Forensic Analysis · General / Diversified · as of Nov 9, 2026
Deluxe Corp (DLX)
A forensic read on Deluxe Corp built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
C · Mixed — selective
Forensic grade
Grey Zone
Financial health
1.5
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
2
Forensic signals
12.6%
ROE
0.5%
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.
Deluxe Corp earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 1.5, 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
7.3%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 7.3% in the latest fiscal year and rising across FY2023–FY2025 from 4.7%. After-tax operating profit was $106M in FY2023 and $160M in FY2025, with operating income at 7.3% of revenue in FY2023, 9.1% in FY2024 and 10.9% in FY2025. The capital base behind it went from $2.3B in FY2023 to $2.2B in FY2025 (-3%), while the revenue it carried went from $2.2B to $2.1B. FY2023's operating profit carried a $90M restructuring charge that alone took about 2.6 points off that year's return, so about all of the 2.6-point rise across FY2023–FY2025 is that charge leaving the base year rather than the capital earning more. FY2024's operating profit carried a $50M restructuring charge, a $8M asset write-down and a $8M goodwill write-off that alone took about 2.0 points off that year's return; FY2024 sits between the two ends of FY2023–FY2025, so the charge shapes the path between them without moving the change across it. A non-cash write-down lowers the reported return in the year it lands.
$8M
FY2024
Goodwill impairments.Took $8M of goodwill writedowns across 1 year (FY2024 ($8M)) — about 15% of net income over the span. Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$2.13B
Revenue Growth YoY+0.5%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)-1.4%
Net Margin3.8%
Free Cash Flow$175.3M
Return on Equity12.6%
Debt / Equity2.10x
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 Deluxe Corp's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?