Investment banking firm Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) reported Q4 CY2025 results exceeding the market’s revenue expectations, with sales up 5.7% year on year to $2.07 billion. Its GAAP profit of $0.85 per share was 10% below analysts’ consensus estimates.
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Jefferies (JEF) Q4 CY2025 Highlights:
- Revenue: $2.07 billion vs analyst estimates of $2.01 billion (5.7% year-on-year growth, 3% beat)
- Pre-tax Profit: $253.2 million (12.2% margin)
- EPS (GAAP): $0.85 vs analyst expectations of $0.94 (10% miss)
- Tangible Book Value per Share: $33.69 vs analyst estimates of $33.79 (14.6% year-on-year decline, in line)
- Market Capitalization: $13.67 billion
Company Overview
Tracing its roots back to 1962 and rebranded from Leucadia National Corporation in 2018, Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) is a global investment banking and capital markets firm that provides advisory services, securities trading, and asset management to corporations, institutions, and wealthy individuals.
Revenue Growth
A company’s long-term sales performance is one signal of its overall quality. Any business can put up a good quarter or two, but many enduring ones grow for years. Regrettably, Jefferies’s revenue grew at a sluggish 4.1% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years. This fell short of our benchmark for the financials sector and is a poor baseline for our analysis.
Long-term growth is the most important, but within financials, a half-decade historical view may miss recent interest rate changes and market returns. Jefferies’s annualized revenue growth of 25% over the last two years is above its five-year trend, suggesting its demand recently accelerated. 
Note: Quarters not shown were determined to be outliers, impacted by outsized investment gains/losses that are not indicative of the recurring fundamentals of the business.
This quarter, Jefferies reported year-on-year revenue growth of 5.7%, and its $2.07 billion of revenue exceeded Wall Street’s estimates by 3%.
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Tangible Book Value Per Share (TBVPS)
Financial institutions with multiple business lines manage complex balance sheets that span various financial activities. Market valuations reflect this operational complexity, prioritizing balance sheet strength and sustainable book value growth across all business segments.
This is why we consider tangible book value per share (TBVPS) an important metric for the sector. TBVPS represents the real net worth per share across all business segments, providing a clear measure of shareholder equity regardless of the complexity of operations. On the other hand, EPS is often distorted by the diverse nature of operations, mergers, and various accounting treatments across different business units. Book value provides clearer performance insights.
Jefferies’s TBVPS grew at a sluggish 2.4% annual clip over the last five years. On a two-year basis, however, dynamics have changed as TBVPS dropped by 3.8% annually ($36.39 to $33.69 per share).
Tangible Book Value Per Share (TBVPS)
Financial firms generate earnings through diverse intermediation activities, making them fundamentally balance sheet-driven enterprises. Investors focus on balance sheet quality and consistent book value compounding when evaluating these multifaceted financial institutions.
Because of this, tangible book value per share (TBVPS) emerges as the critical performance benchmark for the sector. This metric captures real, liquid net worth per share that reflects the institution’s overall financial health across all business lines. EPS can become murky due to the complexity of multiple revenue streams, acquisition impacts, or accounting flexibility across different financial services, and book value resists financial engineering manipulation.
Jefferies’s TBVPS grew at a sluggish 2.4% annual clip over the last five years. On a two-year basis, however, dynamics have changed as TBVPS dropped by 3.8% annually ($36.39 to $33.69 per share).
Key Takeaways from Jefferies’s Q4 Results
It was encouraging to see Jefferies beat analysts’ revenue expectations this quarter. On the other hand, its EPS missed. Overall, this was a softer quarter. The stock traded down 3.3% to $62.55 immediately following the results.
Jefferies’s latest earnings report disappointed. One quarter doesn’t define a company’s quality, so let’s explore whether the stock is a buy at the current price. We think that the latest quarter is only one piece of the longer-term business quality puzzle. Quality, when combined with valuation, can help determine if the stock is a buy. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here, it’s free for active Edge members.