Dolby
DLB NYSE· Application Software
Last close · Oct 23, 2026
$62.85
KIRA · Stoqly’s AI analyst, in plain words
- Dolby had $1.3B of revenue in fiscal 2025, up 5.9% on the year before. Over five years, revenue changed +3.0% a year on average.
- Its operating margin was 19.6%, down 0.6 pts: of every 100 in sales, about 20 is left after running the business.
- Dolby made $255M of net profit in fiscal 2025. From fiscal 2016 to 2025, diluted EPS grew 4.2% a year.
- Free cash flow was $436M in fiscal 2025, 32.3% of revenue.
- Dolby returned $252M to shareholders in fiscal 2025, 58% of free cash flow. The diluted share count rose 0.2%.
- Dolby has $703M more cash than debt.
Market cap
$5.9B
P/E
26.7x
Revenue
$1.3B
Net income
$255M
Free cash flow
$436M
Operating margin
19.6%
Dolby in 30 seconds · fiscal 2025
Are sales growing?
+5.9%
Yes. Sales grew 5.9% last year.
Does it make a profit?
18.9%
Yes. It keeps 18.9% of every sale as profit.
Does profit turn into cash?
32.3%
Yes. 32.3% of sales ends up as free cash.
Is debt under control?
Net cash
Yes. It has more cash than debt.
How healthy are the accounts?
5 / 9
Mixed. It passes 5 of 9 health tests.
How is the share priced?
26.7x
One share costs 26.7 times its yearly profit per share. Typical for its sector: 33.5x.
What Dolby does
Dolby invents audio and video technologies and earns most of its money by licensing them. Its best-known are Dolby Atmos, a three-dimensional surround sound format, and Dolby Vision, a high dynamic range picture format. Device makers such as television, smartphone, PC and soundbar companies pay Dolby to build these technologies, and its audio codecs (which compress and decode sound), into their products. Dolby says about 1,000 manufacturers license its technology. Content creators and distributors use its tools to make and deliver films, shows, music and sports in these formats. Licensing, covering branded technology and patents, brought in 93% of revenue in fiscal 2025. The rest came from products and services, such as Dolby Cinema and cinema equipment. By market, broadcast products such as televisions and set-top boxes made up 34% of licensing revenue, mobile 22%, consumer electronics 12% and PCs 12%.
Biggest risks, in its own words
- Changing ways people watch and listen to content, which could hurt demand for its technology.
- The loss of a key licensee, since a small number of licensees can make up much of the revenue.
- Reliance on device makers including them in products, and on technology standards that may choose rival technologies.
- Licensees' royalty reports that can be late, inaccurate or understated, which makes revenue swing.
- Fiscal year ends
- September 26, 2025
- Latest annual report
- 10-K · Nov 18, 2025
- Legal name
- Dolby Laboratories, Inc.
- CIK
- 0001308547
Dolby · DLB
Results and finances
The last 5 fiscal years. Amounts in USD.
| Fiscal year | FY21 | FY22 | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales and profit | |||||
| Revenue | $1.3B | $1.3B | $1.3B | $1.3B | $1.3B |
| Revenue growth | 10.3% | −2.1% | 3.7% | −2.0% | 5.9% |
| Gross margin | 89.9% | 88.7% | 88.3% | 89.0% | 88.1% |
| Operating margin | 26.9% | 16.5% | 16.6% | 20.3% | 19.6% |
| Net income | $310M | $184M | $201M | $262M | $255M |
| Net margin | 24.2% | 14.7% | 15.4% | 20.6% | 18.9% |
| Diluted EPS | $2.97 | $1.81 | $2.05 | $2.69 | $2.62 |
| Cash | |||||
| Cash from operations | $448M | $319M | $367M | $327M | $472M |
| Capital expenditure | $54.5M | $47.9M | $30.3M | $30.0M | $36.3M |
| Free cash flow | $393M | $271M | $337M | $297M | $436M |
| FCF margin | 30.7% | 21.6% | 25.9% | 23.3% | 32.3% |
| Dividends paid | $89.2M | $100M | $103M | $115M | $127M |
| Share buybacks | $246M | $531M | $149M | $160M | $125M |
| Share count change | 1.6% | −2.5% | −4.2% | −0.4% | 0.2% |
| Debt and strength | |||||
| Cash and short-term investments | $1.3B | $809M | $885M | $482M | $703M |
| Debt incl. finance leases | $0.0M | $0.0M | $0.0M | $0.0M | $0.0M |
| Shareholders' equity | $2.6B | $2.2B | $2.4B | $2.5B | $2.6B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | −2.9x | −2.7x | −3.0x | −1.4x | −2.0x |
| Current ratio | 5.6x | 4.7x | 3.5x | 2.9x | 3.2x |
| Interest coverage | 719.0x | 524.4x | — | — | — |
| Returns and quality | |||||
| Return on capital | 23.2% | 12.7% | 11.9% | 12.5% | 11.4% |
| Return on equity | 12.3% | 7.6% | 8.7% | 10.8% | 10.0% |
| Piotroski F-score | 6 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 5 |
| Altman Z'' | 12.0 | 11.2 | 9.6 | 9.0 | 9.8 |
Insiders bought, 12 months
$0.0M
0 insiders
Insiders sold, 12 months
$14.7M
9 insiders
Of sales under plans
87%
$12.8M
How to read these numbers
- Revenue:
- Total sales reported in the income statement.
- Operating margin:
- Operating income as a share of revenue.
- Net income:
- Profit after all expenses, interest and tax.
- Free cash flow:
- Cash from operations minus capital spending.
- Net debt / EBITDA:
- Years of EBITDA needed to pay off net debt. Below zero means more cash than debt.
- Return on capital:
- After-tax operating income as a share of the money invested in the business: debt plus equity, minus cash.
Dolby · DLB
Charts and comparison
Ten years at a glance, and how it stacks up against similar companies.
Revenue
Net income
Margins, % of revenue
Cash vs debt (incl. leases)
Free cash flow
Dividends and buybacks
Similar companies
Each company’s latest fiscal year. Fiscal years end in different months, so periods don’t line up exactly.
| Company | Market cap | Growth | Op. margin | FCF margin | ROIC | P/E | F-score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dolby DLB | $5.9B | 5.9% | 19.6% | 32.3% | 11.4% | 26.7x | 5 |
| Guidewire Software GWRE | $16.1B | 22.7% | 10.2% | 25.6% | 12.1% | — | 8 |
| Bentley Systems BSY | $12.7B | 11.0% | 24.2% | 34.6% | 12.3% | 43.6x | 9 |
| Samsara IOT | $26.5B | 29.6% | −3.3% | 12.8% | — | — | — |
| Bill BILL | $5.1B | 13.0% | −4.4% | 25.0% | −1.7% | — | 4 |
Price compared with profit (P/E)
How many times its yearly profit per share one share costs. Higher means investors pay more for each unit of profit.
KIRA
At $62.85 a share, the company is worth $5.9B: 26.7 times its earnings of the last four quarters.
Dolby grew sales faster than 0 of its 4 similar companies. Its P/E is higher than 0 of 1.
Source: SEC EDGAR XBRL filings (CIK 0001308547). Data updated October 11, 2026. For information only — not investment advice. Check the original filings before relying on any figure.