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MKS (MKSI) Piotroski F-Score : 6 (As of Jul. 24, 2025)


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What is MKS Piotroski F-Score?

The zones of discrimination were as such:

Good or high score = 7, 8, 9
Bad or low score = 0, 1, 2, 3

MKS has an F-score of 6 indicating the company's financial situation is typical for a stable company.

The historical rank and industry rank for MKS's Piotroski F-Score or its related term are showing as below:

MKSI' s Piotroski F-Score Range Over the Past 10 Years
Min: 3   Med: 6   Max: 8
Current: 6

During the past 13 years, the highest Piotroski F-Score of MKS was 8. The lowest was 3. And the median was 6.


MKS Piotroski F-Score Historical Data

The historical data trend for MKS's Piotroski F-Score can be seen below:

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.

* Premium members only.

MKS Piotroski F-Score Chart

MKS Annual Data
Trend Dec15 Dec16 Dec17 Dec18 Dec19 Dec20 Dec21 Dec22 Dec23 Dec24
Piotroski F-Score
Get a 7-Day Free Trial Premium Member Only Premium Member Only 7.00 7.00 4.00 6.00 7.00

MKS Quarterly Data
Jun20 Sep20 Dec20 Mar21 Jun21 Sep21 Dec21 Mar22 Jun22 Sep22 Dec22 Mar23 Jun23 Sep23 Dec23 Mar24 Jun24 Sep24 Dec24 Mar25
Piotroski F-Score Get a 7-Day Free Trial Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only 5.00 6.00 7.00 7.00 6.00

Competitive Comparison of MKS's Piotroski F-Score

For the Scientific & Technical Instruments subindustry, MKS's Piotroski F-Score, along with its competitors' market caps and Piotroski F-Score data, can be viewed below:

* Competitive companies are chosen from companies within the same industry, with headquarter located in same country, with closest market capitalization; x-axis shows the market cap, and y-axis shows the term value; the bigger the dot, the larger the market cap. Note that "N/A" values will not show up in the chart.


MKS's Piotroski F-Score Distribution in the Hardware Industry

For the Hardware industry and Technology sector, MKS's Piotroski F-Score distribution charts can be found below:

* The bar in red indicates where MKS's Piotroski F-Score falls into.


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How is the Piotroski F-Score calculated?

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.

This Year (Mar25) TTM:Last Year (Mar24) TTM:
Net Income was 23 + 62 + 91 + 52 = $228 Mil.
Cash Flow from Operations was 122 + 163 + 176 + 141 = $602 Mil.
Revenue was 887 + 896 + 934 + 936 = $3,653 Mil.
Gross Profit was 419 + 432 + 441 + 444 = $1,736 Mil.
Average Total Assets from the begining of this year (Mar24)
to the end of this year (Mar25) was
(8931 + 8863 + 9023 + 8590 + 8556) / 5 = $8792.6 Mil.
Total Assets at the begining of this year (Mar24) was $8,931 Mil.
Long-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation was $4,620 Mil.
Total Current Assets was $2,426 Mil.
Total Current Liabilities was $781 Mil.
Net Income was -1769 + 39 + -69 + 15 = $-1,784 Mil.

Revenue was 1003 + 932 + 892 + 868 = $3,695 Mil.
Gross Profit was 470 + 426 + 411 + 415 = $1,722 Mil.
Average Total Assets from the begining of last year (Mar23)
to the end of last year (Mar24) was
(11366 + 9230 + 9140 + 9118 + 8931) / 5 = $9557 Mil.
Total Assets at the begining of last year (Mar23) was $11,366 Mil.
Long-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation was $4,902 Mil.
Total Current Assets was $2,661 Mil.
Total Current Liabilities was $721 Mil.

*Note: If the latest quarterly/semi-annual/annual total assets data is 0, then we will use previous quarterly/semi-annual/annual data for all the items in the balance sheet.

Profitability

Question 1. Return on Assets (ROA)

Net income before extraordinary items for the year divided by Total Assets at the beginning of the year.

Score 1 if positive, 0 if negative.

MKS's current Net Income (TTM) was 228. ==> Positive ==> Score 1.

Question 2. Cash Flow Return on Assets (CFROA)

Net cash flow from operating activities (operating cash flow) divided by Total Assets at the beginning of the year.

Score 1 if positive, 0 if negative.

