Principal Financial Group Inc (PFG) stock analysis
Principal Financial Group Inc (PFG) clears 5 of this site's 8 mechanical value filters, 5 of 8 Buffett-style checks and 4 of 5 Lynch-style checks. A free-cash-flow DCF does not fit insurance companies, so no margin of safety is shown. Its earnings quality rates Strong and it returns +6.3% to shareholders net of dilution. Figures are as of October 23, 2026, from SEC filings and market data refreshed weekly; this is educational analysis, not investment advice.
Data as of October 23, 2026. Refreshed weekly from SEC filings and market data.
What does Principal Financial Group do?
Principal Financial Group sells retirement plans, asset management and insurance to individuals and employers.
What stands out about Principal Financial Group?
- Misses 1 of the 8 value filters. It fails Market Cap > $25B ($23.4B); the other 5 pass and 2 were not evaluated. See every filter.
- Strongest against peers: dividend yield. At 2.98% (peer median 1.75%) it ranks 3rd of 23 among insurance stocks this site tracks. See the ranking.
- Weakest against peers: net margin. At 9.9% (peer median 14.2%) it ranks 19th of 23 among insurance stocks this site tracks. See the ranking.
- Returns 6.3% of its value to owners a year. Dividends plus buybacks, minus the stock issued to staff, as a share of market value. See Shareholder Yield Leaders.
How has Principal Financial Group's share price moved?
The interactive price chart needs JavaScript.
Is Principal Financial Group undervalued? The value diligence check
Every value-investing signal this site computes for this stock, gathered in one place: the same real numbers from the tools below, not a new score.
- Margin of safety (DCF) n/a (Insurance)
- P/E vs. its own history 15.0x · the middle Real range: 4.5x–30.9x over 5 years (net income per diluted share from each fiscal year's 10-K, paired with the real closing price at that fiscal year-end).
- Wall St. analyst rating Hold · 2.73/5 22 analysts this month: 0 strong buy, 2 buy, 13 hold, 6 sell, 1 strong sell (Finnhub). Down from 2.74 last month.
- Altman Z″-Score (bankruptcy risk) n/a (Insurance)
- Earnings quality (is the profit real?) Strong · all 5 checks clean accruals −1.0% of assets · 383% of profit arrived as cash · stock comp 0.7% of revenue · share count −3.9% a year. From the latest 10-K (year to Dec 2025) - see the Earnings Quality Screener for how each check is scored.
- Shareholder yield (cash back to owners) +6.3% net Latest fiscal year (2025): dividends 2.9% + buybacks 3.9% − stock comp 0.5%, as a share of today's market cap. Over 14 years its split-adjusted share count fell 29%. See Shareholder Yield Leaders.
- Capital needed to grow (See's test) n/a (bank, insurer, lender or REIT)
- PEG (growth at a reasonable price) 1.49 · Above fair P/E 15.0× ÷ 10.1% a year of growth behind it. 165th lowest of 447 stocks with a usable PEG. Lynch's fair value is a PEG of 1; a very high PEG usually means almost no growth, a very low one a profit spike. See PEG Ratio Ranking.
- Compounder lenses (4) 3 of 4 · misses capital-light (n/a) Capital-light growth: cannot be measured (bank, insurer, lender or REIT); Profit is real: cleared; Cash to owners: cleared; Fair price (PEG): cleared. See Compounders at a Fair Price, which also lets you move the PEG bar.
- Munger's Inversion Check 0 flags
- Standing vs. sector peers 1 of 4 measures above the median Compared with the 22 other insurance stocks this site tracks: 1 in the top third, 3 in the bottom third.
- Dividend payout sustainability 0/6 · clean
How does Principal Financial Group compare with its peers?
1 of 4 measure sits above the median of the 22 other insurance stocks tracked here, 1 in the top third and 3 in the bottom third.
