Buffett Brain · Research note
Score updated 5 Oct 2026 · analysis from 2 Jun 2026
9984.T· Communication Services
SoftBank Group
SoftBank Group is a leveraged bet on technology valuations dressed up as an operating company, and it trades at 37 times earnings while burning cash.
Buffett fit
Weak fit
Owner
27
Durability
24
Management
38
Price
4
Score updated 5 Oct 2026 · analysis from 2 Jun 2026
Buffett's checklist
Each number against Buffett's bar, and where it ranks among Communication Services stocks in our database.
How much profit the business makes on each dollar invested in it. Higher is better.
What is left of each sale after the cost of making the product. A high number often means pricing power.
The cash the business earns for its owners, compared with the price of the whole company.
How fast sales grew each year over the last five years.
How many years of today's profit you pay for at today's price. Lower means cheaper.
How much the company owes compared with what it owns outright. Lower is safer.
The four pillars
How the business measures up on each of Buffett's four tests.
If I owned all of SoftBank, I would lie awake over the fact that the business spends more cash than it reports as profit.
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Durability scores 24 out of 100 for good reason. There is no franchise that protects a price here, the five-year return on capital is a feeble 1.4 percent, and the whole enterprise rises and falls with technology valuations and the cost of money.
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Management has been busy, buying back stock at a 4.7 percent annual pace and making bold bets, and the market clearly admires the boldness.
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There is none, and that is the whole story. The owner-earnings yield is negative at minus 1.5 percent, so you are paying for the privilege of holding the assets rather than being paid to own them, and the stock fetches 37 times earnings with an EV to of 25.
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For and against
The strongest points on each side, with the numbers behind them.
In its favor
6- 1Reported of 10.1 percent shows the underlying operating businesses are not loss-making at the line level.
- 2 of 51.8 percent is healthy and gives the operating units room to absorb costs.
- 3Revenue still grew 5.2 percent, so the top line is not shrinking even in a hard environment.
- 4Management has reduced the share count by 4.7 percent a year, returning some value to holders who stay.
Concerns
7- 1Valuation is extreme: 37 times earnings, an EV to of 25, and a negative owner-earnings yield of minus 1.5 percent mean you are overpaying for volatility.
- 2 is negative relative to net income at an fcfToNi of minus 0.56, so reported profit is not turning into spendable cash.
- 3Net debt sits at 4.8 times EBITDA with of 1.64, leaving the balance sheet badly exposed to any downturn.
- 4A current ratio of 0.76 means short-term obligations exceed short-term assets, a real liquidity pressure point.
Price history
$6,513+314.2%· 5-year return
Weekly closing prices. Touch or hover the line for a date.
The business
How the business works
SoftBank earns its money two ways, and neither is simple. A real telecom and a few operating businesses throw off the 10.1 percent you can see, but the heart of the company is a giant pile of venture and listed technology stakes whose paper marks drive results far more than any product sold to a customer. When you buy this stock you are mostly buying a portfolio that revenue grew a modest 5.2 percent on, not a cash machine.
How this analysis has moved
The call has held across 2 reviews.
Sep 27, 2026 → Oct 4, 2026
What other investors would say
The same company, judged by three other documented playbooks.
Keep researching
Similar companies in Communication Services
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