NKTRNektar Therapeutics
Is the business good?
The checks split: margins widening, but 2 of 9 health tests passed.
Weak, deteriorating fundamentals. Nine pass/fail tests of year-over-year health from the filings.
Operating margin has widened over the past few years, the business is getting more profitable per dollar of sales.
Where this answer is blind. The F-score rewards improvement, so an already-elite company can score mid-pack.
How good a business is NKTR?
Nektar Therapeutics earns −51% on the capital it employs against a 9.0% cost of capital, so growth costs more than it returns.
Return on invested capital · cost of capital 9.0% · 60 points below what the capital costs: growth destroys value
- Operating margin
- −258%
Operating margin · Biotechnology median −77% · 12 months to Q2 2026
- Share count, year on year
- +135%
Share count, year on year · shareholders own a smaller slice than a year ago
- R&D as % of revenue
- 241%
R&D as % of revenue
| Year | Operating margin |
|---|---|
| FY2020 | −278% |
| FY2021 | −438% |
| FY2022 | −409% |
| FY2023 | −293% |
| FY2024 | −107% |
| FY2025 | −254% |
Details›
- Operating margin12 months to Q2 2026
- −258%
- Net margin12 months to Q2 2026
- −288%
- Free cash flow margin
- −429%
- R&D as % of revenue
- 241%
- Revenue, trailing twelve months
- $55M
- Free cash flow, trailing twelve months
- −$234M
- Net income, trailing twelve months
- −$157M
- Return on invested capitaloperating profit after tax ÷ debt + equity − cash
- −51%
Margins, capital and share counts from the statements as filed with the SEC; cash conversion is operating cash flow over operating profit after tax.