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Telephone and Data Systems

TDS NYSE Integrated Telecommunication Services Financials FY2016–FY2025

Telephone and Data Systems' revenue fell 5.3% to $1.2 billion in fiscal 2025. Its operating margin was −7.9%, up from −14.8% a year earlier. Free cash flow was $199 million, down 74.5%. It paid out $196 million in dividends and buybacks, 98% of free cash flow. The diluted share count rose 4.3%.

Last close · Oct 23, 2026

$35.33

1.6%
Value it Compare
Revenue Total sales reported in the income statement.
$1.2B
5.3% vs prior year
Operating margin Operating income as a share of revenue.
−7.9%
6.8 pts
Net income Profit after all expenses, interest and tax.
−$6.2M
Free cash flow Cash from operations minus capital spending.
$199M
74.5%
Return on capital After-tax operating income as a share of the money invested in the business: debt plus equity, minus cash.
−1.5%
0.2 pts
Market cap Last close times the latest diluted share count, so it is approximate.
$4.1B
Oct 23 close
P/E Last close divided by diluted earnings per share over the last four quarters.
11.7x
On $3.01 EPS (TTM)

What Telephone and Data Systems does

No business description yet.

Legal name
TELEPHONE AND DATA SYSTEMS, INC.
Fiscal year ends
December 31, 2025
Latest annual report
—
Accession · CIK
0001051512-26-000011
0001051512

Revenue and margins

Telephone and Data Systems had $1.2B of revenue in fiscal 2025, down 5.3% on the year before.

Revenue
Revenue
Margins, % of revenue
Gross Operating Net FCF
Margins, % of revenue
Gross Operating Net FCF

Net income and earnings per share

Loss periods are shown in red.

Net income
Net income
Diluted EPS
Diluted EPS

Returns on capital

After-tax operating income as a share of the money invested in the business: debt plus equity, minus cash.

Return on capital, equity and assets (annual)
Return on capital Return on equity Return on assets

Cash flow

Free cash flow was $199M in fiscal 2025, 16.2% of revenue. Cash from operations minus capital spending.

Free cash flow
Free cash flow
Cash from operations vs capital spending
Cash from operations Capital spending
Cash from operations vs capital spending
Cash from operations Capital spending

Dividends, buybacks and share count

Telephone and Data Systems returned $196M to shareholders in fiscal 2025, 98% of free cash flow. The diluted share count rose 4.3%.

Dividends and buybacks
Dividends Buybacks
Dividends and buybacks
Dividends Buybacks
Diluted shares outstanding (annual)

Value Telephone and Data Systems yourself

Change the assumptions and see what they imply per share. These are models, not forecasts or price targets — the answer depends entirely on what you put in.

Discounted cash flow

Value per share

—

Adds net cash of −$62.6M and divides by 118.6M diluted shares. Ten years of cash flows plus a terminal value, discounted to today.

Earnings multiple

Value per share

—

Reference multiples: today 11.7x · peers 11.5x · sector 17.3x.

Balance sheet

Cash, debt and the ratios that show how comfortably Telephone and Data Systems can carry it.

Cash vs debt (incl. leases)
Cash Debt
Fiscal year endFY21FY22FY23FY24FY25
Cash and short-term investments $367M$360M$236M$364M$766M
Debt incl. finance leases $2.9B$3.8B$4.1B$2.4B$829M
Net debt / EBITDA 2.3x3.4x—22.1x0.3x
Debt / equity 0.5x0.6x0.8x0.5x0.2x
Interest coverage 1.1x0.7x−11.0x−1.8x−0.9x
Current ratio 1.7x1.3x1.4x1.6x2.1x
Quick ratio 1.6x1.2x1.2x1.6x2.1x
Total assets $13.5B$14.6B$8.1B$13.7B$8.4B
Total liabilities $6.8B$7.9B$7.9B$7.8B$3.1B
Shareholders' equity $5.9B$5.8B$5.2B$5.1B$4.8B
Net debt (− = net cash) $2.6B$3.4B$3.9B$2.1B$62.6M

Insider trades

Open-market purchases and sales by officers, directors and 10% owners, from Form 4 filings. 'Plan' marks trades under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan.

