owner Scorecard


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RIOT, Riot Platforms Inc. Common Stock

Capital Markets & Asset Management capital-intensive UnprofitableDistress / turnaround

We are a vertically integrated digital infrastructure company principally engaged in developing and optimizing our large-scale power assets.

Centers on enhancing our electrical infrastructure and deploying it across two complementary platforms: (i) Bitcoin Mining and (ii) scalable data center solutions designed to support non-mining workloads.

In 2025, we began leveraging our core competencies in power optimization, strategic land acquisition, engineering design, and construction execution to begin actively pursuing opportunities to develop and monetize portions of our existing facilities and power pipeline through the provision of data center leasing services.

Latest annual: FY2025 10-K
RIOT · Riot Platforms Inc. Common Stock
I

The business

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

Revenue · FY2025
$647M
+71.9% YoY · 122% 5-yr CAGR
Vital signs · TTM
Cash & investments $208M
Cash burn · annual $634M
Runway 4 mo

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 Bitcoin Mining (89%) and Engineering (10%).
Situation
Unprofitable. No sustained operating profit across the record; an earnings multiple has nothing to rest on. What the record does show is revenue, the gross-margin trajectory, and the burn against the cash on hand. Distress / turnaround. Thin interest coverage, or operating cash burned against real debt, across the record. The balance sheet carries this situation; the debt schedule sets the clock.
What moves the needle
Operating margin has reached 41% at its best but run negative through the cycle (median −129%) on a 26% gross margin — so the question is which reading is truer: whether the median was pulled below zero by one-off charges, by the cycle, or by spending it is still growing into, and whether it settles back at a profit. Capital spending runs about 67% of sales, so the return earned on what it sinks into that plant weighs as much as the margin. 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 −24%, above 15% in 0 of 9 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 →

Bitcoin Mining is 89% of revenue, with Engineering the other meaningful segment at 10%.

Revenue by reportable segment, FY2025
  • Bitcoin Mining89%$576M
  • Engineering10%$65M

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.

II

The record

Ten years of arithmetic, read across the cycle.

The record, 2017–2025

realized figures from each filing · older years to the left
2017’172018’182019’192020’202021’212022’222023’232024’242025’25TTMTTMMar 2026
Income statement
$270K$8M$7M$12M$213M$259M$281M$377M$647M$653MRevenueRevenue
26%11%48%Gross marginGross mgn
n/m266%134%724%41%26%36%71%46%46%SG&A / revenueSG&A/rev
($13M)($59M)($9M)($16M)($30M)($513M)($63M)$154M($622M)($888M)Operating incomeOp. inc.
n/m−756.7%−137.7%−128.7%−14.0%−197.8%−22.5%40.8%−96.1%−136.0%Operating marginOp. mgn
($20M)($58M)($20M)($14M)($15M)($510M)($49M)$109M($663M)($867M)Net incomeNet inc.
Cash flow & returns
($4M)($19M)($15M)($3M)($86M)$530K$33M($255M)($573M)($634M)Operating cash flowOp. cash
$891K$5M$119K$26M$26M$106M$247M$206M$343M$363MDepreciationDeprec.
$12M$29M$4M($18M)($165M)$380M($196M)($696M)($378M)($264M)Working capital & otherWC & other
$20M$5M$8M$147M$148M$194M$240M$201M$284MCapexCapex
257.4%72.5%67.4%69.0%57.3%69.0%63.8%31.1%43.5%Capex / revenueCapex/rev
($24M)($16M)($11M)($112M)($105M)($161M)($495M)($774M)($918M)Owner earningsOwner earn.
−310.0%−227.2%−91.0%−52.6%−40.7%−57.2%−131.5%−119.6%−140.4%Owner earnings marginOE mgn
($39M)($20M)($11M)($233M)($148M)($161M)($495M)($774M)($918M)Free cash flowFCF
−500.3%−298.0%−91.0%−109.4%−57.1%−57.2%−131.5%−119.6%−140.4%Free cash flow marginFCF mgn
$517K$41M$41MAcquisitionsAcquis.
$446K$5M$10M$14M$12M$4MBuybacksBuybacks
-141%-646%-40%-24%-2%-44%-4%4%-14%-23%ROICROIC
-41%-1002%-76%-5%-1%-44%-3%3%-23%-36%Return on equityROE
Balance sheet
$42M$225K$7M$223M$337M$240M$597M$278M$234M$208MCash & investmentsCash+inv
$27K$27M$25M$27M$30M$67MReceivablesReceiv.
$410K$4M$717K$718K$3M$18M$23M$18M$23M$11MAccounts payablePayables
($3M)$8M$2M$10M$6M$56MOperating working capitalOper. WC
$42M$2M$13M$236M$272M$443M$1.0B$599M$449M$463MCurrent assetsCur. assets
$1M$7M$3M$2M$7M$122M$121M$160M$470M$429MCurrent liabilitiesCur. liab.
40.7×0.3×3.7×98.6×36.6×3.6×8.3×3.7×1.0×1.1×Current ratioCurr. ratio
$1M$254M$336M$122M$122M$122MGoodwillGoodwill
$52M$14M$30M$280M$372M$1.3B$2.1B$3.9B$3.9B$3.4BTotal assetsAssets
$136K$2M$783K$585M$841M$842MTotal debtDebt
($42M)$1M($596M)$307M$607M$634MNet debt / (cash)Net debt
-2.7×-482.7×-77.2×-100.9×-3000.5×Interest coverageInt. cov.
$49M$6M$26M$276M$1.3B$1.2B$1.9B$3.1B$2.9B$2.4BShareholders’ equityEquity
960.4%59.4%10.9%28.2%32.1%9.5%11.5%33.2%19.4%20.7%Stock comp / revenueSBC/rev
$1M$336M$336MGoodwill written downGW imp.
Per share
6.0M13.4M19.6M42.0M93.5M139M175M319M341M348MShares out (diluted)Shares
$0.04$0.59$0.35$0.29$2.28$1.86$1.60$1.18$1.90$1.88Revenue / shareRev/sh
$-3.30$-4.33$-1.02$-0.34$-0.17$-3.65$-0.28$0.34$-1.95$-2.49EPS (diluted)EPS
$-1.81$-0.79$-0.26$-1.20$-0.76$-0.92$-1.55$-2.27$-2.64Owner earnings / shareOE/sh
$-2.93$-1.04$-0.26$-2.50$-1.06$-0.92$-1.55$-2.27$-2.64Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh
$1.51$0.25$0.19$1.57$1.06$1.11$0.75$0.59$0.82Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh
$8.12$0.43$1.34$6.57$14.43$8.26$10.79$9.86$8.39$6.89Book value / shareBVPS

