Learn · Explainer
Revenue vs. net income
Revenue is the money a company brings in. Net income is what it keeps. Here's how one becomes the other, with numbers from real 10-K filings.
The short answer
Revenue is the total a company brings in from selling its products and services over a period, before any costs come out. Net income is what's left of that revenue after every expense: the cost of what it sold, wages, research, marketing, interest and income taxes. In fiscal 2025, Apple's net sales were $416.2B and its net income was $112.0B, so about 27 cents of each sales dollar ended up as profit.
From the top line to the bottom line
Every income statement walks down the same ladder. Each step takes something out of revenue, and the last rung is net income.
- RevenueWhat customers paid, after returns and discounts. Companies call it net sales, revenues or total revenues. It's the first line of the income statement, which is why people call it the top line.
- Minus cost of salesWhat it took to make or buy the things sold: parts, factories, the goods a retailer buys to resell. What's left is gross profit.
- Minus operating expensesResearch and development, sales and marketing, and general and administrative costs such as office rent and head-office pay. What's left is operating income.
- Plus or minus other itemsInterest earned on cash, interest paid on debt, and gains or losses on investments.
- Minus income taxesWhat's left is net income, the bottom line. A negative number here is a net loss.
Ticker Sage company files show the first and last rungs for every company, each linked to the filing.
A worked example: Apple
Apple's 10-K for fiscal 2025, the year ended Sep 27, 2025, reports net sales of $416.2B and net income of $112.0B.
Apple · FY2025 net margin 26.9%
Divide net income by revenue and you get the net margin: $112.0B ÷ $416.2B = 26.9%. Put another way, out of every $100 of iPhones, Macs, services and everything else Apple sold, about $26.92 was left after all costs and taxes.
Source: Apple 10-K for fiscal 2025, filed Oct 31, 2025
Same revenue, very different profit
Amazon and Walmart brought in almost the same revenue in their latest fiscal years. Amazon's net income was about 3.5 times Walmart's.
Selling groceries and household goods leaves a thin slice per dollar, and most of Walmart's revenue is merchandise. Amazon sells goods too, and also earns money from cloud computing (Amazon Web Services) and advertising. Microsoft shows how far apart revenue and profit can sit: its revenue of $331.8B in fiscal 2026 was less than half of Walmart's, and its net income of $133.7B was about 6.1 times as much.
Source: Amazon 10-K for fiscal 2025, filed Feb 6, 2026
Source: Walmart 10-K for fiscal 2026, filed Mar 13, 2026
Source: Microsoft 10-K for fiscal 2026, filed Jul 29, 2026
When they move in opposite directions
Revenue going up doesn't mean profit went up. In fiscal 2025, UnitedHealth grew total revenues 11.8% to $447.6B, while net earnings to UnitedHealth fell 16.3% to $12.1B. Costs grew faster than revenue.
It works the other way too. Comcast's revenue was about flat in fiscal 2025 at $123.7B, but net income to Comcast rose 23.5% to $20.0B. Lower costs, tax items or gains below operating income can lift the bottom line without any extra sales.
Source: UnitedHealth 10-K for fiscal 2025, filed Mar 2, 2026
Source: Comcast 10-K for fiscal 2025, filed Feb 3, 2026
Billions in revenue, and still a loss
Intel reported net revenue of $52.9B for fiscal 2025, and net income (loss) to Intel of −$267M. When expenses are larger than revenue, net income is negative: a net loss.
Intel · FY2025 net margin −0.5%
Source: Intel 10-K for fiscal 2025, filed Jan 23, 2026
Banks count revenue differently
A bank's main cost is the interest it pays on deposits and borrowing, so banks report revenue after taking that out. JPMorgan Chase's total net revenue for fiscal 2025 was $182.4B: $95.4B of net interest income (interest earned minus interest paid) plus $87.0B of noninterest revenue such as fees. That's why a bank's net margin can look high next to a retailer's even when the businesses aren't comparable.
Source: JPMorgan Chase 10-K for fiscal 2025, filed Feb 13, 2026
Revenue and net income for all 100 companies
Sorted by net margin, latest fiscal year. Every figure links to the 10-K it came from. A higher or lower margin isn't good or bad on its own; it mostly reflects the industry.
Each row uses the company's own revenue and net income lines from its latest 10-K, and fiscal years end in different months. Banks and brokers report revenue after interest expense, so their margins aren't comparable with a retailer's or a chipmaker's. Net margin is net income divided by revenue.
Try it yourself
The growth rate calculator loads three years of any covered company's revenue or net income from its 10-K and works out the percent change and the yearly growth rate.
Common questions
Is revenue the same as profit?
No. Revenue is everything a company takes in from customers; profit is what's left after costs. Amazon's net sales in fiscal 2025 were $716.9B, but its net income was $77.7B. Source: Amazon 10-K for fiscal 2025.
Is net income the same as cash coming in?
Not quite. Net income follows accounting rules that count some things before or after the cash moves, such as depreciation, stock-based pay and bills customers haven't paid yet. The cash flow statement shows the cash version. Apple's operating cash flow in fiscal 2025 was $111.5B, against net income of $112.0B. Source: Apple 10-K for fiscal 2025.
What is a good net profit margin?
There isn't one number that fits every company. Margins depend heavily on the industry. Among the 100 companies Ticker Sage covers, the latest fiscal-year net margins run from −0.5% at Intel to 63.8% at Micron. Retailers such as Walmart (3.1%) sell enormous volumes on thin margins, while software and payment companies keep far more of each dollar. Comparing a company with its own past, or with close peers, says more than a single cut-off.
Where are revenue and net income in a 10-K?
In Item 8, Financial Statements. The income statement (often titled Consolidated Statements of Operations or Consolidated Statements of Income) starts with revenue and ends with net income. Every Ticker Sage company file links each number to that filing.
What does net income “attributable to” the company mean?
Some companies own most, but not all, of certain subsidiaries. Net income attributable to the company leaves out the slice that belongs to the other owners of those subsidiaries (noncontrolling interests). That's why some company files use labels like “net income to Coca-Cola” or “net earnings to P&G”.
Disclosures
- Editor holdings
- The editor holds shares of Tesla (TSLA) in a long-term retirement account. The editor holds no position in any other company named on this page. As of Oct 25, 2026.
- Compensation
- Nobody paid for this page. No affiliate links on this page.
- Sources
- Each company's own SEC filings, linked next to each number.
- Last updated
- Oct 26, 2026
General education, the same for every reader. Not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security, and it doesn't consider your situation.
More in Learn · Methodology & Disclosures explains where every number comes from.