Forensic Analysis · Electric Utilities · as of Nov 8, 2026
Clearway Energy, Inc. (CWEN)
A forensic read on Clearway Energy, 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
Clean
Earnings quality
3
Forensic signals
3.0%
ROE
4.2%
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.
Clearway Energy, Inc. earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
0.8%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 0.8% in the latest fiscal year and steady across FY2023–FY2025, inside a 0.7-point range. After-tax operating profit was $208M in FY2023 and $126M in FY2025, with operating income at 20.0% of revenue in FY2023, 14.3% in FY2024 and 11.2% in FY2025. The capital base behind it went from $13.8B in FY2023 to $14.9B in FY2025 (+8%), while the revenue it carried went from $1.3B to $1.4B. FY2023's operating profit carried a $12M asset write-down that alone took about 0.1 points off that year's return, so the FY2025 return is being compared with a base year that charge had already pulled down. A non-cash write-down lowers the reported return in the year it lands.
+12.8%
FY2024→FY2025
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +12.8% 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 $167.0M through acquisitions (increase in goodwill and intangibles); that purchase is investing and is excluded from this ratio. The build is led by inventory up +17% against +6% in cost of sales and PP&E up +17% against revenue +4%. 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 12.8%. 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.
97% of FCF
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $358M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 97% of free cash flow. Right at the limit of what free cash flow covers — little room before it's funded by debt or the balance sheet. That ratio has been CLIMBING toward the limit — 63% of free cash flow two years back — not just sitting there.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$1.43B
Revenue Growth YoY+4.2%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+4.3%
Net Margin11.8%
Free Cash Flow$369.0M
Return on Equity3.0%
Debt / Equity1.48x
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 Clearway Energy, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?