Bought, 12 months

$0.0M

0 insiders

Sold, 12 months

$3.9M

3 insiders

Of sales under plans

6%

$0.2M

DateInsiderTradeSharesPriceValueFiling
Sep 11, 2026 Leroy T Carlson JrVice Chair, Director Sold 77,100 $38.45 $3.0M Form 4
Mar 23, 2026 Prudence E CarlsonDirector Sold plan 5,811 $42.00 $0.2M Form 4
Nov 11, 2025 Anita J KrollVP, Controller & CAO Sold 870 $39.16 $0.0M Form 4
Nov 10, 2025 Anita J KrollVP, Controller & CAO Sold 16,217 $39.02 $0.6M Form 4

Piotroski F-score

Nine pass/fail tests of profitability, funding and efficiency. 8–9 is strong, 0–2 weak.

TestFY23FY24FY25
Net income is positive ✕ ✕ ✕
Cash from operations is positive ✓ ✓ ✓
Return on assets rose ✕ ✓ ✓
Cash from operations exceeds net income ✓ ✓ ✓
Debt fell relative to assets ✕ ✓ ✓
Current ratio rose ✓ ✓ ✓
Share count didn't rise ✓ ✕ ✕
Gross margin rose — — —
Revenue rose relative to assets ✕ ✓ ✕
F-score 4 / 86 / 85 / 8
Accruals ratio −14.5%−10.8%−5.4%
Altman Z'' 1.431.432.72

Similar companies

Each company's latest fiscal year. Fiscal years end in different months, so periods don't line up exactly.

CompanyMarket capGrowthOp. marginFCF marginROICP/EF-score
Telephone and Data Systems TDS $4.1B −5.3% −7.9% 16.2% −1.5% 11.7x 5
AT&T T $143.2B 2.7% 19.2% 15.5% 8.7% 11.3x 7 Compare →
Verizon VZ $186.3B 2.5% 21.2% 14.6% 9.4% 11.6x 5 Compare →
Sphere Entertainment SPHR $3.9B 18.8% −18.8% — −4.8% — 7 Compare →
ZoomInfo GTM $1.3B 2.9% 18.1% 31.2% 5.3% — 7 Compare →

10 years of figures

US$ millions unless stated. Hover a ratio's name for its definition.

