Forensic Analysis · Primary Metals & Steel · as of Nov 9, 2026

Friedman Industries Inc (FRD)

A forensic read on Friedman Industries 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

6.7

Distress distance

Watch

Earnings quality

Forensic signals

4.7%

ROE

-13.9%

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.

Friedman Industries Inc earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 6.7, placing it in the Safe zone. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.

What the filings flag

1.3%

FY2025

Return on invested capital. Return on invested capital is 1.3% in the latest fiscal year and slipping across FY2023–FY2025 from 10.6%. After-tax operating profit was $16M in FY2023 and $2M in FY2025, with operating income at 3.8% of revenue in FY2023, 4.7% in FY2024 and 0.7% in FY2025. The capital base behind it grew +18% across FY2023–FY2025, from $151M to $179M, while the return fell 9.3 points, so the dollars added over that window earned less than the 10.6% the older base was already earning.

FCF ($8M)

FY2025

Shareholder returns. Returned $1M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025, but free cash flow was ($8M) after capex — there was no free cash flow to fund the payout from at all, and operating cash flow itself was negative or zero that year too. 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.

95d

FY2024→FY2025

Inventory days. Days inventory outstanding moved from 75 to 95 FY2024→FY2025 (against cost of goods sold; inventory -2% vs -10% in cost of sales). Inventory did not fall as fast as cost of sales, so days on hand lengthened — watch for markdowns.

Key fundamentals

Latest Revenue$444.6M

Revenue Growth YoY-13.9%

Revenue CAGR (2yr)-9.9%

Net Margin1.4%

Free Cash Flow-$8.4M

Return on Equity4.7%

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Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Nov 9, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.

See a wrong number? Report an error with the filing it should match.