Forensic Analysis · Materials / Mining & Chemicals · as of Aug 9, 2026

Avery Dennison Corp (AVY)

A forensic read on Avery Dennison 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

5.2

Distress distance

Clean

Earnings quality

Forensic signals

18.8

P / E (ttm)

30.7%

ROE

$13.4B

Market cap

2.30%

Dividend yield

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 (red flags, auditor quality, say on pay, board independence). 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.

Avery Dennison Corp earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 5.2, placing it in the Safe zone. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by shareholder returns.

What the filings flag

121% of FCF

FY2025

Shareholder returns. Returned $861M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 121% of free cash flow. More than free cash flow generated — and beyond operating cash too, so the extra is coming from debt or cash reserves, which isn't sustainable indefinitely. Counting the $28M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 125%.

+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 total assets (see the Forensic Screens card's differently-scaled Sloan Accrual Ratio for that read). Accruals are building faster than is comfortable — part of profit is sitting in the balance sheet rather than turning to cash. The cash-flow cross-check is more mixed: reported earnings ran in line with operating cash by 4% of net operating assets, diverging from the balance-sheet accrual read.

10.6%

FY2025

Return on invested capital. Return on invested capital is 10.6% in the latest fiscal year and slipping from 15% — a modest positive spread over its ~8% cost of capital — growth adds value, though not dramatically.

Key fundamentals

Latest Revenue$8.86B

Revenue Growth YoY+1.1%

Revenue CAGR (3yr)-0.7%

Net Margin7.8%

Free Cash Flow$712.4M

Return on Equity30.7%

Debt / Equity1.66x

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