Forensic Analysis · Parts & Accessories Manufacturing · as of Nov 9, 2026
Borgwarner Inc (BWA)
A forensic read on Borgwarner Inc 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
4.2
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
3
Forensic signals
5.0%
ROE
1.6%
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.
Borgwarner Inc earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 4.2, placing it in the Safe zone. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
4.2%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 4.2% in the latest fiscal year and slipping across FY2023–FY2025 from 9.0%. After-tax operating profit was $822M in FY2023 and $348M in FY2025, with operating income at 8.2% of revenue in FY2023, 3.9% in FY2024 and 3.7% in FY2025. The capital base behind it went from $9.2B in FY2023 to $8.4B in FY2025 (-8%), while the revenue it carried went from $14.2B to $14.3B. FY2025's operating profit carried a $624M asset write-down, a $423M goodwill write-off and a $101M restructuring charge that alone took about 8.9 points off that year's return, so more than the whole 4.8-point fall across FY2023–FY2025 is that charge landing in the latest year rather than the capital earning less. FY2024's operating profit carried a $646M asset write-down, a $577M goodwill write-off and a $74M restructuring charge that alone took about 11.6 points off that year's return; FY2024 sits between the two ends of FY2023–FY2025, so the charge shapes the path between them without moving the change across it. A non-cash write-down lowers the reported return in the year it lands.
$1.0B
FY2024–FY2025
Goodwill impairments.Took $1.0B of goodwill writedowns across 2 years (FY2024 ($577M), FY2025 ($423M)) — about 163% of net income over the span. A large writedown means an acquisition turned out worth far less than was paid — a real mark against M&A discipline.
-21%
FY2023→FY2024
Dividend — cut.The payout was CUT ~21% in FY2024 (from FY2023). It still returns some cash, but it is NOT the dependable, rising dividend an unbroken streak implies.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$14.32B
Revenue Growth YoY+1.6%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+0.4%
Net Margin1.9%
Free Cash Flow$1.18B
Return on Equity5.0%
Debt / Equity0.72x
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 Borgwarner Inc's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?