Federal Signal Corp /De/ (FSS) Stock — Forensic Analysis, Red Flags & Rating | Stockonomy · Stockonomy
Forensic Analysis · Automotive / Vehicle Manufacturing · as of Sep 24, 2026
Federal Signal Corp /De/ (FSS)
A forensic read on Federal Signal Corp /De/ built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
C · Mixed — selective
Forensic grade
Safe
Financial health
11.5
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
4
Forensic signals
24.4
P / E (ttm)
17.8%
ROE
$6.9B
Market cap
0.57%
Dividend yield
17.1%
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.
Federal Signal Corp /De/ earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 11.5, placing it in the Safe zone. 4 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by accruals ratio (% of noa).
What the filings flag
+36.2%
FY2024→FY2025
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +36.2% 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 sharply — a large slice of profit sits in operating assets, not cash. An accrual is a claim that still has to be collected or written down, so the gap resolves in a later period whichever way it goes. The build is led by receivables up +49% against revenue +17% and inventory up +42% against +17% in cost of sales. A cash-flow measure on the same base disagrees: reported earnings ran in line with operating cash by 1% of net operating assets, against an accruals ratio of 36.2%. 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.
95d
FY2024→FY2025
Inventory days.Days inventory outstanding moved from 87 to 95 FY2024→FY2025 (against cost of goods sold; inventory +42% vs +17% in cost of sales). Inventory is building a little faster than sales — watch for markdowns.
12.7%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 12.7% in the latest fiscal year, against 13% in FY2023, having run between 12.7% and 16.0% across FY2023–FY2025 with no direction held. The capital base behind it grew +50% across FY2023–FY2025, from $1.4B to $2.0B, while the return fell 0.1 points, so the dollars added over that window earned less than the 13% the older base was already earning.
0.0%/yr
FY2023–FY2025
Share count.Diluted share count changed 0% over the last 2 years to FY2025 (0.0%/yr). Roughly flat — buybacks ($40M) are about offsetting stock comp ($15M), not shrinking the count. Per-share value isn't being meaningfully helped or hurt by the count.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$2.18B
Revenue Growth YoY+17.1%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+12.5%
Net Margin11.3%
Free Cash Flow$227.1M
Return on Equity17.8%
Debt / Equity0.41x
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 Federal Signal Corp /De/'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?