Highwoods Properties
Through the investors’ lenses
3 of 3 cleared5 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 3/3
| Measure | HIW | Checked against | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owner earnings | $16.08m | positive | ✓ |
| Return on equity | 6.8% | US median 2.8% | ✓ |
| Debt to equity | — | US median 0.57x | — |
| Operating margin | 67.6% | US median 3.1% | ✓ |
Passes 3 of 3. These are the measures Warren Buffett published, applied to Highwoods Properties’s own figures — their criteria, not their view of this company. What he looks at, and why →
Benjamin Graham 1/1
| Measure | HIW | Checked against | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current ratio | — | 2.00x published | — |
| Long-term debt to working capital | — | 1.00x published | — |
| Positive earnings, ten years running | 10 yrs | 10 published | ✓ |
Passes 1 of 1. These are the measures Benjamin Graham published, applied to Highwoods Properties’s own figures — their criteria, not their view of this company. What he looks at, and why →
Peter Lynch 1/1
| Measure | HIW | Checked against | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debt to equity | — | US median 0.57x | — |
| Net margin | 20.2% | US median 2.0% | ✓ |
Passes 1 of 1. These are the measures Peter Lynch published, applied to Highwoods Properties’s own figures — their criteria, not their view of this company. What he looks at, and why →
| Basis | Payout | Why |
|---|---|---|
| GAAP earnings | 135.2% | whyDepressed by depreciation on buildings that are not losing value. |
| Operating cash flow | 60.3% | whyBefore capital spending. |
| Free cash flow | negative | whyOCF fell $82.3m short of capex — the dividend was not funded from free cash flow. |
| Funds from operations | 47.4% | whyThe industry's basis — adds that depreciation back. |
Spread between highest and lowest: 87.8 percentage points. Same filings, different denominators.
Coverage rating 80 / 100 — Comfortable. ? Peer standing 46/50Direction 18/30Stability 16/20
Funds from operations payout, last 6 years
| Fiscal year | Payout |
|---|---|
| 2025-12-31 | 47.4% |
| 2024-12-31 | 52.7% |
| 2023-12-31 | 46.8% |
| 2022-12-31 | 46.5% |
| 2021-12-31 | 35.0% |
| 2020-12-31 | 33.2% |
91% of the 47 real estate here pay out more — comfortable for the sector.
The arithmetic
- GAAP earnings — dividends declared per share $1.96 ÷ diluted EPS $1.45
- Operating cash flow — dividends paid $217m ÷ operating cash flow $359m
- Free cash flow — dividends paid $217m ÷ (operating cash flow $359m − capex $442m)
- Funds from operations — dividends declared per share $1.96 ÷ derived FFO $4.14 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 2026-02-10 · accession 0000921082-26-000005
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
- DPS derived from dividends paid ($1.96); 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: uncovered on earnings, covered on the basis that applies · rated comfortable · when it files.
Who else looks like this
Every figure above is computed from Highwoods 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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