Forensic Analysis · Coal Mining · as of Nov 9, 2026
Peabody Energy Corp (BTU)
A forensic read on Peabody Energy 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
3.1
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
2
Forensic signals
-1.5%
ROE
-8.9%
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.
Peabody Energy Corp earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 3.1, placing it in the Safe zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
-1.4%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is -1.4% in the latest fiscal year and slipping across FY2023–FY2025 from 19.4%. After-tax operating profit was $780M in FY2023 and ($63M) in FY2025, with operating income at 21.7% of revenue in FY2023, 10.5% in FY2024 and -2.1% in FY2025. The capital base behind it went from $4.0B in FY2023 to $4.4B in FY2025 (+10%), while the revenue it carried went from $4.9B to $3.9B. FY2025's operating profit carried a $10M restructuring charge that alone took about 0.2 points off that year's return, so about 0.2 of the 20.8-point fall across FY2023–FY2025 is that charge landing in the latest year rather than the capital earning less.
FCF ($78M)
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $36M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025, but free cash flow was ($78M) after capex — there was no free cash flow to fund the payout from at all, though operating cash flow alone was $334M — 11% of that. Capex and the payout together ran $114M past operating cash flow — a harder case than returns merely running ahead of free cash flow, since here there was none to run ahead of. It came out of the balance sheet's own liquid holdings, not new debt: cash fell $125M over FY2025, while total debt fell $12M.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$3.86B
Revenue Growth YoY-8.9%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)-11.6%
Net Margin-1.4%
Free Cash Flow-$77.7M
Return on Equity-1.5%
Debt / Equity0.10x
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 Peabody Energy Corp's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?