NorthWestern Corporation
NWE Utilities Utilities Regulated Electric
NorthWestern Corporation’s revenue for fiscal 2025 (year ended December 2025) was $1.6 billion, up 6.38% from fiscal 2024. In the quarter to June 2026, revenue grew 14.6%, EPS grew 17.1%, free cash flow fell 62.6% and total debt rose 13.1%, each against the same quarter a year earlier. Dividend growth for ten consecutive years.
Follow NWE
NorthWestern Corporation (NWE) Altman Z-score
NorthWestern Corporation's Altman Z-score for fiscal 2025 is 0.86, in the distress zone (below 1.81).
Altman Z-score, annual
Embed this chart
Annual newest first
| Period | Altman Z-score | Change (points) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | 0.86 | 0.06 |
| FY2024 | 0.80 | (0.03) |
| FY2023 | 0.83 | (0.05) |
| FY2022 | 0.88 | (0.02) |
| FY2021 | 0.90 | 0.06 |
| FY2020 | 0.84 | (0.20) |
| FY2019 | 1.03 | 0.06 |
| FY2018 | 0.97 | 0.04 |
| FY2017 | 0.93 | 0.09 |
| FY2016 | 0.84 | 0.00 |
How fiscal 2025’s score is made up
| Component | This year | Year before | Result | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Working capital / total assets | (0.02) | — | −0.03 | |
| Retained earnings / total assets | 0.11 | — | 0.15 | |
| EBIT / total assets | 0.04 | — | 0.13 | |
| Market value of equity / total liabilities | 0.71 | — | 0.43 | |
| Sales / total assets | 0.19 | — | 0.19 | |
| Altman Z-score | Distress zone | 0.86 | ||
| Z″ Variant for non-manufacturing and asset-light companies (drops the sales/assets term, uses book equity) | Distress zone | 1.00 | ||
How the Altman Z-score works
Z = 1.2 × working capital ÷ total assets + 1.4 × retained earnings ÷ total assets + 3.3 × EBIT ÷ total assets + 0.6 × market value of equity ÷ total liabilities + 1.0 × revenue ÷ total assets (Altman, 1968). The market value of equity is the close on the last trading day of the fiscal year times weighted basic shares.
Z″ = 6.56 × working capital ÷ total assets + 3.26 × retained earnings ÷ total assets + 6.72 × EBIT ÷ total assets + 1.05 × book equity ÷ total liabilities (Altman, Hartzell and Peck, 1995), the variant for non-manufacturing and asset-light companies.
| Zone | Z | Z″ |
|---|---|---|
| Safe zone | above 2.99 | above 2.60 |
| Grey zone | 1.81–2.99 | 1.10–2.60 |
| Distress zone | below 1.81 | below 1.10 |
Not worked out for banks, insurers and REITs, whose balance sheets the model does not describe, nor when a figure is missing or there is no share price in the week to the fiscal year end.
Altman Z-score against peers
| Company | Altman Z-score |
|---|---|
| CEPU Central Puerto S.A. Sponsored ADR compare | 2.7× |
| CIG Comp En De Mn Cemig ADS compare | 1.8× |
| MGEE MGE Energy Inc. compare | 1.7× |
| ENIC Enel Chile S.A. compare | 1.4× |
| OGE OGE Energy Corporation compare | 1.3× |
| IDA IDACORP, Inc. compare | 1.2× |
| POR Portland General Electric Company compare | 1.0× |
| NWE NorthWestern Corporation | 0.9× |
| TXNM TXNM Energy, Inc. compare | 0.8× |
What Altman Z-score is
The Altman Z-Score weighs working capital, retained earnings, operating profit, market value and sales against assets and debts to gauge the risk of distress.
1.2 × working capital ÷ total assets + 1.4 × retained earnings ÷ total assets + 3.3 × EBIT ÷ total assets + 0.6 × market value of equity ÷ total liabilities + 1.0 × revenue ÷ total assets