Forensic Analysis · Machinery & Fabricated Metal Products · as of Nov 9, 2026
Acme United Corp (ACU)
A forensic read on Acme United Corp built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
B · Sound & dependable
Forensic grade
Safe
Financial health
7.7
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
4
Forensic signals
9.1%
ROE
1.1%
Revenue growth
This free snapshot doesn't read filing or proxy text, so the auditor-quality and governance checks that can lower a grade were not evaluated (auditor quality, say on pay, board independence, going concern). Those checks only ever lower a grade, so the full analysis can land below the grade above but never above it — treat it as the most favourable reading, not the settled one.
Acme United Corp earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 7.7, placing it in the Safe zone. 4 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by share-count dilution.
What the filings flag
+5.7%/yr
FY2023–FY2025
Share-count dilution.Diluted share count changed +12% over the last 2 years to FY2025 (+5.7%/yr). The count is growing — 3.7M shares in FY2023, 4.1M in FY2025: more stock was issued than repurchased over this window, so aggregate results grew faster than their per-share equivalents. That's ~5.7% shaved off per-share growth every year — total profit has to grow that much just to keep earnings-per-share flat, and a stake held since FY2023 has been diluted ~11%.
178d
FY2024→FY2025
Inventory days.Days inventory outstanding moved from 173 to 178 FY2024→FY2025 (against cost of goods sold; inventory +6% vs +1% in cost of sales). Inventory is building a little faster than sales — watch for markdowns.
8.2%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 8.2% in the latest fiscal year and steady across FY2023–FY2025, inside a 0.9-point range. After-tax operating profit was $10M in FY2023 and $11M in FY2025, with operating income at 6.9% of revenue in FY2023, 7.3% in FY2024 and 7.5% in FY2025. The capital base behind it grew +17% across FY2023–FY2025, from $118M to $139M, while the return fell 0.5 points, so the dollars added over that window earned less than the 8.7% the older base was already earning.
1.0% of rev
FY2025
Stock-based comp load.Stock-based compensation ran 1.0% of revenue and 26% of free cash flow in FY2025 — about $0.49 per diluted share. No cash left the business to pay it, which is why operating cash flow adds it back. Net of repurchases the diluted count still rose about 5.7% a year across FY2023–FY2025, and the rate is falling. Stock compensation is one source of that issuance; acquisition consideration, equity raises, convertibles and other employee plans also net into the count, and these figures do not separate them.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$196.5M
Revenue Growth YoY+1.1%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+1.3%
Net Margin5.2%
Free Cash Flow$7.6M
Return on Equity9.1%
Debt / Equity0.10x
The forensic grade and screens above are free — no account needed. Want the AI investment read on top — the 0–100 rating, thesis, bull-vs-bear, red flags and the 12-month scenario, written from Acme United Corp's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?