The diluted share count moved ×2.23 into 2018 — shares issued, not a split the totals corroborate — and the per-share figures carry the counts as filed.

The diluted share count moved ×1.46 into 2019 — shares issued, not a split the totals corroborate — and the per-share figures carry the counts as filed.

The diluted share count moved ×2.14 into 2020 — shares issued, not a split the totals corroborate — and the per-share figures carry the counts as filed.

The diluted share count moved ×2.23 into 2021 — shares issued, not a split the totals corroborate — and the per-share figures carry the counts as filed.

The diluted share count moved ×1.49 into 2022 — shares issued, not a split the totals corroborate — and the per-share figures carry the counts as filed.

The diluted share count moved ×1.82 into 2024 — shares issued, not a split the totals corroborate — and the per-share figures carry the counts as filed.

Per-share growththe realized rate an owner's share compounded
8-yr5-yr
Revenue / share+59.8%/yr+45.9%/yr
Capital spending / share−12.5%/yr (7-yr)+25.0%/yr
Book value / share+0.4%/yr+5.0%/yr

The record, charted

FY2017–2025

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

Share count
341Mpeak FY2025
ROIC
−14%low FY2018
Gross margin
48%low FY2019

Owner earnings vs. net income

Owner earningsNet income

The accountant's number, and the cash an owner can take; the gap is the tell.

($774M)owner earningsvs.($663M)net incomelow FY2025

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 reported a $663M loss but ($774M) of owner earnings: $111M less than the profit line, taken out by capital spending and the timing of cash.

FY2025FY2024FY2023FY2022FY2021
Reported net income($663M)$109M($49M)($510M)($15M)
Depreciation & amortizationnon-cash charge added back+$343M+$206M+$247M+$106M+$26M
Stock-based compensationreal costnon-cash, but a real cost+$126M+$125M+$32M+$25M+$68M
Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items−$378M−$696M−$196M+$380M−$165M
Cash from operations($573M)($255M)$33M$530K($86M)
Maintenance capital expenditurethe spending needed just to hold position and volume−$201M−$240M−$194M−$106M−$26M
Owner earnings($774M)($495M)($161M)($105M)($112M)
Growth capital expenditurediscretionary; spent to get bigger, not to stand still−$43M−$121M
Free cash flow($774M)($495M)($161M)($148M)($233M)
Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue-120%-132%-57%-41%-53%

Owner earnings is the cash an owner could pull out without starving the business: operating cash less the capital it must spend to hold its position . 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 $126M), owner earnings is nearer ($900M).

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 →

Will it survive?

