Forensic Analysis · General / Diversified · as of Jun 27, 2026
COHU INC (COHU)
A forensic read on COHU INC built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
C · Mixed — selective
Forensic grade
Safe
Financial health
5.3
Altman Z-score
Clean
Earnings quality
6
Forensic signals
-6.9%
ROE
$3.0B
Market cap
COHU INC earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its Altman Z-score is 5.3, placing it in the Safe zone. 6 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by accruals ratio.
What the filings flag
+25.8%Accruals ratio. Net operating assets grew +25.8% relative to their average in FY2025 — the accrual component of earnings. Accruals are building sharply — a large slice of profit sits in operating assets, not cash; Richardson/Sloan link high accruals to weaker future returns as they reverse. The cash-flow cross-check agrees: reported earnings ran behind operating cash by -14% of net operating assets.
-6%Return on invested capital. Return on invested capital is -6% and slipping from 12% — well below its ~9% cost of capital, so reinvested dollars may be destroying value, not building it.
5% of revStock-based comp load. Stock-based compensation ran 5% of revenue and 215% of free cash flow in FY2025 — about $0.49 per diluted share. Heavy — a large slice of 'free cash flow' is really being paid out in stock, so the true owner cash per share is well below the headline.
suspendedDividend — suspended. The dividend has been SUSPENDED — $5M paid in FY2020, then $0 in FY2022. A suspension is a major signal the board is conserving cash; the prior payment history doesn't offset it.
143dInventory days. Days inventory outstanding moved from 135 to 143 FY2019→FY2020 (against cost of goods sold; inventory +9% vs +3% in cost of sales). Inventory is building a little faster than sales — watch for markdowns.
$715,000Goodwill impairments. Took $715,000 of goodwill writedowns across 1 year(s) (FY2019 ($715,000)) — about 1% of net income over the span. Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them — worth weighing on capital-allocation skill.
Key fundamentals
Net Margin-16.4%
Debt / Equity0.38x
Free Cash Flow$10.7M
Latest Revenue$453.0M
Return on Equity-9.5%
Revenue Growth YoY+12.7%
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Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Jun 27, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.