Apple Inc.: would “net margin stays at or above 10 percent” have held?
It would never have broken. Net margin stays at or above 10 percent held in every one of the 10 fiscal years it could be tested in.
On the newest filing, FY2025 lodged 2025-10-31, it stands +16.92 pts from the line, at 26.92%.
Year by year, against the filings
| Fiscal year | Net margin | On the year | Against 10% | Clear by | Read from |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2016 | 21.19% | n/a | held | +11.19 pts | 2016-10-26 10-K 0001628280-16-020309 |
| FY2017 | 21.09% | -0.10 pts | held | +11.09 pts | 2017-11-03 10-K 0000320193-17-000070 |
| FY2018 | 22.41% | +1.32 pts | held | +12.41 pts | 2018-11-05 10-K 0000320193-18-000145 |
| FY2019 | 21.24% | -1.17 pts | held | +11.24 pts | 2019-10-31 10-K 0000320193-19-000119 |
| FY2020 | 20.91% | -0.33 pts | held | +10.91 pts | 2020-10-30 10-K 0000320193-20-000096 |
| FY2021 | 25.88% | +4.97 pts | held | +15.88 pts | 2021-10-29 10-K 0000320193-21-000105 |
| FY2022 | 25.31% | -0.57 pts | held | +15.31 pts | 2022-10-28 10-K 0000320193-22-000108 |
| FY2023 | 25.31% | 0.00 pts | held | +15.31 pts | 2023-11-03 10-K 0000320193-23-000106 |
| FY2024 | 23.97% | -1.34 pts | held | +13.97 pts | 2024-11-01 10-K 0000320193-24-000123 |
| FY2025 | 26.92% | +2.95 pts | held | +16.92 pts | 2025-10-31 10-K 0000320193-25-000079 |
What the series does
- Largest single-year move. FY2020 to FY2021, from 20.91% to 25.88%, a change of +4.97 pts, filed 2021-10-29 under 0000320193-21-000105. The filing is the place to read why; this reports the size and nothing about the cause. The average move between filed years, in either direction, is 1.42%, which is the scale of ordinary movement to judge a threshold against.
- Largest single-year fall. FY2023 to FY2024, from 25.31% to 23.97%, a change of -1.34 pts.
- Closest to the line. FY2020, at 20.91% against 10%, which is 10.91 pts clear of it. A threshold set anywhere inside that gap would have produced a different answer for this company.
- Span of the filed series. Lowest in FY2020 at 20.91%, highest in FY2025 at 26.92%, averaging 23.42% across the years that could be tested.
- Where the answer would flip. Any line at or below 20.91% would have held in every year that could be tested. Anything above it would have broken in FY2020 at the latest.
- First filed year to newest. FY2016 at 21.19%, FY2025 at 26.92%, a net +5.73 pts across the window on file. The path between them is the column above, not a straight line between these two.
10 of 10 filed years could be tested. A missing figure counts as neither held nor broken.
How demanding 10% is
Against the 4401 companies holding this figure on 2026-10-21, that line sits between the p50 mark of 2.60% and the p75 mark of 13.07%, which says how demanding it is and nothing about where to set it.
The threshold is the reader's to choose. This is what one would have done, not advice. Where this line comes from
What this page leaves out
Evaluated over 10 filed fiscal years, FY2016 to FY2025. Accounts filed before this company began tagging its statements in XBRL are not machine-readable and are outside this page. No share price is involved in any figure here, so nothing on this page is limited by the depth of our price archive.
Filings get mis-tagged and restated, so check a figure against the submission it names. Coverage for a company you own.
Related
- Ask this about your own company, at your own number
- Walmart Inc. against the same line. It would have broken in 10 of 10.
- The current ratio stays at or above 2.0, on the same filings. It would have broken in 10 of 10.
- Gross margin stays at or above 40 percent, on the same filings. It would have broken in 5 of 10.
- Revenue grows by at least 5 percent a year, on the same filings. It would have broken in 3 of 9.
- Free cash flow stays above zero, on the same filings. It held in all 10 years on file.