Forensic Analysis · Textiles & Apparel Manufacturing · as of Nov 9, 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.

B · Sound & dependable

Forensic grade

Safe

Financial health

4.1

Distress distance

Clean

Earnings quality

Forensic signals

10.3%

ROE

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 (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.

Carters Inc earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 4.1, placing it in the Safe zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.

What the filings flag

7.5%

FY2025

Return on invested capital. Return on invested capital is 7.5% in the latest fiscal year and slipping across FY2023–FY2025 from 16.4%. After-tax operating profit was $249M in FY2023 and $116M in FY2025, with operating income at 11.0% of revenue in FY2023, 9.0% in FY2024 and 5.0% in FY2025. The capital base behind it went from $1.5B in FY2023 to $1.5B in FY2025 (+2%), while the revenue it carried went from $2.9B to $2.9B.

-51%

FY2024→FY2025

Dividend — cut. The payout was CUT ~51% in FY2025 (from FY2024). 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 (2yr)-0.8%

Net Margin3.2%

Free Cash Flow$68.6M

Return on Equity10.3%

Debt / Equity0.61x

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Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Nov 9, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.

See a wrong number? Report an error with the filing it should match.