Growing five years running on almost no capital
337 companies have grown revenue in each of the last five years while spending less than 3% of revenue on capital expenditure.
Growth that does not consume capital is the most valuable kind, because every additional dollar of revenue arrives without a matching dollar of investment. A business like this converts growth into cash almost immediately, and can fund itself.
The list divides into two groups worth telling apart. Genuinely asset-light businesses -- software, services, distribution, asset management -- own little and rent the rest. But a low capex ratio also appears when the spending has simply moved somewhere the measure does not look: to acquisitions, to capitalised software, or to operating leases that are a balance-sheet item rather than a capital outlay.
The check is free cash flow. If a capital-light grower is also converting a healthy share of revenue into free cash flow, the lightness is real.
What this is usually called
Asset-light, capital-light and low capital intensity describe the same property, and the ratio behind it is capital expenditure over revenue -- capex intensity. The cash-flow statement calls the line purchases of property, plant and equipment. The complementary measure is return on invested capital, which asks what the capital that was deployed actually earned.
The question, as a query
The table is generated by running this against the filings held today. The syntax is the screener's, so the query is a starting point rather than a result.
capex_ratio < 3% AND INCREASED(revenue,5,5)| Company | Revenue | Net income | Gross margin | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UNH InsurerUNITEDHEALTH GROUP INC | $447.57B | $12.06B | 88.7% | $16.08B |
| MCKMCKESSON CORP | $403.43B | $4.76B | 3.6% | $5.72B |
| CVSCVS HEALTH Corp | $402.07B | $1.77B | 45.0% | $7.81B |
| CORCencora, Inc. | $321.33B | $1.55B | 3.6% | $3.21B |
| COSTCOSTCO WHOLESALE CORP /NEW | $303.15B | $9.23B | 12.8% | $9.38B |
| ELV InsurerElevance Health, Inc. | $199.12B | $5.66B | 89.4% | $3.17B |
| CNC InsurerCENTENE CORP | $194.78B | -$6.67B | 7.3% | $4.32B |
| HUM InsurerHUMANA INC | $129.66B | $1.19B | Unavailable | $375.00M |
| RTXRTX Corp | $88.60B | $6.73B | Unavailable | $7.94B |
| PGR InsurerPROGRESSIVE CORP/OH/ | $87.67B | $11.31B | Unavailable | $17.20B |
| ACNAccenture plc | $74.18B | $8.37B | 32.0% | $11.62B |
| PFGCPerformance Food Group Co | $67.84B | $359.30M | 11.9% | $1.03B |
| ALL InsurerALLSTATE CORP | $67.68B | $10.28B | Unavailable | $9.88B |
| IBMINTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP | $67.54B | $10.59B | 58.2% | $12.10B |
| AVGOBroadcom Inc. | $63.89B | Unavailable | 67.8% | $26.91B |
| COF BankCAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORP | $53.43B | $2.45B | Unavailable | $26.14B |
| GDGENERAL DYNAMICS CORP | $52.55B | $4.21B | Unavailable | $3.96B |
| UBERUber Technologies, Inc | $52.02B | $10.05B | Unavailable | $9.76B |
| MOH InsurerMOLINA HEALTHCARE, INC. | $45.43B | $472.00M | 13.1% | -$636.00M |
| NFLXNETFLIX INC | $45.18B | $10.98B | 48.5% | $9.46B |
| CRMSalesforce, Inc. | $41.52B | $7.46B | 77.7% | $14.40B |
| USFDUS Foods Holding Corp. | $39.42B | $676.00M | 17.4% | $959.00M |
| SMCISuper Micro Computer, Inc. | $39.06B | $2.23B | 10.8% | -$6.97B |
| LADLITHIA MOTORS INC | $37.63B | $819.60M | 15.2% | $5.80M |
| PYPLPayPal Holdings, Inc. | $33.17B | $5.23B | Unavailable | $5.56B |
| MAMastercard Inc | $32.79B | Unavailable | Unavailable | $17.16B |
| PWRQUANTA SERVICES, INC. | $28.48B | $1.03B | 15.0% | $1.62B |
| MRSH InsurerMARSH & MCLENNAN COMPANIES, INC. | $26.98B | $4.16B | Unavailable | $5.00B |
| BKNGBooking Holdings Inc. | $26.92B | Unavailable | Unavailable | $9.09B |
| GOLDGold.com, Inc. | $25.51B | $82.34M | 1.8% | $1.21B |
| GPCGENUINE PARTS CO | $24.30B | $65.94M | 36.8% | $420.92M |
| ADBEADOBE INC. | $23.77B | $7.13B | 89.3% | $9.85B |
| GPIGROUP 1 AUTOMOTIVE INC | $22.57B | $325.20M | 16.0% | $424.50M |
| INTUINTUIT INC. | $21.45B | $4.57B | Unavailable | $8.66B |
| AON InsurerAon plc | $17.18B | $3.70B | Unavailable | $3.22B |
| KDPKeurig Dr Pepper Inc. | $16.60B | $2.08B | 54.2% | $1.50B |
| RJF Broker-dealerRAYMOND JAMES FINANCIAL INC | $15.91B | $2.14B | Unavailable | $2.25B |
| DASHDoorDash, Inc. | $13.72B | $935.00M | Unavailable | $2.17B |
| GXOGXO Logistics, Inc. | $13.18B | $32.00M | Unavailable | $110.00M |
| AIZ InsurerASSURANT, INC. | $12.81B | $872.70M | Unavailable | $1.60B |
Showing the 40 largest by revenue of 337. Open the full list in the screener.
What this does not show
Capital expenditure excludes acquisitions, which is how some companies buy the capacity others build. Low capex is not always low investment.
The measures behind this
Capital expenditures CapEx / revenue Revenue
Related findings
Citing this
SequelSEC, “Growing five years running on almost no capital”, 11 October 2026. https://sequelsec.com/findings/capital-light-compounders
Figures are recomputed on every view from SEC filings, so a number quoted from this page should carry the date it was read.