- P/E ratiolower is cheaper · peer median 13.2× 15.0× ✕16th of 23
- Return on equityhigher is better · peer median 20% 13% ✕16th of 23
- Net marginhigher is better · peer median 14.2% 9.9% ✕19th of 23
- Dividend yieldamong dividend payers · peer median 1.75% 2.98% ✓3rd of 23
Peers are the stocks this site tracks in the same sector group, not every listed competitor. The bar runs from the weakest peer (left) to the strongest (right); the tick is the middle. Measures that don't apply to a sector (cash-flow yield for banks, debt for financials) are left out.
What would Buffett & Lynch say?
Buffett's checklist is built around durable, profitable businesses bought at sensible prices, and PFG doesn't clear enough of it yet. In its favor: PFG is currently earning a strong return on shareholders' equity, and has kept that profitability up over five years, not just this year, carries a conservative amount of debt relative to equity, is trading below what a conservative discounted-cash-flow estimate says it's worth - his own "price is what you pay, value is what you get" test, not a fixed multiple ceiling, and trades at a reasonable multiple of owner earnings, his own term for the real cash a business could pay out. Where it comes up short: PFG runs thinner pretax margins than he'd like to see, hasn't grown earnings per share fast enough over five years to impress him, and doesn't cover its interest expense as comfortably as he'd want.
- ROE (TTM) > 11% ✓
- ROE (5yr avg) > 11% ✓
- Debt/Equity < 0.5 ✓
- Pretax margin > 15% ✕
- EPS growth (5yr) > 7% ✕
- Interest coverage > 5x ✕
- Trading below intrinsic value (DCF) ✓
- Price vs. owner earnings < 25x ✓
- Bonus: returning capital via buybacks FY2025
Lynch looked for growth stories that weren't overpriced for that growth, and PFG falls short of his bar. In its favor: PFG is growing earnings 20-50% a year, his classic fast-grower zone, isn't leaning on debt to fund that growth, isn't asking too much even by a fast grower's usual richer multiple, and is generating real cash to back up a fast grower's higher price tag. Where it comes up short: PFG doesn't clear the tighter PEG bar a fast grower needs to justify its pace.
- PEG < 1 (stricter for fast growers) ✕
- EPS growth 20%-50% ✓
- Debt/Equity < 0.5 ✓
- P/E < 40 ✓
- Price/FCF < 40 ✓
Quantitative approximations of each investor's documented approach, not endorsed by either investor or their estates - commentary, not this site's actual ranking criteria. Buffett never published a numeric checklist: only 2 of his 8 checks here trace to his own documented concepts ("owner earnings," from his 1986 shareholder letter, and "price is what you pay, value is what you get," his case against fixed P/E/P/B ceilings) - the other 6 (ROE, debt, margins, growth, interest coverage) use commonly-cited thresholds that are not numbers he himself published. The 8 hard filters below (plus the Munger check and Graham margin of safety) are this site's real, mechanical screen and are computed completely independently of the checklists above.
Berkshire Hathaway's own filing
Which of the 8 value filters does Principal Financial Group pass?
- Market Cap > $25B $23.4B
- Trailing P/E < 25 14.99
- PEG Ratio < 1.5 1.49
- Price/Book < 8 1.92
- Price/Sales < 7 1.48
- EPS Growth YoY > -5% +2.9%
- vs 50-day MA (±12%) Not evaluated †
- vs 200-day MA (±12%) Not evaluated †
What is Principal Financial Group's margin of safety?
A standard free-cash-flow DCF doesn't fit how insurance companies report cash flow.
Where is Principal Financial Group in its 52-week range?
What is the short interest in Principal Financial Group?
8,239,414 shares short as of 2026-09-30 (FINRA settlement date). Reported twice a month, so this only changes roughly every two weeks, not daily.
What could go wrong with Principal Financial Group? Munger's inversion check
"Invert, always invert." Instead of reasons to buy, these are reasons to hesitate, not a verdict, and not everything worth knowing about a business.
- Margin of safety, even in the bull case n/a (Insurance)
- Short interest under 5% of float 3.9%
- Passes most of the 6 fundamental filters 5/6 passed
Doesn't cover circle of competence, management quality, or accounting concerns: those need judgment, not data.
