Forensic Analysis · Retail / Consumer Discretionary · as of Nov 10, 2026
Krispy Kreme, Inc. (DNUT)
A forensic read on Krispy Kreme, Inc. built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
D · Weak — demands caution
Forensic grade
Distress
Financial health
-2.6
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
4
Forensic signals
-57.8%
ROE
-8.6%
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.
Krispy Kreme, Inc. earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads -2.6, placing it in the Distress zone. 4 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
-15.5%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is -15.5% in the latest fiscal year and slipping across FY2023–FY2025 from 0.4%. After-tax operating profit was $10M in FY2023 and ($371M) in FY2025, with operating income at 0.8% of revenue in FY2023, -0.5% in FY2024 and -30.8% in FY2025. The capital base behind it came down -13% across FY2023–FY2025, from $2.7B to $2.4B, so this return is struck on a smaller base than it started on. FY2025's operating profit carried a $356M goodwill write-off and a $6M restructuring charge that alone took about 12.0 points off that year's return, so about 12.0 of the 15.9-point fall across FY2023–FY2025 is that charge landing in the latest year rather than the capital earning less. FY2024's operating profit carried a $8M restructuring charge that alone took about 0.2 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.
FCF ($64M)
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $13M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025, but free cash flow was ($64M) after capex — there was no free cash flow to fund the payout from at all, though operating cash flow alone was $34M — 39% of that. Capex and the payout together ran $77M past operating cash flow — a harder case than returns merely running ahead of free cash flow, since here there was none to run ahead of. New debt covered part of it: total debt rose $77M over FY2025, while cash rose $13M — $63M of the $77M. The FY2025 cash-flow statement filed $779M of debt issued; $3M from sales of property and equipment; net cash used in investing activities of $12M; net cash used in financing activities of $8M.
$356M
FY2025
Goodwill impairments.Took $356M of goodwill writedowns across 1 year (FY2025 ($356M)). Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them.
-49%
FY2024→FY2025
Dividend — cut.The payout was CUT ~49% 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$1.52B
Revenue Growth YoY-8.6%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)-5.0%
Net Margin-33.9%
Free Cash Flow-$64.0M
Return on Equity-57.8%
Debt / Equity1.50x
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 Krispy Kreme, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?