  • Does not cover its interest
    Operating income ($622M) ÷ interest expense $296K
    What this means

    A full year of operating profit didn't cover the interest bill. This is the zombie zone: the business depends on refinancing, asset sales, or forbearance to service its debt.

  • Net debt against an operating loss
    Cash $234M + ST investments $9M − debt $841M
    What this means

    Netting $243M of cash and short-term investments against $841M of debt leaves $598M owed, with no operating profit this year to measure it against — understand that combination before anything else about the company. Net debt is the leverage figure that matters: the cash is already set against the debt. Strategic or illiquid investments aren't counted here.

  • Negative, funded by others
    DSO 17 + DIO 24 − DPO 1368 days
    What this means

    Days cash is tied up between paying suppliers and collecting from customers. A negative cycle is a quiet moat: suppliers and customers fund the operation (Buffett's “float”), the company grows on other people's money.

Is it a good business?

  • Below average through the cycle
    9-yr median, range -646%–4%; -14% latest = NOPAT ($492M) ÷ invested capital $3.5B
    Industry peers: median -6%
    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 9 years (it ran -14% 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.

  • Consumes cash through the cycle
    8-yr median margin, range -310%–-41%; latest ($774M) = operating cash ($573M) − maintenance capex $201M
    Industry peers: median -42%
    What this means

    What an owner could take out without starving the business: operating cash less the maintenance capital it must spend to hold its position — Buffett's owner earnings. That's -120% of revenue this year, a -120% median across 8 years. Treating stock comp as the real expense it is (less $126M of SBC) leaves ($900M).

  • Loss, and burning cash
    Net income ($663M) · cash from operations ($573M)
    What this means

    The company reported a net loss, so a conversion ratio isn't meaningful. What matters then is whether operations still threw off cash, here, they did not.

How is the cash used?

  • No surplus to allocate
    What this means

    The business didn't generate positive Owner Earnings this year, so any distributions came from the balance sheet or borrowing, not from operations.

  • Investing or harvesting? 0.59×
    Harvesting
    Capex $201M ÷ depreciation $343M
    What this means

    Descriptive, not a grade. Above ~1× means investing faster than assets wear out (growth, or, sustained for years, today's earnings carrying less depreciation than tomorrow's will). Below means spending less than it's wearing out (efficiency, or a melting asset base). The ratio won't tell you which; the filings will.

Graham’s defensive tests · 0 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 Miss
    Revenue ≥ $2B · $647M
    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× · 0.96×
    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 · $841M vs ($21M) 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 Miss
    A profit every year (9-yr record) · 8 loss years
    What this means

    Graham wanted earnings in each of the past ten years, the stability a defensive owner leans on.

  • Dividend record Miss
    Uninterrupted dividends · 1 of 9 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
    Earnings +33% over the record ·
    What this means

    Earnings were negative early in the record, a growth rate isn't meaningful.

  • 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 $-0.53/share (latest year $-1.75), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is $7.56/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, 2017–2025

Whether the record’s returns held, and what the capital reinvested earned.

  • Profitable years 1 of 9
    What this means

    Lost money in 8 year(s), look at what happened there before trusting the average.

  • Return on capital ≥ 15% 0 of 5 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 −1924% → −26% (3-yr avg ends)
    What this means

    Through the cycle the operating margin widened — about −1924% early to −26% lately, median −129% — pricing power intact or improving.

  • Reinvestment, incremental ROIC −5%
    What this means

    Reinvested capital came back at a negative incremental return over this window — the invested base grew while operating profit did not. The filings show where it went.

  • Worst year 2017 · −4878.2% op. margin
    What this means

    Operations went underwater in 2017, understand why before trusting the good years.

  • Dividend record paid
    What this means

    Paid a dividend in 1 of the years on record.

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; it frames AI mainly as a capability.

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, and the company is using it that way.

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$463M
  • Cash & short-term investments$208M
  • Receivables$67M
  • Inventory$416K
  • Other current assets$188M
Current liabilities$429M
  • Debt due within a year$255M
  • Accounts payable$11M
  • Other current liabilities$164M
Current ratio1.08×all current assets ÷ what's due · Graham looked for 2×
Quick ratio1.08×stricter: inventory excluded
Cash ratio0.48×strictest: cash alone against what's due
Working capital$33Mthe cushion left after near-term bills
Debt due this year vs. cash$255M due · $208M cash cash alone won't cover the maturities; it leans on refinancing or operating cash · both figures from the Mar 31, 2026 balance sheet
Cash runway0.2 yrsthe business is consuming cash; this is how long the cash on hand lasts at that rate
Revenue, latest quarter vs. a year ago+3.6%the freshest read on whether the business is still growing
Current ratio, recent quarters7.6× → 1.1×
Deeper floors
Tangible book value$2.2Bequity stripped of goodwill & intangibles
Net current asset value($581M)Graham's net-net: current assets less all liabilities
Debt incl. operating leases$877M$35M of it operating leases
Deferred revenue$65Mcustomer cash collected before delivery; operating float

From the company's latest filing.

