The Filing Desk
Company financialsAutos and travelFrom SEC filings

Delta Air Lines financials, fiscal 2016 to 2025

DELTA AIR LINES, INC. · NYSE: DAL Latest fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 10-K filed February 11, 2026 · 0000027904-26-000013 Updated

Delta Air Lines's revenue rose 2.8% to $63.4B in fiscal 2025. Its operating margin was 9.2%, down from 9.7% a year earlier. Free cash flow was $3.8B, up 33.2%. It paid out $440M in dividends and buybacks, 11% of free cash flow. The diluted share count rose 0.9%.

Revenue
$63.4B
▲ 2.8%
Operating margin
9.2%
▼ 0.5 pts
Free cash flow
$3.8B
▲ 33.2%
Return on invested capital
15.9%
▼ 0.0 pts
Piotroski F-score
7 of 8
5 a year earlier

Revenue and margins

Revenue
US$ billions, fiscal years
Margins
Percent of revenue
GrossOperatingNetFree cash flow

Returns on capital

Return on invested capital and on equity
Percent. Both use the average of opening and closing balances.
Return on invested capitalReturn on equity

Cash flow

Free cash flow
US$ billions. Cash from operations minus capital expenditure; negative years in red.

Try a discounted cash flow model

A discounted cash flow (DCF) model values a business as the cash it may generate in future, discounted back to today. The starting figures below come from Delta Air Lines's 10-K. The four assumptions start at the same example values on every company page, so they are not The Filing Desk's view of Delta Air Lines. Change them to see what different assumptions imply.

From the 10-K
Cash and short-term investments minus debt and finance leases at December 31, 2025. Negative means net debt.
Weighted-average diluted shares in fiscal 2025.
Your assumptions
Long-run growth forever after year 10. Usually close to inflation.
The yearly return an investor wants for the risk. A higher rate gives a lower value.
Value per share on these assumptions
—
—
Cash flows in years 1 to 10, valued today
—
Everything after year 10, valued today
—
Plus net cash
—
Share of value from after year 10
—
Projected free cash flow
US$ billions. Each column is one year's projected free cash flow, split into what it is worth today and the part removed by discounting.
Value todayRemoved by discounting

How the value changes with two assumptions

Value per share in US$, with the growth rates above. The highlighted cell matches the current assumptions.
How the model works. Free cash flow grows at the first rate for five years and the second rate for five more, and each year is discounted at the discount rate. Everything after year 10 is valued as year-10 cash flow × (1 + growth after year 10) ÷ (discount rate − growth after year 10), discounted back ten years. Net cash is added and the total is divided by diluted shares. The result depends entirely on the assumptions. It is not a forecast, a price target or a recommendation, and this site does not show share prices.

Payouts and share count

Dividends and buybacks
US$ billions, cash paid in each fiscal year
DividendsShare buybacks
Diluted share count
Weighted-average diluted shares, millions

Balance sheet

Fiscal year endFY21FY22FY23FY24FY25
Cash and short-term investments11.36.53.93.14.3
Debt incl. finance leases26.923.020.116.214.1
Net debt (negative means net cash)15.616.516.213.19.8
Net debt to EBITDA4.0x2.9x2.1x1.5x1.2x
Debt to equity6.9x3.5x1.8x1.1x0.7x
Interest coverage1.2x2.9x4.7x6.0x6.8x
Current ratio0.8x0.5x0.4x0.4x0.4x
Quick ratio0.8x0.5x0.4x0.4x0.4x
US$ billions unless stated, at each fiscal year end.

Piotroski F-score

The F-score counts how many of nine simple tests of profitability, funding and efficiency a company passed in a year (Piotroski, 2000). Companies that report no gross profit are scored on the other eight.

TestFY23FY24FY25
Net income is positivePassPassPass
Cash from operations is positivePassPassPass
Return on assets rosePassFailPass
Cash from operations exceeds net incomePassPassPass
Debt fell relative to assetsPassPassPass
Current ratio roseFailFailPass
Share count didn't riseFailFailFail
Gross margin rose———
Revenue rose relative to assetsPassPassPass
F-score6 of 85 of 87 of 8
Accruals ratio−2.5%−6.1%−4.3%
The accruals ratio is net income minus cash from operations, over average total assets.

Compared with peers

CompanyYearRevenue growthOperating marginFCF marginROICNet debt / EBITDAF-score
Delta Air LinesFY252.8%9.2%6.1%15.9%1.2x7
United AirlinesFY253.5%8.0%4.3%15.3%1.2x6
CarnivalFY256.4%16.8%9.8%12.1%3.5x7
FedExFY267.7%5.8%5.4%9.6%1.3x7
Each company's latest fiscal year. Fiscal years end in different months, so the periods don't line up exactly.

10 years of figures

Fiscal yearFY16FY17FY18FY19FY20FY21FY22FY23FY24FY25
Income statement
Revenue39.641.244.447.017.129.950.658.061.663.4
Revenue growth−2.6%4.0%7.7%5.8%−63.6%74.9%69.2%14.8%6.2%2.8%
Gross profit——————————
Research and development——————————
Operating income7.06.05.36.6−12.51.93.75.56.05.8
Net income4.23.23.94.8−12.40.31.34.63.55.0
Diluted EPS (US$)5.554.435.677.30−19.490.442.067.175.337.66
Diluted shares (millions)755723694653636641641643648654
Cash flow
Cash from operations7.25.07.08.4−3.83.36.46.58.08.3
Capital expenditure3.43.95.24.91.93.26.45.35.14.5
Free cash flow3.81.11.83.5−5.70.0−0.01.12.93.8
Dividends paid0.50.70.91.00.30.00.00.10.30.4
Share buybacks2.61.71.62.00.30.00.00.00.00.0
Acquisitions0.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.0
Stock-based compensation0.20.20.20.20.10.10.10.20.20.3
Balance sheet at fiscal year end
Cash and short-term investments3.22.61.82.914.111.36.53.93.14.3
Debt incl. finance leases7.08.49.811.229.226.923.020.116.214.1
Total assets51.953.760.364.572.072.572.373.675.481.3
Total liabilities40.041.146.649.270.568.665.762.560.160.5
Shareholders' equity11.312.513.715.41.53.96.611.115.320.9
Margins and ratios
Gross margin——————————
Operating margin17.6%14.5%11.8%14.1%−72.9%6.3%7.2%9.5%9.7%9.2%
Net margin10.6%7.8%8.9%10.1%−72.5%0.9%2.6%7.9%5.6%7.9%
Free cash flow margin9.7%2.7%4.2%7.4%−33.3%0.1%−0.0%2.0%4.7%6.1%
Return on invested capital—20.8%20.1%22.5%−49.0%7.3%11.8%18.0%16.0%15.9%
Return on equity37.9%26.9%30.0%32.8%−146.6%—25.2%52.1%26.2%27.7%
Return on assets8.0%6.1%6.9%7.6%−18.1%0.4%1.8%6.3%4.6%6.4%
Net debt to EBITDA0.4x0.7x1.1x0.9x—4.0x2.9x2.1x1.5x1.2x
US$ billions unless stated. Where a later 10-K restated a year, the latest filed figure is shown. Download all figures (CSV, US$ millions)
Source: Delta Air Lines's Form 10-K filings, from SEC EDGAR. For information only, not investment advice. The Filing Desk is not affiliated with Delta Air Lines.