Buffett Brain · Research note
Score updated 22 Oct 2026 · analysis from 18 May 2026
ED· Utilities
Consolidated Edison
Consolidated Edison is a textbook regulated utility, predictable but with 3.9% ROIC and 0.02 FCF conversion, it fails the Buffett economics test.
Buffett fit
Weak fit
Owner
41
Durability
79
Management
28
Price
47
Score updated 22 Oct 2026 · analysis from 18 May 2026
Buffett's checklist
Each number against Buffett's bar, and where it ranks among Utilities 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.
Owning Con Edison whole at 17.7x earnings means accepting that you are buying a regulated yield instrument, not a growing business.
The full reasoning comes with a free account.
New York will need electricity in 2036 and Con Edison will likely still deliver it, the natural monopoly is real.
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Share count is actually growing 0.6% per year, which is dilutive. /NI of just 0.018 means the business converts almost no earnings to free cash because the capex program is so large.
The full reasoning comes with a free account.
of 17.7x and owner-earnings yield of 0.1% basically have no cushion.
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For and against
The strongest points on each side, with the numbers behind them.
In its favor
5- 1Natural monopoly serving 3.5 million NYC and Westchester electric customers
- 265% reflects regulated rate-base economics
- 317.3% is steady and predictable
- 4Net income has been positive every year for five years
Concerns
5- 1 of 3.2% is well below the cost of capital
- 2/Net Income of just 0.018 means almost nothing converts to free cash
- 3Interest coverage of 1.41x is uncomfortably thin
- 4Net-debt/EBITDA of 3.88 leaves limited balance-sheet flexibility
Price history
$112+47.0%· 5-year return
Weekly closing prices. Touch or hover the line for a date.
The business
How the business works
Con Edison delivers electricity to 3.5 million New York City and Westchester customers, gas to 1.1 million, and steam to about 1,555 buildings. The 65% reflects the rate-base structure: regulators allow a return on capital invested, not a competitive margin. of just 3.2% is below the cost of capital, which is precisely how regulated utilities work, you earn the allowed return, not more. The business is functionally a 130-year-old infrastructure lease.
What other investors would say
The same company, judged by three other documented playbooks.
Keep researching
Similar companies in Utilities
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