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Deep Value: cash covers about 95% of the stock price

This company holds roughly $3.9B in cash and investments — about 95% of its entire stock-market value, based on its latest quarterly filing. You're paying very little for the actual business. Sometimes that's a genuine bargain or a takeover target, sometimes it's cheap for a reason. Not a buy signal on its own — always ask why it's this cheap.

Balfour Beatty logo

Balfour Beatty

BBY.L
42
Engineering & Construction · Industrials
Price
885.00 GBp
+16.50 (+1.90%)
Market Cap
£4.18B
Exchange
London Stock Exchange
Winston Score
42
Winston is serious
Mixed quality — meaningful strengths and weaknesses.
Data as of Aug 23, 2026 · filings through Jun 30, 2026
How the score breaks down
Quality
Weak
Growth
Good
Cash Flow
Strong
Stability
Good
Valuation
Good
Dividends
Good

Share count falling — buybacks

23.9% over 4y

The company has reduced its share count over this period, returning value to shareholders through buybacks.

Diluted shares outstanding: 664.0M (2021) → 505.0M (2025)

Winston Score History

The full picture

Balfour Beatty is a large British construction and infrastructure company. It builds and maintains roads, railways, bridges, schools, hospitals, and military bases. Its main customers are governments and public agencies, though it also works with private developers — mostly in the UK and the United States.

The company earns money by winning long-term contracts to design, build, or manage infrastructure projects, taking a fee for completing the work. It operates primarily across the UK, the US, and Hong Kong, with roughly half its revenue now coming from the American market. Balfour Beatty also owns a portfolio of infrastructure investments, which provides steadier income alongside its construction work. The thin margins — typical for the construction industry — mean that cost overruns on large contracts are a constant risk, and the company's financial health depends heavily on disciplined project management and a steady flow of government infrastructure spending.

Growth Profile

When traditional metrics don't capture the full picture, these are the signals growth stock investors use instead.

Revenue Growth

+10.1% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Steady revenue growth

EPS Growth

+0.0% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Slow EPS growth

R&D Spend

£0/ year

0.0% of revenue

Below sector average (4%)

Research and development spending

Insider Activity

0.0%ownership

Flat

Insider ownership roughly steady over the past year

Cash Position

Cash flow positive

£2.9B cash & investments

Quarterly Free Cash Flow

↑ Burn rate improving

Company generates more cash than it spends — no dilution risk from fundraising

Growth + cash flow

Balfour Beatty is a rare growth stock that's already generating positive cash flow while growing at 10%. The Winston Score doesn't fully credit this transition from "burner" to "earner."

The Winston Score above measures business quality today. Growth stocks often score lower because they invest in the future rather than maximising current profits. These metrics show what matters most for evaluating that future.

Score breakdown

Every number that matters to educated investors.

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Quality

Profit per sale
Gross Margin
4.7%
Thin — 4.7% gross margin
Profit after running costs
Operating Margin
1.5%
Thin — 1.5% operating margin
Return on the money invested
ROCE
8.8%
Below par — 8.8% return on capital

ROIC between 5% and 15%. They earn 5 to 15 cents back per year on every dollar invested.

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Growth

Sales growth
Sales YoY
+12.1%
Fast-growing sales (+12.1% YoY)
Profit growth
EPS YoY
+47.2%
Earnings growing fast (+47.2% YoY)

Earnings growing 25%+ a year. The compounder zone.

How steady the profit is
EPS Consistency
4/8 quarters
Earnings inconsistent quarter-to-quarter

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Cash Flow

Profit that turns into cash
Cash Conversion
247%
Turns 247% of profit into real cash
Spare cash per sale
FCF Margin
6.0%
Modest free cash flow (6.0%)

FCF margin between 0% and 10%. Some cash from sales, but not a lot.

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Stability

What it owes vs what it owns
Debt / Equity
0.83
Moderate — manageable debt (0.83)
Covers its interest
Interest Cover
5.03x
Adequate interest coverage (5.0x)

Interest coverage between 3 and 8. Profits cover interest several times over.

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Valuation

Price vs profit
P/E Ratio (TTM)
16.7x
Fair value — P/E 16.7

P/E in the normal range. Price is roughly $15 for every $1 of yearly profit.

Cheaper or dearer next year
P/E vs Forward
+1.9
GROWING
Earnings expected to grow — slightly cheaper on forward P/E

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Dividends

Dividend
Dividend Yield
1.58%
Small dividend — 1.58% yield

Modest yield. The bulk of any return needs to come from price appreciation.

Dividend record
Dividend Growth
+20.5%
Dividend growing fast (20.5% YoY)

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