Forensic Analysis · Personal Services · as of Nov 9, 2026
Carriage Services Inc (CSV)
A forensic read on Carriage Services 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
Grey Zone
Financial health
1.4
Distress distance
2
Forensic signals
22.2%
ROE
3.3%
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.
Carriage Services Inc earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 1.4, placing it in the Grey zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
5.7%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 5.7% in the latest fiscal year and steady across FY2023–FY2025, inside a 1.3-point range. After-tax operating profit was $58M in FY2023 and $72M in FY2025, with operating income at 21.2% of revenue in FY2023, 20.2% in FY2024 and 23.4% in FY2025. The capital base behind it went from $1.2B in FY2023 to $1.3B in FY2025 (+3%), while the revenue it carried went from $383M to $417M.
+14.1%
FY2024→FY2025
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +14.1% 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. Net operating assets also rose $13.0M through acquisitions (increase in goodwill and intangibles); that purchase is investing and is excluded from this ratio. The build is led by receivables up +35% against revenue +3%. 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 14.1%. 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$417.4M
Revenue Growth YoY+3.3%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+4.5%
Net Margin12.3%
Free Cash Flow$40.1M
Return on Equity22.2%
Debt / Equity0.02x
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 Carriage Services Inc's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?