Forensic Analysis · Packaged Foods · as of Nov 8, 2026

Darling Ingredients Inc. (DAR)

A forensic read on Darling Ingredients 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

2.7

Distress distance

Clean

Earnings quality

Forensic signals

1.4%

ROE

7.4%

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.

Darling Ingredients Inc. earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 2.7, 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

2.7%

FY2025

Return on invested capital. Return on invested capital is 2.7% in the latest fiscal year and slipping across FY2023–FY2025 from 8.5%. After-tax operating profit was $855M in FY2023 and $246M in FY2025, with operating income at 14.0% of revenue in FY2023, 8.2% in FY2024 and 4.5% in FY2025. The capital base behind it went from $10.0B in FY2023 to $9.2B in FY2025 (-8%), while the revenue it carried went from $6.8B to $6.1B. FY2025's operating profit carried a $58M asset write-down and a $19M goodwill write-off that alone took about 0.8 points off that year's return, so about 0.8 of the 5.8-point fall across FY2023–FY2025 is that charge landing in the latest year rather than the capital earning less. A non-cash write-down lowers the reported return in the year it lands.

$19M

FY2025

Goodwill impairments. Took $19M of goodwill writedowns across 1 year (FY2025 ($19M)) — about 30% of net income over the span. A large writedown means an acquisition turned out worth far less than was paid — a real mark against M&A discipline.

Key fundamentals

Latest Revenue$6.14B

Revenue Growth YoY+7.4%

Revenue CAGR (2yr)-4.9%

Net Margin1.0%

Free Cash Flow$679.2M

Return on Equity1.4%

Debt / Equity0.83x

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Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Nov 8, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.

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