Owner Scorecard


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UTL, UNITIL Corporation

Multi-Utilities capital-intensive Regulated utility

Unitil is the parent company of Granite State, an interstate natural gas transmission pipeline company that provides interstate natural gas pipeline access and transportation services to Northern Utilities in its New Hampshire and Maine service territory.

The following companies are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Unitil: Company Name State and Year of Organization Principal Business Unitil Energy Systems, Inc.

Unitil's principal business is the local distribution of electricity and natural gas to approximately 215,100 customers throughout its service territories in the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine.

Latest annual: FY2025 10-K
UTL · UNITIL Corporation
I

The business

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

Revenue · FY2025
$536M
+8.3% YoY · 5% 5-yr CAGR
Vital signs · TTM, with 5-yr average
Revenue $582M 5-yr avg $525M
Operating margin 19.1% 5-yr avg 16.7%
ROIC 7% 5-yr avg 6%
Owner-earnings margin −10% 5-yr avg −6%
Free cash flow margin −10% 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.

What it is
Revenue is Gas (56%) and Electric (44%).
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 17% through the cycle, a solid margin the cost base and competition set as much as the price does. That margin has stayed fairly steady relative to where it runs (14%–19% over the years), so unit growth and cost discipline, not a moving line, are the lever. Capital spending runs about 26% of sales, 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 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 7%, 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 →

Revenue spreads across 2 segments, the largest Gas at 56%.

Revenue by reportable segment, FY2025
  • Gas56%$300M
  • Electric44%$236M

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, 2016–2025

realized figures from each filing · older years to the left
2016’162017’172018’182019’192020’202021’212022’222023’232024’242025’25TTMTTMMar 2026
Income statement
$383M$406M$444M$438M$419M$473M$563M$557M$495M$536M$582MRevenueRevenue
$70M$75M$71M$73M$71M$78M$81M$87M$91M$101M$111MOperating incomeOp. inc.
18.3%18.6%16.0%16.7%17.1%16.4%14.3%15.6%18.3%18.9%19.1%Operating marginOp. mgn
$27M$29M$33M$44M$32M$36M$41M$45M$47M$50M$56MNet incomeNet inc.
36%38%20%24%24%24%21%23%23%23%24%Effective tax rateTax rate
Cash flow & returns
$68M$86M$79M$105M$76M$108M$98M$107M$126M$131M$129MOperating cash flowOp. cash
$41M$57M$46M$61M$44M$72M$56M$62M$79M$81M$73MWorking capital & otherWC & other
$98M$119M$102M$119M$123M$115M$122M$141M$170M$185M$185MCapexCapex
25.6%29.4%23.1%27.2%29.3%24.3%21.7%25.3%34.3%34.5%31.8%Capex / revenueCapex/rev
($30M)($33M)($24M)($14M)($47M)($7M)($24M)($34M)($44M)($54M)($56M)Owner earningsOwner earn.
−7.8%−8.1%−5.4%−3.3%−11.2%−1.5%−4.3%−6.1%−8.9%−10.0%−9.6%Owner earnings marginOE mgn
($30M)($33M)($24M)($14M)($47M)($7M)($24M)($34M)($44M)($54M)($56M)Free cash flowFCF
−7.8%−8.1%−5.4%−3.3%−11.2%−1.5%−4.3%−6.1%−8.9%−10.0%−9.6%Free cash flow marginFCF mgn
$0$0$160M$89MAcquisitionsAcquis.
$20M$20M$22M$22M$23M$24M$25M$26M$28M$30M$31MDividends paidDiv. paid
7%6%8%7%6%6%7%7%6%6%7%ROICROIC
9%9%9%12%8%8%9%9%9%8%9%Return on equityROE
2%3%3%6%2%3%3%4%4%3%4%Retained to equityRetained/eq
Balance sheet
$6M$9M$8M$5M$6M$7M$9M$7M$6M$16M$17MCash & investmentsCash+inv
$53M$67M$67M$55M$62M$67M$74M$75M$75M$99M$107MReceivablesReceiv.
$32M$42M$43M$38M$33M$52M$69M$48M$50M$63M$47MAccounts payablePayables
$21M$26M$24M$18M$29M$15M$5M$27M$25M$36M$60MOperating working capitalOper. WC
$132M$151M$152M$131M$139M$160M$195M$177M$189M$240M$237MCurrent assetsCur. assets
$177M$151M$193M$160M$136M$174M$260M$277M$229M$426M$416MCurrent liabilitiesCur. liab.
0.7×1.0×0.8×0.8×1.0×0.9×0.7×0.6×0.8×0.6×0.6×Current ratioCurr. ratio
$0$4M$4MGoodwillGoodwill
$1.1B$1.2B$1.3B$1.4B$1.5B$1.5B$1.6B$1.7B$1.8B$2.1B$2.2BTotal assetsAssets
$334M$406M$406M$457M$532M$506M$496M$514M$643M$671M$669MTotal debtDebt
$328M$397M$398M$452M$526M$500M$487M$508M$637M$655M$652MNet debt / (cash)Net debt
3.0×3.0×2.7×2.7×2.7×2.9×2.8×2.5×2.4×2.3×2.5×Interest coverageInt. cov.
$293M$337M$351M$377M$389M$449M$468M$489M$513M$610M$636MShareholders’ equityEquity
Per share
14.0M14.1M14.8M14.9M15.0M15.4M16.0M16.1M16.1M16.8M17.9MShares out (diluted)Shares
$27.39$28.80$29.95$29.41$28.00$30.78$35.21$34.70$30.72$31.93$32.56Revenue / shareRev/sh
$1.94$2.06$2.23$2.97$2.15$2.35$2.59$2.82$2.92$2.99$3.13EPS (diluted)EPS
$-2.13$-2.35$-1.61$-0.96$-3.14$-0.47$-1.53$-2.12$-2.73$-3.20$-3.11Owner earnings / shareOE/sh
$-2.13$-2.35$-1.61$-0.96$-3.14$-0.47$-1.53$-2.12$-2.73$-3.20$-3.11Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh
$1.43$1.45$1.47$1.48$1.51$1.53$1.57$1.63$1.71$1.79$1.75Dividends / shareDiv/sh
$7.01$8.46$6.91$8.00$8.20$7.48$7.63$8.78$10.55$11.03$10.34Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh
$20.94$23.88$23.69$25.29$26.03$29.17$29.23$30.48$31.81$36.31$35.58Book value / shareBVPS
Per-share growththe realized rate an owner's share compounded
9-yr5-yr
Revenue / share+1.7%/yr+2.7%/yr
EPS+4.9%/yr+6.8%/yr
Dividends / share+2.6%/yr+3.5%/yr
Capital spending / share+5.2%/yr+6.1%/yr
Book value / share+6.3%/yr+6.9%/yr

