Forensic Analysis · Chemicals · as of Nov 10, 2026
Celanese Corp (CE)
A forensic read on Celanese Corp 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
Grey Zone
Financial health
2.1
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
3
Forensic signals
-25.4%
ROE
-7.1%
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.
Celanese Corp earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 2.1, placing it in the Grey zone. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
-3.3%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is -3.3% in the latest fiscal year and slipping across FY2023–FY2025 from 6.8%. After-tax operating profit was $1.5B in FY2023 and ($621M) in FY2025, with operating income at 15.2% of revenue in FY2023, -7.0% in FY2024 and -8.2% in FY2025. The capital base behind it came down -15% across FY2023–FY2025, from $22.1B to $18.7B, so this return is struck on a smaller base than it started on. FY2025's operating profit carried a $1.5B asset write-down and a $1.1B goodwill write-off that alone took about 11.2 points off that year's return, so more than the whole 10.1-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 $1.6B asset write-down and a $1.5B goodwill write-off that alone took about 12.0 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.
$2.7B
FY2024–FY2025
Goodwill impairments.Took $2.7B of goodwill writedowns across 2 years (FY2024 ($1.5B), FY2025 ($1.1B)). Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them.
-96%
FY2024→FY2025
Dividend — cut.The payout was CUT ~96% in FY2025 (from FY2024). It still returns some cash, but it is NOT the dependable, rising dividend an unbroken streak implies.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$9.54B
Revenue Growth YoY-7.1%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)-6.5%
Net Margin-12.2%
Free Cash Flow$803.0M
Return on Equity-25.4%
Debt / Equity3.11x
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 Celanese Corp's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?