How much have Principal Financial Group shareholders gained per year?
Earnings growth per share plus dividend.
An earnings-based proxy, not a stock-price total return - it doesn't capture multiple expansion/contraction or reinvested dividends. EPS from PFG's own 10-K filings; dividend yield is the current trailing yield on today's price, from the same weekly fetch as the rest of this site.
What do Principal Financial Group's 10-year financials show?
From PFG's own 10-K filings (SEC EDGAR): up to the last 10 fiscal years. Press any year's bars for the exact figures.
Frequently asked questions about Principal Financial Group
What kind of company is Principal Financial Group?
Principal Financial Group sells retirement plans, asset management and insurance to individuals and employers. This site groups it with Insurance stocks.
Why does Principal Financial Group have no margin of safety on this site?
This site's DCF values a company from its free cash flow, and that does not fit insurers, whose operating cash flow swings with premiums, claims and investment float rather than with what is left over for owners. So PFG gets no margin of safety; judge it on the other checks on this page, such as its filters, shareholder yield and ranking against its peers. The method is in the Intrinsic Value Calculator.
How many of this site's 8 value filters does Principal Financial Group pass?
PFG passes 5 of 8. It passes Trailing P/E < 25 (14.99), PEG Ratio < 1.5 (1.49), Price/Book < 8 (1.92), Price/Sales < 7 (1.48) and EPS Growth YoY > -5% (+2.9%). It misses Market Cap > $25B ($23.4B). vs 50-day MA (±12%) and vs 200-day MA (±12%) were not evaluated, because the moving-average checks only run on stocks that clear the fundamentals first. The 8-filter list shows every stock that passes all of them.
How much cash does Principal Financial Group return to shareholders?
PFG's net shareholder yield is +6.3%: the cash it returns through dividends and buybacks, minus stock-based compensation, as a share of its market value. Latest fiscal year (2025): dividends 2.9% + buybacks 3.9% − stock comp 0.5%, as a share of today's market cap. Over 14 years its split-adjusted share count fell 29%. Its trailing dividend yield is 2.98%, paid out of 14% of its free cash flow; the dividend-sustainability check raises 0 of 6 flags. See Shareholder Yield Leaders and the Sustainable Dividend Screener.
When does Principal Financial Group report earnings next?
Principal Financial Group's next earnings report is expected on October 26, 2026 after the market closes, with analysts expecting earnings of $2.44 per share. Dates come from the Finnhub earnings calendar and can move. In its last 4 quarters it beat the estimate 2 times, by an average of +0.1%.
How heavily is Principal Financial Group stock sold short?
As of September 30, 2026, 3.9% of PFG's float was sold short (8,239,414 shares, 5.5 days to cover), down 12.8% from the prior reporting period. FINRA publishes short interest twice a month, so it changes about every two weeks; this site flags anything above 5% of the float.
Where do these numbers come from?
- Financial statements: Principal Financial Group's 10-K annual report for the year ended Dec 31, 2025, filed Feb 18, 2026 (filing index). Every earlier year in the 10-year financials comes from the company's older 10-K filings, all listed on SEC EDGAR.
- Prices and market data: quotes, P/E and analyst ratings from Finnhub; daily price history and the 52-week range from Twelve Data, both refreshed weekly. Short interest comes from FINRA, reported twice a month.
- How to check a figure: click any number in the card above to see its exact source, and read the Editorial Standards for every rule behind the checks.
About this Principal Financial Group Inc analysis
This page shows every value-investing check the site runs on Principal Financial Group Inc (PFG) in one place: the 8 mechanical filters, the Buffett and Lynch checklists, a margin of safety from a disclosed DCF, earnings quality, shareholder yield and how it ranks against its sector peers. The numbers come from SEC filings and public market data, refreshed weekly, and the same rules apply to every stock on the stock list. See Editorial Standards for the sources and the rules, or run your own filters in the stock screener.