MetLife
MetLife's revenue rose 8.6% to $77.1 billion in fiscal 2025. Its operating margin was 8.0%, down from 8.4% a year earlier. It paid out $4.4 billion in dividends and buybacks. The diluted share count fell 5.3%.
Operating margin is operating income as a share of revenue. Free cash flow is cash from operations minus capital spending. Return on equity is net income as a share of shareholders' equity. Market cap is the last closing share price times the latest diluted share count, so it is approximate. P/E is the last close divided by diluted earnings per share over the last four quarters, or the latest fiscal year where the quarters aren't available; there is none when the company made a loss.
What MetLife does
MetLife is a financial services company that provides insurance, annuities, employee benefits and asset management. It operates in the United States, Asia, Latin America, Europe and the Middle East. It is also a large institutional investor: it invests the money it holds for policies mainly in fixed income securities and mortgage loans, plus real estate and other investments.
MetLife reports six segments: Group Benefits, Retirement and Income Solutions, Asia, Latin America, Europe/Middle East/Africa and MetLife Investment Management, its institutional asset management business. It also reports other results under Corporate & Other. In late 2025 it reorganized: asset management became its own segment and MetLife Holdings stopped being one.
It earns money from premiums and fees on its insurance and annuity products and from returns on the money it invests. Its New Frontier strategy for the next four years aims to grow in group benefits, retirement, asset management and fast-growing international markets. It describes its regulation as extensive.
Its biggest risks, as it describes them
- Not meeting its cash needs or facing a higher cost of capital when credit markets are strained.
- Losing business if its financial strength or credit ratings are cut.
- Not finding affordable reinsurance to protect it from losses.
- Changes in laws or regulation that reduce its profit or limit its growth.
- Limits on paying dividends or buying back stock.
Charts show fiscal years, from the 10-K filings.
Revenue and margins
Net income and earnings per share
From fiscal 2016 to 2025, earnings per share grew 24.2% a year and net income 16.6% a year, as buybacks cut the share count by 39%.
Returns on capital
Cash flow
Free cash flow is cash from operations minus capital expenditure. The SEC's structured data for MetLife's filings doesn't give both for any year, so free cash flow is left out.
Payouts and share count
Valuation
Two ways to value MetLife yourself, both starting from its filings: a discounted cash flow model and the price-to-earnings method.
Discounted cash flow (DCF)
A discounted cash flow (DCF) model values a business as the cash it may generate in future, discounted back to today. The starting figures come from MetLife's 10-K (or, for net cash and shares, its latest 10-Q) and the assumptions are yours: start from one of three example scenarios, then change any figure to see what it implies for a share, and how that compares with the last share price.
Value per share on three example scenarios, from MetLife's cash from operations minus depreciation in fiscal 2025 (free cash flow before spending to grow, as its free cash flow was not available) of $16.9B, net cash of $10.8B at December 31, 2025 and 673 million diluted shares, from its filings. The scenarios are fitted to MetLife: the base scenario's growth in years 1 to 5 is its revenue growth over the last 3 years, 3.9% a year; the cautious and optimistic ones are lower and higher, and growth in years 6 to 10 is halfway to the long-run rate. The base scenario's discount rate is 7% for a stable business (Life & Health Insurance); the cautious and optimistic ones use a point more and a point less. Select one to load it into the calculator. These are the model's arithmetic on those assumptions, not a forecast or a price target.
- Last close, October 26, 2026
- $100.04
- Value on these assumptions, against the last close
- —
- 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
How the value changes with two assumptions
Price-to-earnings (P/E) method
Another common way to value a company is to multiply its earnings per share by a price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple: the number of years of today's earnings an investor pays for a share. A higher multiple usually means investors expect earnings to grow. Choose a multiple, for example from similar companies, to see the value it gives.
Value per share on three example scenarios, from MetLife's earnings per share of $5.22 (over the last four quarters). Each grows earnings for a year at the cash flow scenarios' rates and applies a multiple to next year's earnings: 14.4×, the middle of MetLife's own P/E today, its peers' median and its sector's median (its peers' median) for the base scenario, 20% less and more for the cautious and optimistic ones. The price is brought back a year at 8%, 7% and 6%. Select one to load it into the calculator. These are the model's arithmetic on those assumptions, not a forecast or a price target.
- Last close, October 26, 2026
- $100.04
- Value at this multiple, against the last close
- —
- MetLife's P/E at the last close
- 19.2×
| Company | Last close | Earnings per share | P/E today |
|---|---|---|---|
| UnumUNM | $90.12 | $4.29 | 21.0× |
| MetLifeMET | $100.04 | $5.22 | 19.2× |
| Principal Financial GroupPFG | $110.13 | $6.97 | 15.8× |
| AflacAFL | $120.93 | $9.30 | 13.0× |
| Prudential FinancialPRU | $115.79 | $11.04 | 10.5× |
Balance sheet
| Fiscal year end | FY21 | FY22 | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash and short-term investments | 27.2 | 25.1 | 26.7 | 25.2 | 25.6 |
| Debt incl. finance leases | 14.3 | 14.8 | 15.7 | 15.6 | 14.8 |
| Net debt (negative means net cash) | −12.9 | −10.3 | −11.0 | −9.7 | −10.8 |
| Net debt to EBITDA | −1.4x | −1.7x | −1.9x | −1.6x | −1.7x |
| Debt to equity | 0.2x | — | — | — | — |
| Interest coverage | 14.2x | 9.1x | 7.7x | 8.1x | 8.5x |
| Current ratio | — | — | — | — | — |
| Quick ratio | — | — | — | — | — |
Insider trades
Over the 12 months between October 27, 2025 and October 26, 2026, no insider bought MetLife shares on the open market, and 1 insider sold $1.7 million.
