Share count
1.6Bpeak FY2021
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UWMC, UWM Holdings Corporation
UWM is the largest overall residential mortgage lender as well as the largest purchase lender in the U.S., by closed loan volume, despite originating loans exclusively through the wholesale channel.
The loan is either placed into an investment portfolio (in the case of banks and typically only for certain loans with variable or shorter term fixed interest rates) or packaged together with other loans and sold as MBS to investors in the secondary market.
According to the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System ("NMLS" ), as of September 30, 2025, there were approximately 358,000 federally registered mortgage loan officers in the U.S.
The business
What it sells, where the money comes from, the kind of company it is.
Revenue · FY2025
$3.2B
+18.2% YoY · −9% 5-yr CAGR
Vital signs · TTM, with 5-yr average
Revenue $3.4B 5-yr avg $2.7B
Revenue $901M +47.0% vs yr-ago qtr
Net income $170M yr-ago ($247M)
Net margin 18.9% yr-ago −40.3%
The business in brief
read the 10-K →What this business is and what moves its needle, from its own SEC filings.
- Situation
- 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. Cyclical. Margins collapse and recover repeatedly across the record; a single year, good or bad, misstates the through-cycle earning power.
- 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. The operating margin has swung widely — from −0.1% to 45% over the years — so the through-cycle figure carries more than any single year, and the worst year more than the best. On its own account, the filing leans hardest on concentrated dependence, set against the numbers in what the filing emphasizes, below.
- Is it a good business?
- Return on capital has rarely cleared the cost of capital (median 4%, above 15% in 0 of 4 years). Owner earnings, the cash-based check, have been thin too. The cycle and the balance sheet decide this one; the worst year tells more than the median, and 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, 2019–2025
realized figures from each filing · older years to the left| 2019’19 | 2020’20 | 2021’21 | 2022’22 | 2023’23 | 2024’24 | 2025’25 | TTMTTMMar 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income statement | ||||||||
| $1.3B | $4.9B | $3.0B | $2.4B | $2.2B | $2.7B | $3.2B | $3.4B | RevenueRevenue |
| $579M | ($7M) | $413M | $351M | $301M | $21M | $34M | ($7M) | Operating incomeOp. inc. |
| 45.3% | −0.1% | 13.9% | 14.8% | 13.9% | 0.8% | 1.1% | −0.2% | Operating marginOp. mgn |
| $415M | ($6M) | $98M | $42M | ($13M) | $14M | $27M | $66M | Net incomeNet inc. |
| 0% | — | 9% | 6% | — | 31% | 20% | 30% | Effective tax rateTax rate |
| Cash flow & returns | ||||||||
| ($3.5B) | $56M | ($10.0B) | $8.3B | $165M | ($6.2B) | ($2.6B) | ($5.5B) | Operating cash flowOp. cash |
| $9M | $17M | $38M | $49M | $50M | $49M | $56M | $58M | DepreciationDeprec. |
| ($3.9B) | $45M | ($10.1B) | $8.2B | $115M | ($6.3B) | ($2.8B) | ($5.7B) | Working capital & otherWC & other |
| $17M | $57M | $65M | $27M | $26M | $39M | $74M | $75M | CapexCapex |
| 1.3% | 1.2% | 2.2% | 1.1% | 1.2% | 1.5% | 2.3% | 2.2% | Capex / revenueCapex/rev |
| ($3.5B) | ($876K) | ($10.0B) | $8.2B | $139M | ($6.3B) | ($2.7B) | ($5.5B) | Owner earningsOwner earn. |
