Forensic Analysis · Lumber & Wood Products · as of Nov 8, 2026
Fortune Brands Innovations, Inc. (FBIN)
A forensic read on Fortune Brands Innovations, 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
3.6
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
3
Forensic signals
12.4%
ROE
-3.2%
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 (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.
Fortune Brands Innovations, Inc. earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 3.6, placing it in the Safe zone. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by inventory days.
What the filings flag
146d
FY2024→FY2025
Inventory days.Days inventory outstanding moved from 139 to 146 FY2024→FY2025 (against cost of goods sold; inventory +7% vs -3% in cost of sales). Inventory is building a little faster than sales — watch for markdowns.
7.4%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 7.4% in the latest fiscal year, against 9.6% in FY2023, having run between 7.4% and 11.4% across FY2023–FY2025 with no direction held. After-tax operating profit was $481M in FY2023 and $381M in FY2025, with operating income at 13.3% of revenue in FY2023, 16.0% in FY2024 and 11.6% in FY2025. The capital base behind it went from $5.0B in FY2023 to $5.1B in FY2025 (+3%), while the revenue it carried went from $4.6B to $4.5B. FY2025's operating profit carried a $54M asset write-down and a $52M restructuring charge that alone took about 1.5 points off that year's return, so about 1.5 of the 2.2-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.
100% of FCF
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $368M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 100% of free cash flow. That is $2M (0.4%) more than free cash flow covered. It came out of the balance sheet's own liquid holdings, not new debt: cash fell $117M over FY2025, while total debt fell $128M. That ratio has been CLIMBING past free cash flow — 33% of free cash flow two years back — not just sitting there. Counting the $21M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 106%.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$4.46B
Revenue Growth YoY-3.2%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)-1.8%
Net Margin6.7%
Free Cash Flow$366.8M
Return on Equity12.4%
Debt / Equity1.07x
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 Fortune Brands Innovations, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?