OTTROtter Tail Corporation
Is the business good?
The checks split: earnings fully cash-backed (1.9×), but margins compressing.
Operating profit is fully backed by cash. Conversion is improving vs a year ago.
Operating margin has narrowed over the past few years, profitability per dollar of sales is eroding.
A balanced mix of margins, efficiency, and leverage. ROE 14% = 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 OTTR?
Otter Tail Corporation earns 6.5% 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% · 2.5 points below what the capital costs: growth destroys value
- Operating margin
- 17%
Operating margin · Conglomerates median 7.3% · 12 months to Q2 2026
- Cash conversion
- 1.88×
Cash conversion · 1.28× a year ago · operating cash flow covers the operating profit after tax
- Share count, year on year
- −0.39%
Share count, year on year · flat: no meaningful dilution
| Year | Operating margin |
|---|---|
| FY2020 | 17% |
| FY2021 | 21% |
| FY2022 | 27% |
| FY2023 | 28% |
| FY2024 | 29% |
| FY2025 | 27% |
Details›
- Gross margin12 months to Q2 2026
- 68%
- Operating margin12 months to Q2 2026
- 17%
- Net margin12 months to Q2 2026
- 15%
- Free cash flow margin
- −6.1%
- Revenue, trailing twelve months
- $1.31B
- Free cash flow, trailing twelve months
- −$79M
- Net income, trailing twelve months
- $195M
- Return on invested capitaloperating profit after tax ÷ debt + equity − cash
- 6.5%
Margins, capital and share counts from the statements as filed with the SEC; cash conversion is operating cash flow over operating profit after tax.