Wells Fargo & Co (WFC) stock analysis
Wells Fargo & Co (WFC) clears 8 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 banking companies, so no margin of safety is shown. It returns +8.6% 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 Wells Fargo do?
Wells Fargo is a large US bank offering consumer and business banking, home loans, credit cards, wealth management and investment banking, with branches across the country.
What stands out about Wells Fargo?
- No filter fails. WFC passes 8 of the 8 value filters. See every filter.
- Strongest against peers: return on equity. At 13% (peer median 11%) it ranks 2nd of 13 among banking stocks this site tracks. See the ranking.
- Weakest against peers: dividend yield. At 2.63% (peer median 3.36%) it ranks 11th of 13 among banking stocks this site tracks. See the ranking.
- Dividend raises 1 of 6 flags. Its trailing yield is 2.63%. See the Sustainable Dividend Screener.
How has Wells Fargo's share price moved?
The interactive price chart needs JavaScript.
Is Wells Fargo 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 (Banking)
- P/E vs. its own history 10.9x · the middle Real range: 8.9x–14.2x 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 Buy · 3.87/5 30 analysts this month: 6 strong buy, 14 buy, 10 hold, 0 sell, 0 strong sell (Finnhub).
- Altman Z″-Score (bankruptcy risk) n/a (Banking)
- Earnings quality (is the profit real?) n/a (bank, insurer or REIT)
- Shareholder yield (cash back to owners) +8.6% net Latest fiscal year (2025): dividends 2.2% + buybacks 7.0% − stock comp 0.6%, as a share of today's market cap. Over 14 years its split-adjusted share count fell 39%. See Shareholder Yield Leaders.
- Capital needed to grow (See's test) n/a (bank, insurer, lender or REIT)
- PEG (growth at a reasonable price) 0.89 · Under fair P/E 10.9× ÷ 12.2% a year of growth behind it. 75th 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) 2 of 4 · misses capital-light (n/a), real profit (n/a) Capital-light growth: cannot be measured (bank, insurer, lender or REIT); Profit is real: cannot be measured (bank, insurer or REIT); 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 2 of 4 measures above the median Compared with the 12 other banking stocks this site tracks: 1 in the top third, 2 in the bottom third.
- Dividend payout sustainability 1/6 flags
How does Wells Fargo compare with its peers?
2 of 4 measures sit above the median of the 12 other banking stocks tracked here, 1 in the top third and 2 in the bottom third.
- P/E ratiolower is cheaper · peer median 11.1× 10.9× –5th of 13
- Return on equityhigher is better · peer median 11% 13% ✓2nd of 13
- Net marginhigher is better · peer median 28.8% 22.2% ✕10th of 13
- Dividend yieldamong dividend payers · peer median 3.36% 2.63% ✕11th of 13
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 WFC doesn't clear enough of it yet. In its favor: WFC is currently earning a strong return on shareholders' equity, converts sales into profit at healthy margins, has grown earnings per share at a solid clip over five years, 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: WFC and its five-year average return on equity falls short too, so this isn't just a one-off dip, carries more debt relative to equity than he typically tolerates, 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 WFC falls short of his bar. In its favor: WFC clears his signature PEG-under-1 test: growth at a reasonable price, is growing earnings at the steady 10-20% pace of a proper Stalwart, isn't asking investors to overpay for that growth, and is backing its growth up with real free cash flow. Where it comes up short: WFC carries more debt than he liked to see, even allowing for the extra room a large, stable business gets.
- PEG < 1 ✓
- EPS growth 10%-20% ✓
- Debt/Equity < 0.6 ✕
- P/E < 27 ✓
- Price/FCF < 30 ✓
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 Wells Fargo pass?
- Market Cap > $25B $249.6B
- Trailing P/E < 25 10.86
- PEG Ratio < 1.5 0.89
- Price/Book < 8 1.42
- Price/Sales < 7 1.91
- EPS Growth YoY > -5% +12.5%
- vs 50-day MA (±12%) -2.1%
- vs 200-day MA (±12%) -1.1%
What is Wells Fargo's margin of safety?
A standard free-cash-flow DCF doesn't fit how banking companies report cash flow.
Where is Wells Fargo in its 52-week range?
What is the short interest in Wells Fargo?
24,503,152 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 Wells Fargo? 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 (Banking)
- Short interest under 5% of float 0.8%
- Passes most of the 6 fundamental filters 6/6 passed
Doesn't cover circle of competence, management quality, or accounting concerns: those need judgment, not data.
How much have Wells Fargo 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 WFC'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 Wells Fargo's 10-year financials show?
From WFC'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 Wells Fargo
What kind of company is Wells Fargo?
Wells Fargo is a large US bank offering consumer and business banking, home loans, credit cards, wealth management and investment banking, with branches across the country. This site groups it with Banking stocks.
Why does Wells Fargo 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 banks, whose operating cash flow swings with deposits and loans rather than with what is left over for owners. So WFC 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 Wells Fargo pass?
WFC passes 8 of 8. It passes Market Cap > $25B ($249.6B), Trailing P/E < 25 (10.86), PEG Ratio < 1.5 (0.89), Price/Book < 8 (1.42), Price/Sales < 7 (1.91), EPS Growth YoY > -5% (+12.5%), vs 50-day MA (±12%) (-2.1%) and vs 200-day MA (±12%) (-1.1%). The 8-filter list shows every stock that passes all of them.
Does Wells Fargo pass the Buffett-style and Lynch-style checklists?
On this site's Buffett-style checklist WFC clears 5 of 8 checks and leans no; it misses ROE (5yr avg) > 11%, Debt/Equity < 0.5 and Interest coverage > 5x. On the Lynch-style checklist it clears 4 of 5 and leans no, with Stalwart as its Lynch category; it misses Debt/Equity < 0.6. These are this site's own rules written in the style of each investor, not their personal views; the rules are in the Editorial Standards.
How much cash does Wells Fargo return to shareholders?
WFC's net shareholder yield is +8.6%: the cash it returns through dividends and buybacks, minus stock-based compensation, as a share of its market value. Latest fiscal year (2025): dividends 2.2% + buybacks 7.0% − stock comp 0.6%, as a share of today's market cap. Over 14 years its split-adjusted share count fell 39%. Its trailing dividend yield is 2.63%, paid out of 32% of its free cash flow; the dividend-sustainability check raises 1 of 6 flags (high leverage). See Shareholder Yield Leaders and the Sustainable Dividend Screener.
How fast has Wells Fargo grown its revenue and profit?
From fiscal 2016 to fiscal 2025, WFC's revenue grew from $53.7 billion to $87.3 billion, 5.6% a year. Net income went from $21.9 billion to $21.3 billion, and its net profit margin from 40.9% to 24.4%. Earnings per share went from $4.29 to $6.58 on today's share count, 4.9% a year. All figures are from WFC's own 10-K filings (SEC EDGAR) and are shown year by year in the 10-Year Financials section of the card above.
Where do these numbers come from?
- Financial statements: Wells Fargo's 10-K annual report for the year ended Dec 31, 2025, filed Feb 24, 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 Wells Fargo & Co analysis
This page shows every value-investing check the site runs on Wells Fargo & Co (WFC) 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.