KKR
Through the investors’ lenses
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 1/2
| Measure | KKR | Checked against | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owner earnings | — | positive | — |
| Return on equity | 7.7% | median 11.7% | ✗ |
| Debt to equity | — | median 0.79x | — |
| Operating margin | 36.5% | median 15.0% | ✓ |
Passes 1 of 2. To be clear: Warren Buffett has never said anything about KKR. These are the company’s own figures put through the tests he described. What he looks at, and why →
Terry Smith 1/1
| Measure | KKR | Checked against | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Return on capital employed | — | median 10.1% | — |
| Cash conversion | — | median 1.78x | — |
| Operating margin | 36.5% | median 15.0% | ✓ |
| Debt to equity | — | median 0.79x | — |
Passes 1 of 1. To be clear: Terry Smith has never said anything about KKR. These are the company’s own figures put through the tests he described. What he looks at, and why →
Charlie Munger 1/2
| Measure | KKR | Checked against | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Return on capital employed | — | median 10.1% | — |
| Return on equity | 7.7% | median 11.7% | ✗ |
| Operating margin | 36.5% | median 15.0% | ✓ |
Passes 1 of 2. To be clear: Charlie Munger has never said anything about KKR. These are the company’s own figures put through the tests he described. What he looks at, and why →
Chuck Akre 0/2
| Measure | KKR | Checked against | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Return on equity | 7.7% | median 11.7% | ✗ |
| Debt to equity | — | median 0.79x | — |
| Cash conversion | — | median 1.78x | — |
| Return on equity, sustained | 7 of 10 | 8 of 10 above median | ✗ |
Passes 0 of 2. To be clear: Chuck Akre has never said anything about KKR. These are the company’s own figures put through the tests he described. What he looks at, and why →
Philip Fisher 3/3
| Measure | KKR | Checked against | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Operating margin | 36.5% | median 15.0% | ✓ |
| Net margin | 12.2% | median 10.2% | ✓ |
| Return on capital employed | — | median 10.1% | — |
| Operating margin, held or improving | 36.5% | 10-yr median 36.5% | ✓ |
Passes 3 of 3. To be clear: Philip Fisher has never said anything about KKR. These are the company’s own figures put through the tests he described. What he looks at, and why →
Benjamin Graham 0/1
| Measure | KKR | 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. To be clear: Benjamin Graham has never said anything about KKR. These are the company’s own figures put through the tests he described. What he looks at, and why →
Peter Lynch 1/1
| Measure | KKR | Checked against | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debt to equity | — | median 0.79x | — |
| Net margin | 12.2% | median 10.2% | ✓ |
Passes 1 of 1. To be clear: Peter Lynch has never said anything about KKR. These are the company’s own figures put through the tests he described. What he looks at, and why →
Free cash flow is not shown for this company. It cannot be computed from what this company files — the inputs are absent from its XBRL, not zero. The figure marked in the table is operating cash flow instead.
| Basis | Payout | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | 136.0% | whyBefore capital spending. |
No GAAP earnings and free cash flow figure is shown. This company does not report the inputs for it in its XBRL filings — capital expenditure, in particular, is often folded into a single investing total rather than tagged on its own. The figure is absent from the filings, not zero, and inventing one from a balance-sheet movement would be a guess dressed as a measurement.
Coverage rating 0 / 100 — Not covered. ? Peer standing · not rankedDirection 0/30Stability 0/20
Against its own history: 136.0% this year vs 16.7% median over the prior 5. A gap this size is usually a one-off — acquisition, settlement, cyclical trough — not a dividend that stopped being funded. The rating reads the latest year; the table shows the trend.
Operating cash flow payout, last 6 years
| Fiscal year | Payout |
|---|---|
| 2025-12-31 | 136.0% |
| 2024-12-31 | 9.2% |
| 2015-12-31 | 183.3% |
| 2014-12-31 | 52.7% |
| 2013-12-31 | 16.7% |
| 2012-12-31 | 3.2% |
Coverage worsened sharply this year, 9.2% to 136.0%, after no clear trend before it. One year is not a trend, but it is worth knowing which direction the last one moved.
The arithmetic
- Operating cash flow — dividends paid $650m ÷ operating cash flow $478m
Where the figures came from
- 10-K filed 2026-02-27 · accession 0001404912-26-000007
All public at sec.gov — you should not have to take our word for it.
Computed straight from SEC XBRL. A number that looks wrong to you is more useful to us than agreement — tell us.
What the operating cash flow payout ratio measures, and where every company here sits on it.
Also on: rated not covered · when it files.
When this changes
Every figure above is recomputed whenever KKR files. The monthly letter carries what filed, what moved, and one finding computed across every company here.