Franklin Electric Co Inc (FELE) Stock — Forensic Analysis, Red Flags & Rating | Stockonomy · Stockonomy
Forensic Analysis · Industrials / Manufacturing / Defense · as of Sep 24, 2026
Franklin Electric Co Inc (FELE)
A forensic read on Franklin Electric Co 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
12.0
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
3
Forensic signals
27.1
P / E (ttm)
11.1%
ROE
$4.3B
Market cap
1.00%
Dividend yield
5.4%
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, going concern, valuation). 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.
Franklin Electric Co Inc earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 12.0, placing it in the Safe zone. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by shareholder returns.
What the filings flag
111% of FCF
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $216M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 111% of free cash flow. That is $22M (11%) more than free cash flow covered. The balance sheet covered it: cash fell $121M and total debt rose $38M over FY2025. A payout past free cash flow draws the balance sheet down in every year it continues, which isn't sustainable indefinitely. Counting the $13M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 118%.
+16.8%
FY2024→FY2025
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +16.8% relative to their own average in FY2025 — scaled by NOA itself, not by total assets, which is what the Forensic Screens card's own accrual row divides by. Accruals are building faster than is comfortable — part of profit is sitting in the balance sheet rather than turning to cash. The build is led by inventory up +14% against +5% in cost of sales and receivables up +9% against revenue +5%. A cash-flow measure on the same base disagrees: reported earnings ran behind operating cash by 7% of net operating assets, against an accruals ratio of 16.8%. The two are computed differently: the accruals ratio is the change in net operating assets over average net operating assets, while the cash-flow figure is net income less operating cash flow over that same average. Read them as two results, not one.
13.4%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 13.4% in the latest fiscal year and slipping across FY2023–FY2025 from 15%. The capital base behind it grew +12% across FY2023–FY2025, from $1.4B to $1.5B, while the return fell 2.0 points, so the dollars added over that window earned less than the 15% the older base was already earning.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$2.13B
Revenue Growth YoY+5.4%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+1.6%
Net Margin6.9%
Free Cash Flow$193.5M
Return on Equity11.1%
Debt / Equity0.13x
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 Franklin Electric Co Inc's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?