Forensic Analysis · Textiles & Apparel Manufacturing · as of Nov 10, 2026
Columbia Sportswear Co (COLM)
A forensic read on Columbia Sportswear Co 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
6.6
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
3
Forensic signals
10.2%
ROE
0.9%
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 (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.
Columbia Sportswear Co earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 6.6, placing it in the Safe zone. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by shareholder returns.
What the filings flag
123% of FCF
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $267M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 123% of free cash flow. That is $50M (23%) more than free cash flow covered. The balance sheet's own liquid holdings covered part of it: cash and short-term investments fell $25M over FY2025 — $25M of the $50M; total debt is not on file on the same basis at both year ends, so whether new borrowing also covered part of it cannot be read. The FY2025 cash-flow statement filed $607M of investments purchased; net cash used in investing activities of $121M; net cash used in financing activities of $267M. A payout past free cash flow draws the balance sheet down in every year it continues, which isn't sustainable indefinitely. Counting the $24M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 134%.
9.4%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 9.4% in the latest fiscal year and slipping across FY2023–FY2025 from 12.0%. After-tax operating profit was $239M in FY2023 and $160M in FY2025, with operating income at 8.9% of revenue in FY2023, 8.0% in FY2024 and 6.1% in FY2025. The capital base behind it cannot be compared across FY2023–FY2025: short-term debt is tagged in one of those two fiscal years and not the other, and an untagged line enters this calculation as zero, so any change in the base would be a change in what the filer tagged. $316M of the $1.7B base at FY2025 is short-term investments (18.6%) — securities held beside cash, which the base keeps because only cash is subtracted from it; they earn the balance sheet's yield, which is not in the operating profit above, so this rate understates what the operating capital earns.
$46M
FY2023–FY2025
Goodwill impairments.Took $46M of goodwill writedowns across 2 years (FY2023 ($25M), FY2025 ($21M)) — about 7% of net income over the span. Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$3.40B
Revenue Growth YoY+0.9%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)-1.3%
Net Margin5.2%
Free Cash Flow$216.7M
Return on Equity10.2%
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 Columbia Sportswear Co's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?