Acquisitions & goodwill

from the balance sheet & the 9-year cash-flow record

Goodwill grows only when a company acquires and falls only when it concedes it overpaid. The size of that bet, the cash put into buying rather than building, and how much has already been written off.

Goodwill & intangibles$153M4% of all assets; the premium carried on the balance sheet for businesses acquired
Against book equity4%goodwill is this share of book equity; the rest is the company’s own retained and paid-in capital
Cash spent acquiring$41Mover 9 years buying other businesses, against $964M of capital spent building

$337M written down across 2 years (2018, 2022): goodwill the company has already conceded it overpaid for, charged against earnings. A write-down costs no cash (the cash went out when the deal was signed), but it is management marking its own past judgment to market.

Goodwill, acquired intangibles and equity from the latest balance sheet; acquisition spend and write-downs summed across the 9-year record, from the company's own filings.

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 yearChief executivePay, as filed“Actually paid”Owner earnings
2021Jason Les$21.9M$23.3M($112M)
2021Jason Les$18.2M$10.6M($112M)
2022Jason Les$21.5M$5.0M($105M)
2023Jason Les$13.5M$42.8M($161M)
2024Jason Les$83.5M$55.4M($495M)
2025Jason Les$3.5M$19.5M($774M)

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.

  • Insider ownership7.8%

    The stake all directors and executive officers hold together, per the 2026 proxy: skin in the game, the first thing Munger reads.

  • Stock-based compensation$126M

    The slice of the business handed to employees in shares this year, 19% of revenue. 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.

Inverting the record

Invert: instead of why Riot Platforms Inc. Common Stock 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 2017–2025.

All 3 tests turned up something to look into. A record that trips every wire is one to understand slowly.

  • Look hereIs it less profitable than it was?−102.8% vs −61.4%

    The business ran at a loss early in the record (an owner-earnings margin of −61.4%) and the loss has widened to −102.8% across the last three years, with the latest year at −119.6%. Ask the filing where the widening sits — price, cost, or spending growing faster than revenue — and what would narrow it.

  • Look hereDid debt outgrow the business?$136K → $842M

    Debt rose from $136K to $842M while owner earnings went from about ($17M) to ($477M): the borrowing grew and the earnings that would carry it are not there now. Debt raised for buybacks or deals rather than growth is the kind that bites in a downturn.

  • Look hereAre "one-time" charges a yearly habit?6 of 9 years

    Management took an impairment or write-down in 6 of the last 9 years, $747M in all. Taken across the majority of the record, the "one-time" label is wearing thin — ask whether these are past deals coming due rather than genuinely isolated events. Read it beside the goodwill the company still carries.

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 Acquisitions, 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, Capital Markets & Asset Management

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.

CompanyRevenueGross marginOp. marginROICOwner earn. margin
AFRMAffirm Holdings$1.1B-89.3%-13%-29%
CLSKCleanSpark Inc.$766M44%-114.4%-12%-82%
RIOTRiot Platforms Inc. Common Stock$647M26%-128.7%-24%-105%
IRENIREN Limited$501M53%-14.5%-3%1%
HIVEHIVE Digital Technologies Ltd.$298M1.8%0%-42%
HUTHut 8 Corp.$235M54%-55.2%-8%-73%
CRCLCircle Internet Group Inc.$110M1102.0%-4%699%
DGXXDigi Power X Inc.$34M-95%
Group median49%-55.2%-8%-57%
IV

The price

What a price has to assume.

What the price implies

reverse-DCF

Riot Platforms Inc. Common Stock is profitable, but owner earnings are negative this year because capital spending currently outruns operating cash, a build-out, so the owner-earnings reverse-DCF has no positive base to grow. We read the price from both ends instead: type a price to see the steady-state 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.

$
The assumptions

Revenue, delivered30%/yr’20→’25

Enter a price to run it.

Owner earnings it must reach
Margin the price demands
Owner-earnings margin today−140%

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.

Cite: Owner Scorecard, "Riot Platforms Inc. Common Stock (RIOT), the owner's record," https://ownerscorecard.com/c/RIOT, data as of 2026-07-09.

Manual order: ← RILYZ its page in the Manual RITM →

Industry order: ← RILYZ the Capital Markets & Asset Management chapter RJF →