Forensic Analysis · Healthcare / Pharmaceuticals / Biotech · as of Jun 27, 2026

BAXTER INTERNATIONAL INC (BAX)

A forensic read on BAXTER INTERNATIONAL 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

3.9

Altman Z-score

Clean

Earnings quality

Forensic signals

-16.4%

ROE

$11.4B

Market cap

0.20%

Dividend yield

BAXTER INTERNATIONAL INC earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its Altman Z-score is 3.9, placing it in the Safe zone. 6 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.

What the filings flag

-2%Return on invested capital. Return on invested capital is -2% and rising from -10% — well below its ~10% cost of capital, so reinvested dollars may be destroying value, not building it.

1% of revStock-based comp load. Stock-based compensation ran 1% of revenue and 35% of free cash flow in FY2025 — about $0.23 per diluted share. Heavy — a large slice of 'free cash flow' is really being paid out in stock, so the true owner cash per share is well below the headline.

+0.6%/yrShare-count dilution. Diluted share count changed +2% over the last 3 years to FY2025 (+0.6%/yr). Roughly flat — buybacks are about offsetting stock comp, not shrinking the count. Per-share value isn't being meaningfully helped or hurt by the count.

105% of FCFShareholder returns. Returned $348M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 105% of free cash flow. Right at the limit of what free cash flow covers — little room before it's funded by debt or the balance sheet.

$3.7BGoodwill impairments. Took $3.7B of goodwill writedowns across 3 year(s) (FY2022 ($2.8B), FY2024 ($425M), FY2025 ($485M)). Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them — worth weighing on capital-allocation skill.

-41%Dividend — cut. The payout was CUT ~41% in FY2025 (from FY2024). It still returns some cash, but it is NOT the dependable, rising dividend an unbroken streak implies — weigh the cut when judging reliability.

Key fundamentals

Net Margin-8.5%

Debt / Equity1.55x

Free Cash Flow$332.0M

Latest Revenue$11.24B

Return on Equity-15.6%

Revenue Growth YoY+5.7%

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Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Jun 27, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.