Forensic Analysis · Electrical Equipment · as of Nov 9, 2026
General Electric Co (GE)
A forensic read on General Electric Co 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
3.0
Distress distance
4
Forensic signals
45.8%
ROE
18.5%
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.
General Electric Co earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 3.0, placing it in the Safe zone. 4 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by shareholder returns.
What the filings flag
124% of FCF
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $9.0B to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 124% of free cash flow. That is $1.7B (24%) more than free cash flow covered, and more than operating cash flow as well. The balance sheet covered it: cash fell $1.6B and total debt rose $1.2B 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 $325M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 128%.
0.74×
FY2023–FY2025
Cash conversion.Over FY2023–FY2025, cumulative operating cash flow was 0.74× cumulative net income before $251.0M of non-cash goodwill impairment. Cash is lagging reported profit. The shortfall is profit tied up in working capital rather than collected — the accrual and receivables lines below show where.Cash conversion: operating cash flow divided by net income, the share of profit that arrived as cash.
10.8%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 10.8% in the latest fiscal year and rising across FY2023–FY2025 from 7.4%. After-tax operating profit was $9.4B in FY2023 and $8.6B in FY2025. The capital base behind it came down -37% across FY2023–FY2025, from $127.5B to $79.9B, so this return is struck on a smaller base than it started on.
$251M
FY2024
Goodwill impairments.Took $251M of goodwill writedowns across 1 year (FY2024 ($251M)) — about 4% of net income over the span. Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$45.85B
Revenue Growth YoY+18.5%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+13.9%
Net Margin19.0%
Free Cash Flow$7.26B
Return on Equity45.8%
Debt / Equity1.10x
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 General Electric Co's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?