Is the business good?
How good a business is DUOL?
Duolingo, Inc. earns 49% on the capital it employs against a 9.0% cost of capital, so the business is worth more the bigger it gets.
49%
Return on invested capital · cost of capital 9.0% · 40 points above what the capital costs: growth creates value
- Operating margin
- 14%
Operating margin · Software - Application median 8.2% · 12 months to Q1 2026
- Cash conversion
- 0.98×
Cash conversion · 3.06× a year ago · some of the reported profit has not turned into cash yet
- Share count, year on year
- +1.0%
Share count, year on year · shareholders own a smaller slice than a year ago
| Year | Operating margin |
|---|---|
| FY2020 | −9.9% |
| FY2021 | −24% |
| FY2022 | −18% |
| FY2023 | −2.5% |
| FY2024 | 8.4% |
| FY2025 | 13% |
Details›
- Gross margin12 months to Q1 2026
- 73%
- Operating margin12 months to Q1 2026
- 14%
- Net margin12 months to Q1 2026
- 38%
- Free cash flow margin
- 38%
- R&D as % of revenue
- 29%
- Revenue, trailing twelve months
- $1.10B
- Free cash flow, trailing twelve months
- $416M
- Net income, trailing twelve months
- $422M
- Return on invested capitaloperating profit after tax ÷ debt + equity − cash
- 49%
Margins, capital and share counts from the statements as filed with the SEC; cash conversion from the cash flow statement.
Software - Application
Ranks #14 of 90 by Smart Score