Profitable companies spending under 5% of revenue on capital
Capital expenditure below a twentieth of revenue, with free cash flow positive. It identifies businesses that grow without heavy reinvestment in property and equipment; it says nothing about research spending, which is an expense rather than capital.
| Company | Revenue | Net income | Gross margin | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WMTWalmart Inc. | $713.16B | $21.89B | 24.9% | $14.92B |
| UNH InsurerUNITEDHEALTH GROUP INC | $447.57B | $12.06B | 88.7% | $16.08B |
| AAPLApple Inc. | $416.16B | $112.01B | 46.9% | $98.77B |
| 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 |
| CAHCARDINAL HEALTH INC | $254.25B | $1.71B | 3.8% | $4.52B |
| ELV InsurerElevance Health, Inc. | $199.12B | $5.66B | 89.4% | $3.17B |
| CNC InsurerCENTENE CORP | $194.78B | -$6.67B | 7.3% | $4.32B |
| MPCMarathon Petroleum Corp | $132.70B | $4.05B | 10.0% | $4.77B |
| SNEX Broker-dealerStoneX Group Inc. | $132.38B | $305.90M | 3.1% | $4.32B |
| HUM InsurerHUMANA INC | $129.66B | $1.19B | Unavailable | $375.00M |
| DELLDell Technologies Inc. | $113.54B | $5.94B | 20.0% | $8.55B |
| TGTTARGET CORP | $104.78B | $3.70B | 27.9% | $2.84B |
| UPSUNITED PARCEL SERVICE INC | $88.66B | $5.57B | Unavailable | $4.76B |
| RTXRTX Corp | $88.60B | $6.73B | Unavailable | $7.94B |
| PGR InsurerPROGRESSIVE CORP/OH/ | $87.67B | $11.31B | Unavailable | $17.20B |
| LOWLOWES COMPANIES INC | $86.29B | $6.65B | 33.5% | $7.65B |
| ADMArcher-Daniels-Midland Co | $80.27B | $1.08B | 6.3% | $4.20B |
| ACNAccenture plc | $74.18B | $8.37B | 32.0% | $11.62B |
| AXP BankAMERICAN EXPRESS CO | $72.23B | $10.83B | Unavailable | $16.00B |
| PFGCPerformance Food Group Co | $67.84B | $359.30M | 11.9% | $1.03B |
| ALL InsurerALLSTATE CORP | $67.68B | $10.28B | Unavailable | $9.88B |
| CATCATERPILLAR INC | $67.59B | Unavailable | 33.8% | $8.92B |
| IBMINTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP | $67.54B | $10.59B | 58.2% | $12.10B |
| AVGOBroadcom Inc. | $63.89B | Unavailable | 67.8% | $26.91B |
| CSCOCISCO SYSTEMS, INC. | $63.32B | $13.27B | 64.5% | $12.77B |
| PFEPFIZER INC | $62.58B | $7.77B | 74.3% | $9.08B |
| ABBVAbbVie Inc. | $61.16B | $4.23B | 70.2% | $17.82B |
| TJXTJX COMPANIES INC /DE/ | $60.37B | $5.49B | 31.0% | $4.92B |
| TSNTYSON FOODS, INC. | $54.44B | $474.00M | 6.5% | $1.18B |
| COF BankCAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORP | $53.43B | $2.45B | Unavailable | $26.14B |
| INGMIngram Micro Holding Corp | $52.56B | $327.88M | 6.7% | $785.37M |
| GDGENERAL DYNAMICS CORP | $52.55B | $4.21B | Unavailable | $3.96B |
| UBERUber Technologies, Inc | $52.02B | $10.05B | Unavailable | $9.76B |
| BMYBRISTOL MYERS SQUIBB CO | $48.19B | $7.05B | 71.1% | $12.84B |
| KOCOCA COLA CO | $47.94B | $13.11B | 61.6% | $5.30B |
| NKENIKE, Inc. | $46.40B | $3.11B | 42.9% | $2.18B |
| DEDEERE & CO | $45.68B | $5.03B | Unavailable | $6.10B |
| NFLXNETFLIX INC | $45.18B | $10.98B | 48.5% | $9.46B |
| TMOTHERMO FISHER SCIENTIFIC INC. | $44.56B | $6.70B | Unavailable | $6.29B |
| ABTABBOTT LABORATORIES | $44.33B | $6.52B | 56.4% | $7.40B |
| PAAPLAINS ALL AMERICAN PIPELINE LP | $44.26B | $1.44B | 8.7% | $2.29B |
| PAGPPLAINS GP HOLDINGS LP | $44.26B | $260.00M | 8.7% | $2.29B |
| NOCNORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP /DE/ | $41.95B | $4.18B | Unavailable | $3.31B |
| BBYBEST BUY CO INC | $41.69B | $1.07B | 22.5% | $1.26B |
| CRMSalesforce, Inc. | $41.52B | $7.46B | 77.7% | $14.40B |
| PMPhilip Morris International Inc. | $40.65B | $11.35B | 67.1% | $10.66B |
| USFDUS Foods Holding Corp. | $39.42B | $676.00M | 17.4% | $959.00M |
| MDLZMondelez International, Inc. | $38.54B | $2.45B | 28.4% | $3.24B |
| LADLITHIA MOTORS INC | $37.63B | $819.60M | 15.2% | $5.80M |
| HONHONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC | $37.44B | $4.73B | 36.9% | $5.42B |
| WBDWarner Bros. Discovery, Inc. | $37.30B | $727.00M | Unavailable | $3.09B |
| WKCWORLD KINECT CORP | $36.92B | -$614.40M | 2.6% | $227.30M |
| JBLJABIL INC | $35.95B | $1.04B | 9.2% | $1.37B |
| SLBSLB LIMITED/NV | $35.71B | $3.37B | Unavailable | $4.80B |
| AMDADVANCED MICRO DEVICES INC | $34.64B | $4.34B | 49.5% | $6.74B |
| CPNGCoupang, Inc. | $34.53B | $208.00M | 29.4% | $522.00M |
| DHIHORTON D R INC /DE/ | $34.25B | $3.59B | 23.7% | $3.28B |
How common this has been
14.4% of companies met this in 2016 and 14.1% in 2025; the share has roughly held.
| Year | Share | Companies | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 14.4% | 349 of 2,421 | |
| 2017 | 15.3% | 462 of 3,029 | |
| 2018 | 14.9% | 481 of 3,238 | |
| 2019 | 14.5% | 511 of 3,534 | |
| 2020 | 14.8% | 569 of 3,849 | |
| 2021 | 15.1% | 612 of 4,065 | |
| 2022 | 13.9% | 603 of 4,332 | |
| 2023 | 13.8% | 632 of 4,573 | |
| 2024 | 14.0% | 666 of 4,764 | |
| 2025 | 14.1% | 694 of 4,909 |
Each year is the screen re-run against the figures each company had reported by that December, so it is what the answer would have been at the time rather than today’s companies with old numbers. The denominator is companies with usable figures that year, which grows as coverage does.
Fiscal year ends differ between companies; each row shows that company’s own latest annual period. Figures are the filers’ own, normalized from their SEC filings.
This screen runs as capex / revenue < 5% AND fcf IS POSITIVE AND revenue > 1b. Open it in the screener to change the conditions, or read the methodology for how each figure is chosen.