MKS's current Cash Flow from Operations (TTM) was 602. ==> Positive ==> Score 1.

Question 3. Change in Return on Assets

Compare this year's return on assets (1) to last year's return on assets.

Score 1 if it's higher, 0 if it's lower.

ROA (This Year)=Net Income/Total Assets (Mar24)
=228/8931
=0.02552906

ROA (Last Year)=Net Income/Total Assets (Mar23)
=-1784/11366
=-0.15695935

MKS's return on assets of this year was 0.02552906. MKS's return on assets of last year was -0.15695935. ==> This year is higher. ==> Score 1.

Question 4. Quality of Earnings (Accrual)

Compare Cash flow return on assets (2) to return on assets (1)

Score 1 if CFROA > ROA, 0 if CFROA <= ROA.

MKS's current Net Income (TTM) was 228. MKS's current Cash Flow from Operations (TTM) was 602. ==> 602 > 228 ==> CFROA > ROA ==> Score 1.

Funding

Question 5. Change in Gearing or Leverage

Compare this year's gearing (long-term debt divided by average total assets) to last year's gearing.

Score 0 if this year's gearing is higher, 1 otherwise.

Gearing (This Year: Mar25)=Long-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation/Average Total Assets from Mar24 to Mar25
=4620/8792.6
=0.52544185

Gearing (Last Year: Mar24)=Long-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation/Average Total Assets from Mar23 to Mar24
=4902/9557
=0.51292247

MKS's gearing of this year was 0.52544185. MKS's gearing of last year was 0.51292247. ==> Last year is lower than this year ==> Score 0.

Question 6. Change in Working Capital (Liquidity)

Compare this year's current ratio (current assets divided by current liabilities) to last year's current ratio.

Score 1 if this year's current ratio is higher, 0 if it's lower

Current Ratio (This Year: Mar25)=Total Current Assets/Total Current Liabilities
=2426/781
=3.10627401

Current Ratio (Last Year: Mar24)=Total Current Assets/Total Current Liabilities
=2661/721
=3.69070735

MKS's current ratio of this year was 3.10627401. MKS's current ratio of last year was 3.69070735. ==> Last year's current ratio is higher ==> Score 0.

Question 7. Change in Shares in Issue

Compare the number of shares in issue this year, to the number in issue last year.

Score 0 if there is larger number of shares in issue this year, 1 otherwise.

MKS's number of shares in issue this year was 67.7. MKS's number of shares in issue last year was 67.4. ==> There is larger number of shares in issue this year. ==> Score 0.

Efficiency

Question 8. Change in Gross Margin

Compare this year's gross margin (Gross Profit divided by sales) to last year's.

Score 1 if this year's gross margin is higher, 0 if it's lower.

Gross Margin (This Year: TTM)=Gross Profit/Revenue
=1736/3653
=0.47522584

Gross Margin (Last Year: TTM)=Gross Profit/Revenue
=1722/3695
=0.46603518

MKS's gross margin of this year was 0.47522584. MKS's gross margin of last year was 0.46603518. ==> This year's gross margin is higher. ==> Score 1.

Question 9. Change in asset turnover

Compare this year's asset turnover (total sales for the year divided by total assets at the beginning of the year) to last year's asset turnover ratio.

Score 1 if this year's asset turnover ratio is higher, 0 if it's lower

Asset Turnover (This Year)=Revenue/Total Assets at the Beginning of This Year (Mar24)
=3653/8931
=0.40902475

Asset Turnover (Last Year)=Revenue/Total Assets at the Beginning of Last Year (Mar23)
=3695/11366
=0.32509238

MKS's asset turnover of this year was 0.40902475. MKS's asset turnover of last year was 0.32509238. ==> This year's asset turnover is higher. ==> Score 1.

Evaluation

Piotroski F-Score= Que. 1+ Que. 2+ Que. 3+Que. 4+Que. 5+Que. 6+Que. 7+Que. 8+Que. 9
=1+1+1+1+0+0+0+1+1
=6

Good or high score = 7, 8, 9
Bad or low score = 0, 1, 2, 3

MKS has an F-score of 6 indicating the company's financial situation is typical for a stable company.

MKS  (NAS:MKSI) Piotroski F-Score Explanation

The developer of the system is Joseph D. Piotroski is relatively unknown accounting professor who shuns publicity and rarely gives interviews.

