Forensic Analysis · Packaged Foods · as of Nov 9, 2026

Archer-Daniels-Midland Co (ADM)

A forensic read on Archer-Daniels-Midland Co built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.

C · Mixed — selective

Forensic grade

Safe

Financial health

3.2

Distress distance

Clean

Earnings quality

Forensic signals

4.8%

ROE

-6.2%

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.

Archer-Daniels-Midland Co earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 3.2, placing it in the Safe zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.

What the filings flag

4.8%

FY2025

Return on invested capital. Return on invested capital is 4.8% in the latest fiscal year and slipping across FY2023–FY2025 from 11.5%. After-tax operating profit was $4.0B in FY2023 and $1.6B in FY2025. The capital base behind it went from $34.6B in FY2023 to $33.1B in FY2025 (-4%), while the revenue it carried went from $93.9B to $80.3B. FY2025's operating profit carried a $361M asset write-down and a $283M restructuring charge that alone took about 1.7 points off that year's return, so about 1.7 of the 6.7-point fall across FY2023–FY2025 is that charge landing in the latest year rather than the capital earning less. A non-cash write-down lowers the reported return in the year it lands.

$137M

FY2023

Goodwill impairments. Took $137M of goodwill writedowns across 1 year (FY2023 ($137M)) — about 4% of net income over the span. Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them.

Key fundamentals

Latest Revenue$80.27B

Revenue Growth YoY-6.2%

Revenue CAGR (2yr)-7.6%

Net Margin1.3%

Free Cash Flow$4.20B

Return on Equity4.8%

Debt / Equity0.33x

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Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Nov 9, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.

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