Forensic Analysis · Materials / Mining & Chemicals · as of Aug 11, 2026
Dow Inc. (DOW)
A forensic read on Dow 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
Grey Zone
Financial health
2.2
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
4
Forensic signals
-16.5
P / E (ttm)
-16.4%
ROE
$21.9B
Market cap
4.62%
Dividend yield
-7.0%
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 (red flags, auditor quality, say on pay, board independence). 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.
Dow Inc. earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 2.2, placing it in the Grey zone. 4 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
-2.8%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is -2.8% in the latest fiscal year and slipping from 11% — well below its ~8% cost of capital, so reinvested dollars may be destroying value, not building it.
FCF ($1.4B)
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $1.5B to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025, but free cash flow was ($1.4B) after capex — there was no free cash flow to fund the payout from at all, though operating cash flow alone was $1.0B — 144% of that. The entire return is coming from debt or cash reserves, not cash the business itself generated — a harder case than returns merely running ahead of free cash flow, since here there was none to run ahead of.
$1.7B
FY2019–FY2025
Goodwill impairments.Took $1.7B of goodwill writedowns across 2 years (FY2019 ($1.0B), FY2025 ($690M)) — about 18% 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.
-25%
FY2024→FY2025
Dividend — cut.The payout was CUT ~25% 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$39.97B
Revenue Growth YoY-7.0%
Net Margin-6.6%
Free Cash Flow-$1.45B
Return on Equity-16.4%
Debt / Equity1.13x
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 Dow Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?