Forensic Analysis · Machinery & Fabricated Metal Products · as of Nov 8, 2026
Ball Corp (BALL)
A forensic read on Ball Corp 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
3.0
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
3
Forensic signals
16.2%
ROE
11.6%
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.
Ball Corp earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 3.0, placing it in the Safe zone. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by cash conversion.
What the filings flag
0.58×
FY2023–FY2025
Cash conversion.Over FY2023–FY2025, cumulative operating cash flow was 0.58× cumulative net income. Reported profit is not turning into cash. The shortfall is profit tied up in working capital rather than collected — the accrual and receivables lines below show where.Cash conversion: operating cash flow divided by net income, the share of profit that arrived as cash.
196% of FCF
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $1.5B to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 196% of free cash flow. That is $753M (96%) more than free cash flow covered, and more than operating cash flow as well. Over FY2025 cash rose $327M and total debt fell $24M, so neither line funded the gap. The FY2025 cash-flow statement filed $6.7B of debt issued against $5.3B repaid; $99M of investments purchased; net cash used in investing activities of $656M; net cash used in financing activities of $344M. A payout past free cash flow draws the balance sheet down in every year it continues, 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 199%.
9.1%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 9.1% in the latest fiscal year, against 7.3% in FY2023, having run between 4.9% and 9.1% across FY2023–FY2025 with no direction held. After-tax operating profit was $970M in FY2023 and $1.1B in FY2025, with operating income at 10.6% of revenue in FY2023. The capital base behind it went from $13.3B in FY2023 to $12.5B in FY2025 (-6%), while the revenue it carried went from $12.1B to $13.2B.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$13.16B
Revenue Growth YoY+11.6%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+4.5%
Net Margin6.9%
Free Cash Flow$788.0M
Return on Equity16.2%
Debt / Equity0.00x
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 Ball Corp's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?