| −274.8% | −0.0% | −337.4% | 347.4% | 6.4% | −234.9% | −86.1% | −160.8% | Owner earnings marginOE mgn |
| ($3.5B) | ($876K) | ($10.0B) | $8.2B | $139M | ($6.3B) | ($2.7B) | ($5.5B) | Free cash flowFCF |
| −274.8% | −0.0% | −337.4% | 347.4% | 6.4% | −234.9% | −86.1% | −160.8% | Free cash flow marginFCF mgn |
| $0 | $0 | $31M | $37M | $37M | $40M | $79M | $90M | Dividends paidDiv. paid |
| $0 | $0 | $82M | $0 | $0 | — | — | — | BuybacksBuybacks |
| — | — | 8% | 7% | — | 0% | 1% | -0% | ROICROIC |
| — | -116% | 3% | 1% | -1% | 1% | 2% | 4% | Return on equityROE |
| — | −116% | 2% | 0% | −2% | −1% | −3% | −1% | Retained to equityRetained/eq |
| Balance sheet | ||||||||
| $1K | $1.2B | $731M | $705M | $497M | $507M | $503M | $424M | Cash & investmentsCash+inv |
| — | $254M | $416M | $383M | $512M | $418M | $527M | $1.3B | ReceivablesReceiv. |
| — | $254M | $416M | $383M | $512M | $418M | $527M | $1.3B | Operating working capitalOper. WC |
| $412K | $234K | — | — | — | — | — | $234K | Current assetsCur. assets |
| $426K | $5M | — | — | — | — | — | $5M | Current liabilitiesCur. liab. |
| 1.0× | 0.0× | — | — | — | — | — | 0.0× | Current ratioCurr. ratio |
| $412K | $11.5B | $22.5B | $13.6B | $11.9B | $15.7B | $16.9B | $19.3B | Total assetsAssets |
| — | $800M | $2.0B | $2.0B | $2.0B | $2.8B | $3.0B | $3.0B | Total debtDebt |
| — | ($424M) | $1.3B | $1.3B | $1.5B | $2.3B | $2.5B | $2.6B | Net debt / (cash)Net debt |
| 3.5× | -0.0× | 1.4× | 1.1× | 0.9× | — | — | -0.0× | Interest coverageInt. cov. |
| $0 | $5M | $3.2B | $3.2B | $2.5B | $2.1B | $1.6B | $1.6B | Shareholders’ equityEquity |
| 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.6% | 0.9% | 1.6% | 1.6% | Stock comp / revenueSBC/rev |
| Per share | ||||||||
| — | — | 24.05B | 1.39B | 1.40B | 1.67B | 1.60B | 1.60B | Shares out (diluted)Shares |
| — | — | $0.12 | $1.71 | $1.55 | $1.60 | $1.98 | $2.16 | Revenue / shareRev/sh |
| — | — | $0.00 | $0.03 | $-0.01 | $0.01 | $0.02 | $0.04 | EPS (diluted)EPS |
| — | — | $-0.42 | $5.94 | $0.10 | $-3.76 | $-1.70 | $-3.47 | Owner earnings / shareOE/sh |
| — | — | $-0.42 | $5.94 | $0.10 | $-3.76 | $-1.70 | $-3.47 | Free cash flow / shareFCF/sh |
| — | — | $0.00 | $0.03 | $0.03 | $0.02 | $0.05 | $0.06 | Dividends / shareDiv/sh |
| — | — | $0.00 | $0.02 | $0.02 | $0.02 | $0.05 | $0.05 | Cap. spending / shareCapex/sh |
| — | — | $0.13 | $2.29 | $1.77 | $1.23 | $1.00 | $1.00 | Book value / shareBVPS |
The diluted share count moved ×1/17.34 into 2022 — shares retired, not a split the totals corroborate — and the per-share figures carry the counts as filed.
Share counts before 2025 are restated ×15 for a stock split, so per-share figures sit on one basis.
Per-share growththe realized rate an owner's share compounded
| 6-yr | 5-yr | |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue / share | +100.0%/yr (4-yr) | +100.0%/yr (4-yr) |
| EPS | +43.0%/yr (4-yr) | +43.0%/yr (4-yr) |
| Dividends / share | +149.2%/yr (4-yr) | +149.2%/yr (4-yr) |
| Capital spending / share | +103.1%/yr (4-yr) | +103.1%/yr (4-yr) |
| Book value / share | +65.8%/yr (4-yr) | +65.8%/yr (4-yr) |
The record, charted
FY2019–2025Each measure over its full record; the current point and the worst year marked. Share counts on the current split basis.
ROIC
1%low FY2024
Owner earnings vs. net income
Owner earningsNet incomeThe accountant's number, and the cash an owner can take; the gap is the tell.
