Forensic Analysis · Materials / Mining & Chemicals · as of Aug 11, 2026

Century Aluminum Co (CENX)

A forensic read on Century Aluminum Co 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

3.3

Distress distance

Clean

Earnings quality

Forensic signals

14.6

P / E (ttm)

5.2%

ROE

$5.2B

Market cap

13.9%

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 (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.

Century Aluminum Co earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 3.3, placing it in the Safe zone. 4 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by share-count dilution.

What the filings flag

+1.4%/yr

FY2022–FY2025

Share-count dilution. Diluted share count changed +4% over the last 3 years to FY2025 (+1.4%/yr). The count is growing: more stock was issued than repurchased over this window, so aggregate results grew faster than their per-share equivalents. That's ~1.4% shaved off per-share growth every year — total profit has to grow that much just to keep earnings-per-share flat, and a stake held since FY2022 has been diluted ~4%.

stopped

FY2015→FY2017

Shareholder returns — halted. Capital returns have STOPPED — $36M of buybacks + dividends in FY2015, but ~$0 in FY2017. A halt usually means the company is conserving cash.

0.79×

FY2023–FY2025

Cash conversion. Over FY2023–FY2025, operating cash flow was 0.79× cumulative net income. Cash is lagging reported profit. The shortfall is profit tied up in working capital rather than collected — the accrual and receivables lines below show where.

8.8%

FY2025

Return on invested capital. Return on invested capital is 8.8% in the latest fiscal year and rising from -8% — around its ~8% cost of capital, so growth is roughly value-neutral.

Key fundamentals

Latest Revenue$2.53B

Revenue Growth YoY+13.9%

Net Margin1.7%

Free Cash Flow$84.8M

Return on Equity5.2%

Debt / Equity0.68x

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Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Aug 11, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.