CBL & Associates Properties
Through the investors’ lenses
0 of 3 cleared2 of 5 criteria
Each of these investors has said in public what they look at before buying. Click a name to see how this company measures up — a tick where it passes one of their tests, a cross where it does not.
Warren Buffett 2/3
| Measure | CBL | Checked against | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owner earnings | $115.14m | positive | ✓ |
| Return on equity | 36.3% | US median 2.8% | ✓ |
| Debt to equity | 5.80x | US median 0.57x | ✗ |
| Operating margin | — | US median 3.1% | — |
Passes 2 of 3. These are the measures Warren Buffett published, applied to CBL & Associates Properties’s own figures — their criteria, not their view of this company. What he looks at, and why →
Benjamin Graham 0/1
| Measure | CBL | Checked against | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current ratio | — | 2.00x published | — |
| Long-term debt to working capital | — | 1.00x published | — |
| Positive earnings, ten years running | 3 yrs | 10 published | ✗ |
Passes 0 of 1. These are the measures Benjamin Graham published, applied to CBL & Associates Properties’s own figures — their criteria, not their view of this company. What he looks at, and why →
Peter Lynch 0/1
| Measure | CBL | Checked against | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debt to equity | 5.80x | US median 0.57x | ✗ |
| Net margin | — | US median 2.0% | — |
Passes 0 of 1. These are the measures Peter Lynch published, applied to CBL & Associates Properties’s own figures — their criteria, not their view of this company. What he looks at, and why →
| Basis | Payout | Why |
|---|---|---|
| GAAP earnings | 57.6% | whyDepressed by depreciation on buildings that are not losing value. |
| Operating cash flow | 30.9% | whyBefore capital spending. |
| Free cash flow | 121.0% | whyCounts property acquisitions as though they were maintenance. |
| Funds from operations | 25.6% | whyThe industry's basis — adds that depreciation back. |
Spread between highest and lowest: 95.4 percentage points. Same filings, different denominators.
Coverage rating 65 / 100 — Adequate. ? Peer standing 47/50Direction 18/30Stability 0/20
Funds from operations payout, last 6 years
| Fiscal year | Payout |
|---|---|
| 2025-12-31 | 25.6% |
| 2024-12-31 | 25.2% |
| 2023-12-31 | 61.5% |
| 2022-12-31 | 15.2% |
| 2012-12-31 | 6.8% |
| 2011-12-31 | 35.6% |
94% of the 47 real estate here pay out more — comfortable for the sector.
The arithmetic
- GAAP earnings — dividends declared per share $2.50 ÷ diluted EPS $4.34
- Operating cash flow — dividends paid $77.1m ÷ operating cash flow $250m
- Free cash flow — dividends paid $77.1m ÷ (operating cash flow $250m − capex $186m)
- Funds from operations — dividends declared per share $2.50 ÷ derived FFO $9.76 per share
- FFO built NAREIT-style: net income, plus real-estate depreciation, less gains on sale, over weighted-average diluted shares
- This is an approximation. Every REIT defines its own adjusted variant in the filing text, so it will not match the earnings release exactly
Where the figures came from
- 10-K filed 2026-03-03 · accession 0001193125-26-087049
Every one is public at sec.gov and free to check. That is the point — you should not have to take our word for any of it.
Caveats on this company
- ebitda built from net income (no operating income reported)
- DPS derived from dividends paid ($2.50); no per-share tag filed
- FFO derived (NAREIT approximation)
Computed by an open pipeline reading SEC XBRL directly. If any number here looks wrong to you, tell us — that is more useful to us than agreement.
What the funds from operations payout ratio measures, and where every company here sits on it.
Also on: rated adequate · when it files.
Who else looks like this
Every figure above is computed from CBL & Associates Properties’s own filing, and every company here is measured the same way. Screen all of them on any of these twelve measures, or on the rules four investors published — free, and nothing you screen leaves your browser.
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