Forensic Analysis · Combined Electric & Other Services · as of Nov 9, 2026
CMS Energy Corp (CMS)
A forensic read on CMS 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
Clean
Earnings quality
2
Forensic signals
12.3%
ROE
13.6%
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.
CMS Energy Corp earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
3.9%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 3.9% in the latest fiscal year and steady across FY2023–FY2025, inside a 0.6-point range. After-tax operating profit was $1.0B in FY2023 and $1.4B in FY2025, with operating income at 16.6% of revenue in FY2023, 19.8% in FY2024 and 20.2% in FY2025. The capital base behind it grew +12% across FY2023–FY2025, from $31.4B to $35.2B, and the return did not fall doing it, so the dollars added over that window earned at least the 3.3% the older base was already earning.
+11.1%
FY2024→FY2025
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +11.1% relative to their own average in FY2025 — scaled by NOA itself, not by total assets, which is what the Forensic Screens card's own accrual row divides by. Accruals are building faster than is comfortable — part of profit is sitting in the balance sheet rather than turning to cash. The build is led by PP&E up +12% against revenue +14%. A cash-flow measure on the same base disagrees: reported earnings ran in line with operating cash by 4% of net operating assets, against an accruals ratio of 11.1%. The two are computed differently: the accruals ratio is the change in net operating assets over average net operating assets, while the cash-flow figure is net income less operating cash flow over that same average. Read them as two results, not one.Accruals ratio: the year-over-year change in net operating assets, relative to their own average.NOA (net operating assets): the money tied up in running the business, operating assets minus operating liabilities.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$8.54B
Revenue Growth YoY+13.6%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+7.0%
Net Margin12.5%
Return on Equity12.3%
Debt / Equity2.05x
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 CMS Energy Corp's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?