Forensic Analysis · Communications Equipment & Electronic Components · as of Nov 11, 2026
Adtran Holdings, Inc. (ADTN)
A forensic read on Adtran Holdings, Inc. built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
D · Weak — demands caution
Forensic grade
Distress
Financial health
-0.3
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
3
Forensic signals
-33.5%
ROE
17.5%
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.
Adtran Holdings, Inc. earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads -0.3, placing it in the Distress zone. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
-1.6%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is -1.6% in the latest fiscal year, against -13.4% in FY2023, having run between -31.9% and -1.6% across FY2023–FY2025 with no direction held. After-tax operating profit was ($177M) in FY2023 and ($12M) in FY2025, with operating income at -19.5% of revenue in FY2023, -46.3% in FY2024 and -1.4% in FY2025. The capital base behind it came down -41% across FY2023–FY2025, from $1.3B to $774M, so this return is struck on a smaller base than it started on. FY2023's operating profit carried a $38M goodwill write-off and a $22M restructuring charge that alone took about 3.6 points off that year's return, so about 3.6 of the 11.8-point rise across FY2023–FY2025 is that charge leaving the base year rather than the capital earning more. FY2024's operating profit carried a $297M goodwill write-off and a $41M restructuring charge that alone took about 25.2 points off that year's return; FY2024 sits between the two ends of FY2023–FY2025, so the charge shapes the path between them without moving the change across it. A non-cash write-down lowers the reported return in the year it lands.
stopped
FY2023→FY2024
Shareholder returns — halted.Capital returns have STOPPED — $21M of buybacks + dividends in FY2023, but ~$0 in FY2024. A halt usually means the company is conserving cash.
$335M
FY2023–FY2024
Goodwill impairments.Took $335M of goodwill writedowns across 2 years (FY2023 ($38M), FY2024 ($297M)). Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$1.08B
Revenue Growth YoY+17.5%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)-2.9%
Net Margin-4.2%
Free Cash Flow$98.0M
Return on Equity-33.5%
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 Adtran Holdings, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?