Forensic Analysis · Healthcare / Pharmaceuticals / Biotech · as of Aug 11, 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.
D · Weak — demands caution
Forensic grade
Safe
Financial health
4.5
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
5
Forensic signals
-13.5
P / E (ttm)
-15.6%
ROE
$14.4B
Market cap
0.15%
Dividend yield
5.7%
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.
Baxter International Inc earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 4.5, placing it in the Safe zone. 5 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 and rising from -10% — well below its ~10% cost of capital, so reinvested dollars may be destroying value, not building it.
+0.6%/yr
FY2022–FY2025
Share count.Diluted share count changed +2% over the last 3 years to FY2025 (+0.6%/yr). Roughly flat — the count is neither shrinking nor growing meaningfully. Per-share value isn't being meaningfully helped or hurt by the count.
105% of FCF
FY2025
Shareholder 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. That ratio has been CLIMBING toward the limit — 73% of free cash flow a few years back — not just sitting there. Counting the $117M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 140%.
$3.7B
FY2022–FY2025
Goodwill impairments.Took $3.7B of goodwill writedowns across 3 years (FY2022 ($2.8B), FY2024 ($425M), FY2025 ($485M)). Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them.
-71%
FY2015→FY2016
Dividend — cut.The payout was CUT ~71% in FY2016 (from FY2015) and hasn't been restored since. It still returns some cash, but it is NOT the dependable, rising dividend an unbroken streak implies.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$11.24B
Revenue Growth YoY+5.7%
Revenue CAGR (3yr)+3.8%
Net Margin-8.5%
Free Cash Flow$332.0M
Return on Equity-15.6%
Debt / Equity1.55x
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 Baxter International Inc's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?