The record, charted

FY2016–2025

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

Share count
17Mpeak FY2025
ROIC
6%low FY2020

Owner earnings vs. net income

Owner earningsNet income

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

($54M)owner earningsvs.$50Mnet incomelow FY2025

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

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 $50M of profit but ($54M) of owner earnings: $104M less than the profit line, taken out by capital spending and the timing of cash.

FY2025FY2024FY2023FY2022FY2021
Reported net income$50M$47M$45M$41M$36M
Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items+$81M+$79M+$62M+$56M+$72M
Cash from operations$131M$126M$107M$98M$108M
Capital expenditurecash put back in to keep running and to grow−$185M−$170M−$141M−$122M−$115M
Owner earnings($54M)($44M)($34M)($24M)($7M)
Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue-10%-9%-6%-4%-2%

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 .

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?

  • Adequate
    Operating income $101M ÷ interest expense $44M
    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? $655M · 6.5× operating profit
    Heavy net debt
    Cash $16M − debt $671M
    What this means

    Netting $16M of cash and short-term investments against $671M of debt leaves $655M owed, about 6.5× a year's operating profit (6.6× 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 cycle
    10-yr median, range 6%–8%; 6% latest = NOPAT $78M ÷ invested capital $1.3B
    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.

  • Consumes cash through the cycle
    10-yr median margin, range -11%–-2%; latest ($54M) = operating cash $131M − maintenance capex $185M
    Industry peers: median 7%
    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 -10% of revenue this year, a -8% median across 10 years.

  • Cash-backed
    Cash from ops $131M ÷ net income $50M
    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?

  • 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?
    Not enough data
    What this means

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

Graham’s defensive tests · 3 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 Miss
    Revenue ≥ $2B · $536M
    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× · 0.56×
    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 · $671M vs ($186M) 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 · +60%
    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 $2.64/share (latest year $2.79), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is $33.88/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 18% → 18% (3-yr avg ends)
    What this means

    Through the cycle the operating margin held roughly steady — about 18% early, 18% lately, median 17%.

  • Reinvestment, incremental ROIC 5%
    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 · 14.3% op. margin
    What this means

    Stayed profitable even in its hardest year, the resilience that survives recessions.

  • Share count +2.0%/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 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.

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.

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$237M
  • Cash & short-term investments$17M
  • Receivables$107M
  • Other current assets$113M
Current liabilities$416M
  • Debt due within a year$38M
  • Accounts payable$47M
  • Other current liabilities$331M
Current ratio0.57×all current assets ÷ what's due · Graham looked for 2×
Quick ratio0.57×stricter: inventory excluded
Cash ratio0.04×strictest: cash alone against what's due
Working capital($179M)the cushion left after near-term bills
Debt due this year vs. cash$38M due · $17M cash cash alone won't cover the maturities; it leans on refinancing or operating cash · both figures from the Mar 31, 2026 balance sheet
Revenue, latest quarter vs. a year ago+27.0%the freshest read on whether the business is still growing
Current ratio, recent quarters0.6× → 0.6×
Deeper floors
Tangible book value$632Mequity stripped of goodwill & intangibles
Debt incl. operating leases$676M$7M of it operating leases

From the company's latest filing.