($2.7B)owner earningsvs.$27Mnet incomelow FY2021
Where the cash went
ReinvestBuybacksDividendsAcquisitionsRetainedEach year's operating cash, by what management did with it: the mix, and how it drifts.
FY2020FY2023
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 $27M of profit but ($2.7B) of owner earnings: $2.7B less than the profit line, taken out by capital spending and the timing of cash.
| FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reported net income | $27M | $14M | ($13M) | $42M | $98M |
| Depreciation & amortizationnon-cash charge added back | +$56M | +$49M | +$50M | +$49M | +$38M |
| Stock-based compensationreal costnon-cash, but a real cost | +$50M | +$25M | +$14M | +$8M | +$6M |
| Working capital & othertiming of cash in and out, other non-cash items | −$2.8B | −$6.3B | +$115M | +$8.2B | −$10.1B |
| Cash from operations | ($2.6B) | ($6.2B) | $165M | $8.3B | ($10.0B) |
| Capital expenditurecash put back in to keep running and to grow | −$74M | −$39M | −$26M | −$27M | −$65M |
| Owner earnings | ($2.7B) | ($6.3B) | $139M | $8.2B | ($10.0B) |
| Owner-earnings marginowner earnings ÷ revenue | -86% | -235% | 6% | 347% | -337% |
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 $50M), owner earnings is nearer ($2.8B).
Much of fiscal 2025's profit didn't arrive as operating cash; it sits in “working capital & other” above. That can be a real inventory or timing swing, or profit that doesn't run through operating cash at all: a heavy tax year, equity-method earnings, or investment income booked through investing. For a year like this, owner earnings understates the cash earned; the full cash-flow statement carries the rest.
Maintenance capex is estimated as depreciation where a growing business invests above it; free cash flow is the figure the scorecard's free-cash margin reads.
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? -0.0×Does not cover its interestOperating income ($7M) ÷ interest expense $320M
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 lossCash $503M − debt $3.0B
What this means
Netting $503M of cash and short-term investments against $3.0B of debt leaves $2.5B 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.
- 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 cycle4-yr median, range 0%–8%; -0% latest = NOPAT ($5M) ÷ invested capital $4.1BIndustry 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 4 years (it ran -0% 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 cycle7-yr median margin, range -337%–347%; latest ($2.7B) = operating cash ($2.6B) − maintenance capex $74MIndustry peers: median 15%
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 -86% of revenue this year, a -86% median across 7 years. Treating stock comp as the real expense it is (less $50M of SBC) leaves ($2.8B).
- Are earnings backed by cash? -96.70×Thinly cash-backedCash from ops ($2.6B) ÷ net income $27M
In the filing’s words Read against the cash, reported earnings have run ahead of the operating cash the business generated over the record — about 16% of assets a year, among the widest gaps in the catalogue. For an inventory- or content-heavy grower that can be cash tied up in real assets as it expands; elsewhere it can mean the earnings lean on accounting estimates — the cash-flow statement against the income statement is where to tell which.
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? 1.33×ExpandingCapex $74M ÷ depreciation $56M
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 · 1 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 PassRevenue ≥ $2B · $3.2B
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 MissCurrent ratio ≥ 2× · 0.05×
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 MissDebt ≤ working capital · $3.0B vs ($5M) 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 MissA profit every year (7-yr record) · 2 loss years
What this means
Graham wanted earnings in each of the past ten years, the stability a defensive owner leans on.
- Dividend record MissUninterrupted dividends · 5 of 7 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 MissEarnings +33% over the record · −94%
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 $0.03/share (latest year $0.09), the averaged base the calculator's gate runs on, and book value is $5.46/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, 2019–2025
Whether the record’s returns held, and what the capital reinvested earned.
- Profitable years 5 of 7
What this means
Lost money in 2 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 20% → 5% (3-yr avg ends)
What this means
Through the cycle the operating margin slipped — about 20% early to 5% lately, median 14% — 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.
- Worst year 2020 · −0.1% op. margin
What this means
Operations went underwater in 2020, understand why before trusting the good years.
- Share count −0.0%/yr
What this means
Roughly flat share count, little dilution, little buyback.
- Dividend record rising
What this means
Paid and raised the dividend across the record, the continuity Graham prized.