| Date | Insider | Trade | Shares | Price | Value | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 1, 2026 | Marlene DebelEVP & Chief Risk Officer | Sold | 21,312 | $81.59 | $1.7 million | Form 4 |
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). The more tests passed, the stronger the year: 8 or 9 is strong, 0 to 2 weak. Companies that report no gross profit are scored on the other eight.
| Test | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Net income is positive | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| Cash from operations is positive | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| Return on assets rose | Fail | Pass | Fail |
| Cash from operations exceeds net income | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| Debt fell relative to assets | Fail | Pass | Pass |
| Current ratio rose | — | — | — |
| Share count didn't rise | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| Gross margin rose | — | — | — |
| Revenue rose relative to assets | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| F-score | — | — | — |
| Accruals ratio | −1.8% | −1.5% | −1.9% |
Compare
Put MetLife side by side with any other company we cover: revenue, growth, margins, cash flow and returns, with ten years of charts.
Similar companies
| Company | Year | Revenue growth | Operating margin | Free cash flow margin | Return on capital | Net debt to EBITDA | F-score | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MetLife | FY25 | 8.6% | 8.0% | — | — | −1.7x | — | |
| Prudential Financial | FY25 | −13.7% | — | — | — | −0.1x | — | Compare |
| Aflac | FY25 | −9.3% | — | — | 13.0% | 0.4x | — | Compare |
| Principal Financial Group | FY25 | −3.1% | — | — | — | −0.2x | — | Compare |
| Unum | FY25 | 1.5% | — | 4.2% | 7.6% | 0.5x | — | Compare |
10 years of figures
| Fiscal year | FY16 | FY17 | FY18 | FY19 | FY20 | FY21 | FY22 | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income statement | ||||||||||
| Revenue | 60.8 | 62.3 | 67.9 | 69.6 | 67.8 | 68.7 | 68.8 | 66.9 | 71.0 | 77.1 |
| Revenue growth | −0.9% | 2.5% | 9.0% | 2.5% | −2.5% | 1.3% | 0.1% | −2.7% | 6.1% | 8.6% |
| Gross profit | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Research and development | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Operating income | — | — | — | — | — | — | 6.0 | 5.7 | 6.0 | 6.1 |
| Net income | 0.8 | 4.0 | 5.1 | 5.9 | 5.4 | 6.9 | 5.3 | 1.6 | 4.4 | 3.4 |
| Diluted EPS (US$) | 0.67 | 3.62 | 4.91 | 6.06 | 5.68 | 7.65 | 6.30 | 1.81 | 5.94 | 4.71 |
| Diluted shares (millions) | 1,108 | 1,078 | 1,014 | 944 | 913 | 869 | 809 | 762 | 711 | 673 |
| Cash flow | ||||||||||
| Cash from operations | 14.8 | 12.3 | 11.7 | 13.8 | 11.6 | 12.3 | 13.0 | 13.7 | 14.6 | 17.1 |
| Capital expenditure | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Free cash flow | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Dividends paid | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Share buybacks | 0.4 | 2.9 | 4.0 | 2.3 | 1.2 | 4.3 | 3.3 | 3.1 | 3.2 | 2.9 |
| Acquisitions | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 |
| Stock-based compensation | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| Balance sheet at fiscal year end | ||||||||||
| Cash and short-term investments | 19.2 | 17.6 | 19.8 | 20.4 | 23.7 | 27.2 | 25.1 | 26.7 | 25.2 | 25.6 |
| Debt incl. finance leases | 16.7 | 16.2 | 13.1 | 13.7 | 15.0 | 14.3 | 14.8 | 15.7 | 15.6 | 14.8 |
| Total assets | 898.8 | 719.9 | 687.5 | 740.5 | 795.1 | 759.7 | 663.1 | 687.6 | 677.5 | 745.2 |
| Total liabilities | 831.1 | 661.0 | 634.6 | 674.1 | 720.3 | 692.0 | 632.9 | 657.3 | 649.8 | 716.2 |
| Shareholders' equity | 67.5 | 58.7 | 52.7 | 66.1 | 74.6 | 67.5 | 29.9 | 30.0 | 27.4 | 28.4 |
| Margins and ratios | ||||||||||
| Gross margin | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Operating margin | — | — | — | — | — | — | 8.7% | 8.6% | 8.4% | 8.0% |
| Net margin | 1.4% | 6.4% | 7.5% | 8.5% | 8.0% | 10.0% | 7.7% | 2.4% | 6.2% | 4.4% |
| Free cash flow margin | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Return on capital | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Return on equity | 1.2% | 6.3% | 9.2% | 9.9% | 7.7% | 9.7% | 10.8% | — | — | — |
| Return on assets | 0.1% | 0.5% | 0.7% | 0.8% | 0.7% | 0.9% | 0.7% | 0.2% | 0.7% | 0.5% |
| Net debt to EBITDA | −0.5x | −0.3x | −0.9x | −0.9x | −1.1x | −1.4x | −1.7x | −1.9x | −1.6x | −1.7x |