He graduated from the University of Illinois with a B.S. in accounting in 1989, received an M.B.A. from Indiana University in 1994. Five years later, in 1999, after earning a Ph.D. in accounting from the University of Michigan, he became an associate professor of accounting at the University of Chicago.

In 2000, he wrote a research paper called "Value Investing: The Use of Historical Financial Statement Information to Separate Winners from Losers" (pdf).

He wanted to see if he can develop a system (using a simple nine-point scoring system) that can increase the returns of a strategy of investing in low price to book (referred to in the paper as high book to market) value companies.

What he found was something that exceeded his most optimistic expectations.

Buying only those companies that scored highest (8 or 9) on his nine-point scale, or F-Score as he called it, over the 20 year period from 1976 to 1996 led to an average out-performance over the market of 13.4%.

Even more impressive were the results of a strategy of investing in the highest F-Score companies (8 or 9) and shorting companies with the lowest F-Score (0 or 1).

Over the same period from 1976 to 1996 (20 years) this strategy led to an average yearly return of 23%, substantially outperforming the average S&P 500 index return of 15.83% over the same period.


MKS Piotroski F-Score Related Terms

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MKS Business Description

Traded in Other Exchanges
Address
2 Tech Drive, Suite 201, Andover, MA, USA, 01810
MKS Inc formerly, MKS Instruments Inc is engaged in providing instruments, subsystems, and process control systems used to measure, monitor, deliver, and control parameters of manufacturing processes. The company's product portfolio includes instruments, components, and systems required in manufacturing products such as flat panel displays, medical devices, and electronic materials, among others, used in industrial technologies, semiconductors, life and health sciences, and research and defense markets. The company organizes itself into three reportable business segments: Vacuum Solutions, Photonics Solutions, and Materials Solutions. The Vacuum Solutions segment contributes the majority of the company's revenue.
Executives
Elizabeth Mora director C/O MKS INSTRUMENTS, INC., 2 TECH DRIVE, SUITE 201, ANDOVER MA 01810
Jacqueline F Moloney director 222 MERRIMACK STREET, LOWELL MA 01852
Gerard G Colella officer: VP Global Business Operations 6 SHATTUCK RD, ANDOVER MA 01810
Kathleen Flaherty Burke officer: Sr. VP, GC & Secretary MKS INSTRUMENTS, INC., 2 TECH DRIVE, SUITE 201, ANDOVER MA 01810
Seth H Bagshaw officer: Vice President, CFO
David Philip Henry officer: SVP, Corp Mkt, PMO & Glob Svc MKS INSTRUMENTS, INC., 2 TECH DRIVE, SUITE 201, ANDOVER MA 01810
Cap Iv, L.l.c. 10 percent owner C/O THE CARLYLE GROUP, 1001 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, NW, WASHINGTON DC 20004
Cap Iv General Partner, L.p. 10 percent owner C/O THE CARLYLE GROUP, 1001 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, NW, WASHINGTON DC 20004
Carlyle Asia Partners Iv, L.p. 10 percent owner 1001 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, NW, SUITE 220, WASHINGTON DC 20004
Carlyle Partners Vi Cayman Holdings, L.p. 10 percent owner C/O WALKERS CORPORATE LIMITED, CAYMAN CORPORATE CENTRE, 27 HOSPITAL RD., GEORGE TOWN, GRAND CAYMAN E9 KY1-9008
Carlyle Group Inc. 10 percent owner C/O THE CARLYLE GROUP, 1001 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, N.W., WASHINGTON DC 20004
Geoffrey Wild director 108 CHERRY HILL DRIVE, BEVERLY MA 01915
Tc Group Vi Cayman, L.p. 10 percent owner C/O WALKERS CORPORATE LIMITED, CAYMAN CORPORATE CENTRE, 27 HOSPITAL RD., GEORGE TOWN, GRAND CAYMAN E9 KY1-9008
Cg Subsidiary Holdings L.l.c. 10 percent owner C/O THE CARLYLE GROUP, SUITE 220 SOUTH, 1001 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, N.W., WASHINGTON DC 20004
Tc Group Vi Cayman, L.l.c. 10 percent owner C/O THE CARLYLE GROUP, SUITE 220 SOUTH, 1001 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, N.W., WASHINGTON DC 20004