NELNET INC financial metrics

Professional SEC-based dashboard for profitability, financial health, and growth with transparent scoring logic. Latest period: Q4 2025.

Symbol
NNI on NYSE
Location
Lincoln, NE
Fiscal year end
31 December
Latest financial report
26 Feb 2026

Quick Takeaways

  • NNI - NELNET INC financial facts are built from SEC company filings data.
  • Latest metrics period on this page: Q4 2025.
  • Headline metric: Return On Equity 12%.

What Changed

  • Return On Equity YoY change: <span class="text-green-600">+119%</span>.
  • Most recent SEC facts end date: 31 Dec 2025.

Why This Matters

  • This gives a beginner-friendly first read before you inspect detailed formulas and metric tables.
  • Every metric card links to a deeper SEC-backed history page for verification.

Official SEC Source

Based on latest 10-Q/10-K

Facts and ratios are grounded in SEC company facts linked to the latest 10-Q/10-K cycle.

See Original Filing

Latest SEC snapshot (2025-12-31) highlights Return On Equity 11.6%, Return On Assets 2.9%, and Operating Margin 17.7%.

Financial Quality Score

Transparent 0-100 scoring model based on profitability, financial health, and growth factors.

34.7/100

Weak Confidence medium

Return On Equity

12%

Metric score 21.1/100

Return On Assets

2.9%

Metric score 10.8/100

Financial Health

Current Ratio
5.33x
Quick Ratio
5.02x
Debt to Equity
2.18x

Strengths

NetIncomeLoss YoY

Watchpoints

Return On Equity, Return On Assets, and Current Ratio

Key metrics snapshot

Return On Equity

12%

YoY: +119%

Industry median: 12% (n=16)

View history

Return On Assets

2.9%

YoY: +155%

Industry median: 2.3% (n=16)

View history

Debt-to-equity

2.18x

YoY: -14%

Industry median: 4.46x (n=15)

View history

NetIncomeLoss YoY

133%

YoY:

Industry median: 55% (n=15)

View history

Profitability

Metric Latest value YoY change
Return On Equity 12% +119%
Return On Assets 2.9% +155%
Operating Margin 18%

Financial Health

Metric Latest value YoY change
Current Ratio 5.33x
Quick Ratio 5.02x
Debt-to-equity 2.18x -14%

Growth

Metric Latest value YoY change
NetIncomeLoss YoY 133%

Share Metrics

Metric Latest value YoY change
Weighted Average Number of Shares Outstanding, Basic 36,341,197 -0.82%
Weighted Average Number of Shares Outstanding, Diluted 36,341,197 -0.82%

Additional Metrics

Metric Latest value YoY change
Income Tax Expense (Benefit) $127,986,000 +143%
Earnings Per Share, Basic 11.79 +135%
Earnings Per Share, Diluted 11.79 +135%
Cash and Cash Equivalents, at Carrying Value $295,983,000 +52%
Property, Plant and Equipment, Net $75,532,000 -21%
Operating Lease, Right-of-Use Asset $9,677,000 -12%
Intangible Assets, Net (Excluding Goodwill) $29,283,000 -19%
Goodwill $158,029,000 0%
Assets $14,063,783,000 +2.1%
Liabilities $10,486,554,000 +0.08%
Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Loss), Net of Tax $2,619,000 +78%
Retained Earnings (Accumulated Deficit) $3,681,333,000 +10%
Stockholders' Equity Attributable to Parent $3,685,792,000 +10%
Stockholders' Equity, Including Portion Attributable to Noncontrolling Interest $3,577,229,000 +8.4%
Liabilities and Equity $14,063,783,000 +2.1%
Cash, Cash Equivalents, Restricted Cash and Restricted Cash Equivalents $973,546,000 +4.6%
Deferred Tax Assets, Valuation Allowance $1,164,000 +66%
Deferred Tax Assets, Gross $128,788,000 +25%
Operating Lease, Liability $13,038,000 +13%
Comprehensive Income (Loss), Net of Tax, Attributable to Parent $429,623,000 +109%
Lessee, Operating Lease, Liability, to be Paid $14,776,000 +13%
Property, Plant and Equipment, Gross $368,732,000 -6.2%
Lessee, Operating Lease, Liability, to be Paid, Year Two $3,687,000 +49%
Lessee, Operating Lease, Liability, to be Paid, Year One $4,744,000 +34%
Operating Lease, Weighted Average Discount Rate, Percent 0.0509 +3.9%
Lessee, Operating Lease, Liability, Undiscounted Excess Amount $1,738,000 +8.4%
Lessee, Operating Lease, Liability, to be Paid, Year Three $1,556,000 -33%
Deferred Tax Assets, Operating Loss Carryforwards $4,484,000 -1.6%
Preferred Stock, Shares Issued 0
Preferred Stock, Shares Authorized 50,000,000 0%
Unrecognized Tax Benefits $17,856,000 -1.8%
Lessee, Operating Lease, Liability, to be Paid, Year Four $1,513,000 +19%
Additional Paid in Capital $1,481,000 -80%
Preferred Stock, Shares Outstanding 0
Amortization of Intangible Assets $7,000,000 -18%
Deferred Tax Assets, Net of Valuation Allowance $127,624,000 +25%
Preferred Stock, Par or Stated Value Per Share 0.01 0%

How we score

This score is transparent and deterministic. We weight profitability, financial health, and growth metrics, then renormalize weights when SEC data is missing.

Metric Weight V1 threshold
ROIC205% to 20%
ROE158% to 25%
ROA102% to 10%
Operating Margin55% to 25%
Current Ratio121.0x to 2.0x
Quick Ratio80.8x to 1.5x
Debt to Equity100.3x to 2.0x (lower is better)
Revenue YoY10-10% to +20%
Net Income YoY10-10% to +20%

How Calculated (standard_v1)

Metrics are computed with a market-consensus convention designed for cross-portal comparability.

  • TTM Operating Income / TTM Revenues
  • Current Assets / Current Liabilities (latest instant quarter)
  • (Current Assets - Inventory) / Current Liabilities; fallback: (Cash+Short-Term Investments + Accounts Receivable) / Current Liabilities
  • Total Debt / Stockholders Equity (latest instant quarter; shared unit; freshest series)
  • TTM Net Income / Average Equity (current quarter + same quarter previous year) / 2
  • TTM Net Income / Average Assets (current quarter + same quarter previous year) / 2
  • TTM NOPAT / Average Invested Capital, where NOPAT=Operating Income*(1-tax rate), Invested Capital=Equity+Total Debt-Cash & ST Investments
  • TTM Revenues YoY
  • TTM Net Income YoY