Forensic Analysis · Electric Utilities · as of Nov 9, 2026
PPL Corp (PPL)
A forensic read on PPL Corp built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
B · Sound & dependable
Forensic grade
Clean
Earnings quality
2
Forensic signals
8.2%
ROE
6.9%
Revenue growth
This free snapshot doesn't read filing or proxy text, so the auditor-quality and governance checks that can lower a grade were not evaluated (auditor quality, say on pay, board independence, going concern). Those checks only ever lower a grade, so the full analysis can land below the grade above but never above it — treat it as the most favourable reading, not the settled one.
PPL Corp earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by shareholder returns.
What the filings flag
FCF ($1.4B)
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $794M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025, but free cash flow was ($1.4B) after capex — there was no free cash flow to fund the payout from at all, though operating cash flow alone was $2.6B — 30% of that. Capex and the payout together ran $2.2B past operating cash flow — a harder case than returns merely running ahead of free cash flow, since here there was none to run ahead of. New debt covered part of it: total debt rose $2.4B over FY2025, while cash rose $765M — $1.6B of the $2.2B. The FY2025 cash-flow statement filed $3.0B of debt issued against $616M repaid; net cash used in investing activities of $4.0B; net cash provided by financing activities of $2.1B.
4.4%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 4.4% in the latest fiscal year and steady across FY2023–FY2025, inside a 0.7-point range. After-tax operating profit was $1.3B in FY2023 and $1.7B in FY2025, with operating income at 19.6% of revenue in FY2023, 20.6% in FY2024 and 23.5% in FY2025. The capital base behind it grew +10% across FY2023–FY2025, from $35.6B to $39.3B, and the return did not fall doing it, so the dollars added over that window earned at least the 3.7% the older base was already earning.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$9.04B
Revenue Growth YoY+6.9%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+4.3%
Net Margin13.1%
Free Cash Flow-$1.40B
Return on Equity8.2%
Debt / Equity1.27x
The forensic grade and screens above are free — no account needed. Want the AI investment read on top — the 0–100 rating, thesis, bull-vs-bear, red flags and the 12-month scenario, written from PPL Corp's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?