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$38M
'27$56M
'28$11M
'29$44M
'30$27M

Bars scaled to the largest single year.

Due in the next 12 months$38Mthe first rung: what must be repaid or rolled over within the year
Within two years$94Mthe near wall, the part most exposed to today’s credit conditions
Biggest single year$56Min 2027the lumpiest maturity, where a refinancing, if needed, is largest
Due over the next five years$175Mthe near slice; the balance sheet carries $671M of debt in all

Against what the business has and earns

Cash & short-term investments, Mar 31, 2026$17M
Together, against $38M due next year0.45×

Cash on hand as of Mar 31, 2026 comes to $17M against the $38M due in the twelve months after the Dec 31, 2025 schedule: about 45% of it, so the near maturities lean on refinancing or the rest of the year’s cash.

Maturity schedule extracted from the company’s Dec 31, 2025 annual report and reconciled to the balance-sheet debt.

How the cash was used, 2016–2025

Over the record, the business generated $983M of operating cash; how management split it reads as a reinvestor, most operating cash is plowed back into the business.

  • Reinvested$1.3B · 132%
  • Dividends$239M · 24%
  • Returned to owners$239M

    $239M as dividends and $0 as buybacks.

  • Source of funding−$551M

    Reinvestment and shareholder returns ran $551M beyond the operating cash the business generated, so the gap was financed off the balance sheet: debt rose from $334M to $669M.

  • Net change in share count27.7%

    The diluted count rose from 14M to 18M: issuance (stock pay, deals) outran any buybacks, so owners were diluted on net.

  • Dividend record$1.79/sh

    Paid in 10 of the years on record, the per-share dividend growing about 3% a year. It was never cut over the span.

  • Return on what it retained−10%

    Of the earnings it kept rather than paid out ($146M over the span), annual owner earnings (first three years vs last three) fell $15M, so each retained $1 gave back about 0.10 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 yearChief executivePay, as filed“Actually paid”Owner earnings
2021Mr. Meissner$2.4M$2.2M($7M)
2022Mr. Meissner$1.5M$1.7M($24M)
2023Mr. Meissner$2.6M$2.3M($34M)
2024Mr. Meissner$2.6M$2.4M($44M)
2025Mr. Meissner$3.2M$2.3M($54M)

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 ownership2.2%

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

Inverting the record

Invert: instead of why UNITIL Corporation 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.

3 of the 5 tests turned up something to look into; the other 2 came back clean.

  • Look hereDid the share count rise anyway?27.7%

    Diluted shares grew 27.7% over 2016–2025. Owners were diluted on net; each share owns less of the business than it did. Read the buyback line beside this one, not on its own.

  • Look hereDid debt outgrow the business?$334M → $669M

    Debt rose from $334M to $669M while owner earnings went from about ($29M) to ($44M): 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 hereDid receivables and inventory outpace sales?14% → 18% of sales

    Receivables and inventory grew from $53M to $107M while revenue grew 52%: working capital is climbing faster than sales (14% of revenue then, 18% now). That can mean customers paying slower, stock building up, or revenue pulled forward. The filing's cash-flow and receivables notes say which.

And these came back clean
  • Is it less profitable than it was?
  • Did reported profit become cash?

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 as critical estimates

    each rests partly on management's judgment; the filing's note sets out the assumptionsverify →

The questions the record and the charts do not answer on their own; each carries the figure and the place to look.

Peers, Multi-Utilities

The same industry, side by side on owner economics. Each 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
AVAAvista$2.0B16.7%5%11%
NWENorthWestern Energy$1.6B20.2%5%-9%
ALEALLETE$1.5B90%12.6%4%11%
AWRAmerican States Water$658M89%28.3%10%17%
UTLUNITIL Corporation$536M16.9%7%-7%
GNEGenie Energy Ltd.$502M33%5.8%29%7%
CLNEClean Energy Fuels Corp.$425M49%-10.5%-4%5%
OPALOPAL Fuels Inc.$327M3.3%5%
Group median14.7%5%6%
IV

The price

What a price has to assume.

What the price implies

reverse-DCF

UNITIL Corporation 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, delivered4%/yr’20→’25

Enter a price to run it.

Owner earnings it must reach
Margin the price demands
Owner-earnings margin today−10%

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, "UNITIL Corporation (UTL), the owner's record," https://ownerscorecard.com/c/UTL, data as of 2026-07-09.

Manual order: ← UTI its page in the Manual UTZ →

Industry order: ← SRE the Multi-Utilities chapter VIVO →