Forensic Analysis · Durable Goods, Textiles & Apparel · as of Aug 11, 2026

Carters Inc (CRI)

A forensic read on Carters Inc 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

4.5

Distress distance

Clean

Earnings quality

Forensic signals

7.5

P / E (ttm)

9.9%

ROE

$1.5B

Market cap

2.48%

Dividend yield

1.9%

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.

Carters Inc earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 4.5, placing it in the Safe zone. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.

What the filings flag

7.4%

FY2026

Return on invested capital. Return on invested capital is 7.4% in the latest fiscal year and slipping from 18% — slightly below its ~9% cost of capital — reinvestment is roughly a wash.

$18M

FY2020–FY2020

Goodwill impairments. Took $18M of goodwill writedowns across 1 year (FY2020 ($18M)) — about 16% of net income over the span. Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them.

-70%

FY2019→FY2020

Dividend — cut. The payout was CUT ~70% in FY2020 (from FY2019) and hasn't been restored since. It still returns some cash, but it is NOT the dependable, rising dividend an unbroken streak implies.

Key fundamentals

Latest Revenue$2.90B

Revenue Growth YoY+1.9%

Revenue CAGR (3yr)-0.8%

Net Margin3.2%

Free Cash Flow$68.6M

Return on Equity9.9%

Debt / Equity0.61x

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