Forensic Analysis · Consumer Staples / Food & Beverage · as of Aug 11, 2026
Estee Lauder Companies Inc (EL)
A forensic read on Estee Lauder Companies 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
Safe
Financial health
4.3
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
6
Forensic signals
-129.6
P / E (ttm)
-29.3%
ROE
$31.6B
Market cap
1.64%
Dividend yield
-8.2%
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 (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.
Estee Lauder Companies Inc earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 4.3, placing it in the Safe zone. 6 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
-4.3%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is -4.3% in the latest fiscal year and slipping from 16% — well below its ~8% cost of capital, so reinvested dollars may be destroying value, not building it.
$1.2B
FY2019–FY2025
Goodwill impairments.Took $1.2B of goodwill writedowns across 5 years (FY2021 ($54M), FY2024 ($291M), FY2025 ($13M)) — about 15% 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.
41d DSO
FY2024→FY2025
Receivables vs revenue.Days sales outstanding moved from 37 to 41 days FY2024→FY2025 (receivables -11% vs revenue -8%). Receivables are creeping up relative to sales. Across FY2021–FY2025 the day count ran 33 → 34 → 35 → 37 → 41 days — the latest step continues a climb that was already under way, which is the persistence that separates a collection problem from a busy quarter.
-0.4%/yr
FY2022–FY2025
Share count.Diluted share count changed -1% over the last 3 years to FY2025 (-0.4%/yr). Roughly flat — buybacks ($35M) are about offsetting stock comp ($304M), not shrinking the count. Per-share value isn't being meaningfully helped or hurt by the count.
97% of FCF
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $653M 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 actually been EASING, not tightening further — down from ~157% of free cash flow a few years back. Counting the $304M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 143%.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$14.33B
Revenue Growth YoY-8.2%
Revenue CAGR (3yr)-6.9%
Net Margin-7.9%
Free Cash Flow$670.0M
Return on Equity-29.3%
Debt / Equity1.89x
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 Estee Lauder Companies Inc's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?
Dividend — cut.The payout was CUT ~35% in FY2025 (from FY2024). It still returns some cash, but it is NOT the dependable, rising dividend an unbroken streak implies.