Ten-Year Tally: T-Mobile US Stock Delivers $63 Bil Gain

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TMUS: T-Mobile US logo
TMUS
T-Mobile US

In the last decade, T-Mobile US (TMUS) stock has returned a notable $63 Bil back to its shareholders through cold, hard cash via dividends and buybacks. Let’s look at some numbers and compare how this payout power stacks up against the market’s biggest capital-return machines.

As it turns out, TMUS stock has returned the 42nd highest amount to shareholders in history.

  TMUS S&P Median
Dividends $7.0 Bil $4.5 Bil
Share Repurchase $56 Bil $5.7 Bil
Total Returned $63 Bil $9.4 Bil
Total Returned as % of Current Market Cap 26.8% 25.8%

Why should you care? Because dividends and share repurchases represent direct, tangible returns of capital to shareholders. They also signal management’s confidence in the company’s financial health and ability to generate sustainable cash flows. And there are more stocks like that. Here is a list of the top 10 companies ranked by total capital returned to shareholders via dividends and stock repurchases.

Top 10 Stocks By Total Shareholder Return

Relevant Articles
  1. How Will T-Mobile Stock React To Its Q3 Earnings?
  2. T-Mobile US Stock Has Returned $59 Bil To Shareholders In A Decade
  3. TMUS Delivers $59 Bil to Shareholders Over the Last 10 Years
  4. TMUS Stock Up 9% after 5-Day Win Streak
  5. How Will T-Mobile Stock React To Its Upcoming Earnings?
  6. TMUS Stock Up 6.5% after 6-Day Win Streak

  Total Money Returned As % Of Current Market Cap via Dividends via Share Repurchases
AAPL $847 Bil 19.9% $141 Bil $706 Bil
MSFT $368 Bil 10.1% $169 Bil $200 Bil
GOOGL $357 Bil 9.4% $15 Bil $342 Bil
XOM $212 Bil 42.4% $145 Bil $67 Bil
WFC $212 Bil 77.0% $58 Bil $153 Bil
META $183 Bil 11.2% $9.1 Bil $174 Bil
JPM $181 Bil 21.3% $0.0 $181 Bil
ORCL $161 Bil 28.3% $34 Bil $126 Bil
CVX $157 Bil 53.8% $99 Bil $58 Bil
JNJ $157 Bil 31.7% $104 Bil $52 Bil

For full ranking, visit Buybacks & Dividends Ranking

What do you notice here? The total capital returned to shareholders as a % of the current market cap appears inversely proportional to growth prospects for reinvestments. Stocks like Meta (META) and Microsoft (MSFT) are growing much faster, in a more predictable way, compared to the others, but they have returned a much lower fraction of their market cap to shareholders.

That’s the flip side to high capital returns. Sure, they are attractive, but you have to ask yourself the question: Am I sacrificing growth and sound fundamentals? With that in mind, let’s look at some numbers for TMUS. (see Buy or Sell T-Mobile US Stock for more details)

T-Mobile US Fundamentals

  • Revenue Growth: 7.3% LTM and 2.4% last 3-year average.
  • Cash Generation: Nearly 16.1% free cash flow margin and 22.6% operating margin LTM.
  • Recent Revenue Shocks: The minimum annual revenue growth in the last 3 years for TMUS was -2.2%.
  • Valuation: T-Mobile US stock trades at a P/E multiple of 22.7

  TMUS S&P Median
Sector Communication Services
Industry Wireless Telecommunication Services
PE Ratio 22.7 23.5

   
LTM* Revenue Growth 7.3% 6.1%
3Y Average Annual Revenue Growth 2.4% 5.4%
Min Annual Revenue Growth Last 3Y -2.2% 0.2%

   
LTM* Operating Margin 22.6% 18.8%
3Y Average Operating Margin 20.3% 18.2%
LTM* Free Cash Flow Margin 16.1% 13.5%

*LTM: Last Twelve Months

The table gives good overview of what you get from TMUS stock, but what about the risk?

TMUS Historical Risk

TMUS isn’t immune to sharp drops. It fell about 85% in the Global Financial Crisis, which is a massive hit. More recent shocks were less severe but still notable — around 32% during the inflation shock, 26% in the Covid sell-off, and nearly 19% in the 2018 correction. Even with strong fundamentals, TMUS can take big hits when the market turns. Risk is real, and downturns can be deep.

But the risk is not limited to major market crashes. Stocks fall even when markets are good – think events like earnings, business updates, and outlook changes. Read TMUS Dip Buyer Analyses to see how the stock has recovered from sharp dips in the past.

The Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio, with a collection of 30 stocks, has a track record of comfortably outperforming its benchmark that includes all 3 – the S&P 500, S&P mid-cap, and Russell 2000 indices. Why is that? As a group, HQ Portfolio stocks provided better returns with less risk versus the benchmark index; less of a roller-coaster ride, as evident in HQ Portfolio performance metrics.