NWNNorthwest Natural Holding Company
Is the business good?
The checks split: earnings fully cash-backed (1.0×) and margins widening, but returns that lean on debt.
Operating profit is fully backed by cash. Conversion is worsening vs a year ago.
Positive operating leverage, operating profit is growing faster than sales, so margins widen as the business scales.
Leverage-amplified, a high assets-to-equity ratio does much of the work. ROE 8% = margin × turnover × leverage.
Unless marked, from derived.
Against the whole market›
Percentile against every name Ryufin tracks. Higher is better; the tick marks the middle of the market. Context, not one of the checks above.
Where this answer is blind. The F-score rewards improvement, so an already-elite company can score mid-pack.
How good a business is NWN?
Northwest Natural Holding Company earns 5.6% 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% · 3.4 points below what the capital costs: growth destroys value
- Operating margin
- 23%
Operating margin · Utilities - Regulated Gas median 22% · 12 months to Q2 2026
- Cash conversion
- 0.96×
Cash conversion · 1.33× a year ago · operating cash flow covers the operating profit after tax
- Share count, year on year
- +4.2%
Share count, year on year · shareholders own a smaller slice than a year ago
| Year | Operating margin |
|---|---|
| FY2020 | 19% |
| FY2021 | 19% |
| FY2022 | 16% |
| FY2023 | 15% |
| FY2024 | 17% |
| FY2025 | 22% |
Details›
- Operating margin12 months to Q2 2026
- 23%
- Net margin12 months to Q2 2026
- 9.8%
- Free cash flow margin
- −21%
- Revenue, trailing twelve months
- $1.29B
- Free cash flow, trailing twelve months
- −$266M
- Net income, trailing twelve months
- $126M
- Return on invested capitaloperating profit after tax ÷ debt + equity − cash
- 5.6%
Margins, capital and share counts from the statements as filed with the SEC; cash conversion is operating cash flow over operating profit after tax.
Utilities, Regulated Gas
Ranks #7 of 11 by RyuScore