Does AI threaten the moat?
Low contestabilityThe moat is physical, regulated or balance-sheet-funded, the kind AI cuts costs within but does not contest.
In its own filing Named as a competitive risk
Its FY2025 10-K names artificial intelligence as a competitive threat.
“Adverse consequences of these risks related to AI could undermine the decisions, predictions or analyses such technologies produce and subject us to competitive harm, legal liability, heightened regulatory scrutiny and brand or reputational harm.”
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 fiscal year-end, Dec 31, 2020Can 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$234K
- Cash & short-term investments$424M
- Receivables$1.3B
Current liabilities$5M
- Other current liabilities$5M
Current ratio0.05×all current assets ÷ what's due · Graham looked for 2×
Quick ratio0.05×stricter: inventory excluded
Cash ratio81.57×strictest: cash alone against what's due
Working capital($5M)the cushion left after near-term bills
Cash runway0.1 yrsthe business is consuming cash; this is how long the cash on hand lasts at that rate
Revenue, latest quarter vs. a year ago+47.0%the freshest read on whether the business is still growing
Deeper floors
Tangible book value$1.6Bequity stripped of goodwill & intangibles
Net current asset value($17.7B)Graham's net-net: current assets less all liabilities
Debt incl. operating leases$3.0Bno operating-lease liability tagged this quarter, so debt alone
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 | Chief executive | Pay, as filed | “Actually paid” | Owner earnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Mat Ishbia | $7.8M | $7.8M | ($10.0B) |
| 2022 | Mat Ishbia | $7.0M | $7.0M | $8.2B |
| 2023 | Mat Ishbia | $12.2M | $12.9M | $139M |
| 2024 | Mat Ishbia | $13.2M | $12.8M | ($6.3B) |
| 2025 | Mat Ishbia | $10.0M | $9.4M | ($2.7B) |
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 ratio233:1
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$50M
The slice of the business handed to employees in shares this year, 2% 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.
What an owner would ask, FY2025
read the 10-K →- Which reported numbers are a judgment call?Management names Revenue recognition 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, Mortgage & Specialty Finance
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| COINCoinbase Global Inc. | $7.2B | — | 20.0% | 11% | 2% |
| UWMCUWM Holdings Corporation | $3.2B | — | 13.9% | 4% | -86% |
| CACCCredit Acceptance Corporation | $2.3B | — | 45.7% | 10% | 54% |
| PGYPagaya Technologies Ltd. | $1.3B | 41% | -1.3% | 4% | 3% |
| PRAAPRA Group Inc. | $1.2B | — | 570.9% | 6% | 124% |
| ONITOnity Group Inc. | $1.1B | — | 41.0% | 2% | 15% |
| PWPPerella Weinberg Partners | $751M | — | -7.6% | — | 15% |
| FIGRFigure Technology Solutions Inc. | $507M | — | 2.7% | 4% | — |
| Group median | — | — | 16.9% | 4% | 15% |
The price
What a price has to assume.
What the price implies
reverse-DCFUWM Holdings 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.
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The assumptions
Revenue, delivered−7%/yr’20→’25
Enter a price to run it.
Owner earnings it must reach—
Margin the price demands—
Owner-earnings margin today−161%
A dated snapshot of the price you typed, the assumptions you set, and what the page showed for them. A snapshot is never edited after it is saved. Your notebook is yours alone — the commitment states what is stored and what we will never do.
Two reads of one future. From your price: the owner earnings the company must reach, valued at a mature multiple and discounted back at your rate, expressed as the margin it implies on revenue grown at your rate. From your belief: the mature margin you would credit, set on the dial above. When the margin the price demands runs above the one you would believe, you are paying for a future taken on faith. For a deep cyclical at a trough, normalized through-cycle earnings are the better lens; this mode is for the genuinely unprofitable, and for the profitable business whose capital spending currently outruns its cash.
Cite: Owner Scorecard, "UWM Holdings Corporation (UWMC), the owner's record," https://ownerscorecard.com/c/UWMC, data as of 2026-07-09.
Manual order: ← UVV its page in the Manual UZD →
Industry order: ← TREE the Mortgage & Specialty Finance chapter