Forensic Analysis · Machinery & Fabricated Metal Products · as of Nov 9, 2026
Astec Industries Inc (ASTE)
A forensic read on Astec Industries Inc 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
5.1
Distress distance
3
Forensic signals
5.9%
ROE
8.1%
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.
Astec Industries Inc earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 5.1, placing it in the Safe zone. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
5.8%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 5.8% in the latest fiscal year, against 5.5% in FY2023, having run between 2.2% and 5.8% across FY2023–FY2025 with no direction held. After-tax operating profit was $38M in FY2023 and $48M in FY2025, with operating income at 3.6% of revenue in FY2023, 1.8% in FY2024 and 4.7% in FY2025. The capital base behind it grew +19% across FY2023–FY2025, from $697M to $832M, and the return did not fall doing it, so the dollars added over that window earned at least the 5.5% the older base was already earning. FY2024's operating profit carried a $20M goodwill write-off and a $10M restructuring charge that alone took about 2.8 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.
$20M
FY2024
Goodwill impairments.Took $20M of goodwill writedowns across 1 year (FY2024 ($20M)) — about 470% of net income over the span. A large writedown means an acquisition turned out worth far less than was paid — a real mark against M&A discipline.
+11.7%
FY2024→FY2025
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +11.7% relative to their own average in FY2025 — scaled by NOA itself, not by total assets, which is what the Forensic Screens card's own accrual row divides by. Accruals are building faster than is comfortable — part of profit is sitting in the balance sheet rather than turning to cash. Net operating assets also rose $200.1M through acquisitions (increase in goodwill and intangibles); that purchase is investing and is excluded from this ratio. The build is led by receivables up +31% against revenue +8% and inventory up +10% against +6% in cost of sales. A cash-flow measure on the same base disagrees: reported earnings ran in line with operating cash by 3% of net operating assets, against an accruals ratio of 11.7%. The two are computed differently: the accruals ratio is the change in net operating assets over average net operating assets, while the cash-flow figure is net income less operating cash flow over that same average. Read them as two results, not one.Accruals ratio: the year-over-year change in net operating assets, relative to their own average.NOA (net operating assets): the money tied up in running the business, operating assets minus operating liabilities.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$1.41B
Revenue Growth YoY+8.1%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+2.7%
Net Margin2.8%
Free Cash Flow$20.7M
Return on Equity5.9%
Debt / Equity0.49x
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 Astec Industries Inc's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?