Download CSV
Fiscal yearFY16FY17FY18FY19FY20FY21FY22FY23FY24FY25
Income statement
Revenue $5.2B $5.0B $5.1B $5.2B $5.2B $5.3B $5.4B $1.4B $1.3B $1.2B
Gross profit $3.9B $3.8B — — — — — — — —
Operating income $108M −$108M $205M $179M $259M $261M $122M −$683M −$191M −$97.4M
Interest expense $170M $170M $172M $165M $168M $232M $174M $62.2M $109M $113M
Pretax income $92.0M −$122M $221M $211M $288M $221M $125M −$564M −$103M $89.0M
Income tax $40.0M −$279M $46.0M $64.0M $19.0M $33.0M $53.0M −$15.8M −$22.1M −$62.2M
Net income $43.0M $153M $135M $121M $226M $156M $62.0M −$500M −$27.7M −$6.2M
Diluted EPS $0.39 $1.37 $1.17 $1.03 $1.93 $1.00 −$0.07 −$5.05 −$0.85 −$0.65
Diluted shares 0.11B 0.11B 0.11B 0.12B 0.12B 0.12B 0.11B 0.11B 0.11B 0.12B
Cash flow
Cash from operations $782M $776M $1.0B $1.0B $1.5B $1.1B $1.2B $1.1B $1.1B $590M
Capital expenditure $636M $685M $776M $957M $1.3B $1.1B $1.2B $643M $365M $391M
Free cash flow $146M $91.0M $241M $59.0M $194M −$28.0M −$6.0M $498M $780M $199M
Depreciation and amortization $820M $817M $839M $890M $862M $851M $882M $271M $285M $303M
Stock-based compensation $42.0M $46.0M $54.0M $59.0M $53.0M $49.0M $42.0M $19.6M $18.3M $27.2M
Acquisitions $0.0M $0.0M $0.0M $0.0M $0.0M $0.0M $0.0M $0.0M $0.0M $0.0M
Share buybacks $3.0M $0.0M $0.0M $0.0M $14.0M $8.0M $40.0M $5.8M $0.0M $108M
Dividends paid $65.0M $69.0M $72.0M $75.0M $78.0M $119M $151M $153M $104M $87.7M
Dividends and buybacks $68.0M $69.0M $72.0M $75.0M $92.0M $127M $191M $158M $104M $196M
Balance sheet
Cash and short-term investments $900M $719M $938M $465M $1.4B $367M $360M $236M $364M $766M
Total debt $2.4B $2.5B $2.4B $2.3B $3.4B $2.9B $3.8B $4.1B $2.4B $829M
Finance lease liabilities $0.0M $0.0M $0.0M $8.0M $7.0M $0.0M $0.0M $0.0M $0.0M $0.0M
Current assets $2.1B $2.0B $2.3B $1.9B $3.0B $2.0B $2.0B $1.7B $1.7B $924M
Current liabilities $887M $918M $879M $962M $1.2B $1.2B $1.5B $1.2B $1.1B $440M
Inventory $151M $145M $150M $169M $154M $178M $268M $208M $4.1M $4.1M
Property and equipment, net $3.6B $3.4B $3.3B $3.5B $4.0B $4.4B $4.8B $5.1B $2.9B $3.0B
Total assets $9.4B $9.3B $9.8B $10.8B $12.5B $13.5B $14.6B $8.1B $13.7B $8.4B
Total liabilities $4.7B $4.4B $4.5B $5.4B $6.9B $6.8B $7.9B $7.9B $7.8B $3.1B
Shareholders' equity $4.1B $4.3B $4.6B $4.7B $4.8B $5.9B $5.8B $5.2B $5.1B $4.8B
Margins
Gross margin 76.0% 76.3% — — — — — — — —
Operating margin 2.1% −2.1% 4.0% 3.5% 5.0% 4.9% 2.3% −50.4% −14.8% −7.9%
EBITDA margin 18.0% 14.1% 20.4% 20.7% 21.5% 20.9% 18.6% −30.4% 7.3% 16.8%
Net margin 0.8% 3.0% 2.6% 2.3% 4.3% 2.9% 1.2% −36.9% −2.1% −0.5%
FCF margin 2.8% 1.8% 4.7% 1.1% 3.7% −0.5% −0.1% 36.8% 60.2% 16.2%
Returns
Return on capital 1.0% −1.3% 2.4% 1.8% 3.3% 2.6% 0.7% −5.4% −1.7% −1.5%
Return on capital employed 1.3% −1.3% 2.4% 1.9% 2.4% 2.2% 1.0% −6.8% −2.0% −1.0%
Return on equity 1.0% 3.6% 3.1% 2.6% 4.8% 2.9% 1.1% −9.1% −0.5% −0.1%
Return on assets 0.5% 1.6% 1.4% 1.2% 1.9% 1.2% 0.4% −4.4% −0.3% −0.1%
Growth
Revenue growth −1.1% −2.2% 1.3% 1.3% 1.0% 2.0% 1.6% −75.0% −4.3% −5.3%
Net income growth −80.4% 255.8% −11.8% −10.4% 86.8% −31.0% −60.3% −906.5% — —
EPS growth −80.3% 251.3% −14.6% −12.0% 87.4% −48.2% −107.0% — — —
FCF growth — −37.7% 164.8% −75.5% 228.8% −114.4% — — 56.7% −74.5%
Share count change 0.9% 0.9% 1.8% 1.8% −0.9% 0.9% −1.7% −1.1% 0.9% 4.3%
Financial health
Net debt / EBITDA 1.7x 2.5x 1.4x 1.7x 1.8x 2.3x 3.4x — 22.1x 0.3x
Debt / equity 0.6x 0.6x 0.5x 0.5x 0.7x 0.5x 0.6x 0.8x 0.5x 0.2x
Interest coverage 0.6x −0.6x 1.2x 1.1x 1.5x 1.1x 0.7x −11.0x −1.8x −0.9x
Current ratio 2.3x 2.1x 2.7x 2.0x 2.6x 1.7x 1.3x 1.4x 1.6x 2.1x
Quick ratio 2.2x 2.0x 2.5x 1.8x 2.5x 1.6x 1.2x 1.2x 1.6x 2.1x
Capital allocation
Capex / revenue 12.3% 13.6% 15.2% 18.5% 25.6% 21.2% 21.5% 47.5% 28.2% 31.8%
Stock comp / revenue 0.8% 0.9% 1.1% 1.1% 1.0% 0.9% 0.8% 1.5% 1.4% 2.2%
Payouts / FCF 46.6% 75.8% 29.9% 127.1% 47.4% — — 31.8% 13.4% 98.2%
Quality scores
Piotroski F-score 5.0 5.0 6.0 4.0 6.0 4.0 4.0 4.0 6.0 5.0
Altman Z'' 2.8 2.7 3.2 2.6 2.7 2.3 1.8 1.4 1.4 2.7
Accruals ratio −7.8% −6.7% −9.3% −8.7% −11.2% −7.3% −7.8% −14.5% −10.8% −5.4%

Source: SEC EDGAR XBRL filings (CIK 0001051512). Data updated October 19, 2026. Quarterly fourth quarters are the full year minus the first nine months. For information only — not investment advice. Check the original filings before relying on any figure.

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