Forensic Analysis · Industrials / Manufacturing / Defense · as of Sep 24, 2026
Greif, Inc (GEF)
A forensic read on Greif, 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
3.1
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
2
Forensic signals
4.4
P / E (ttm)
12.9%
ROE
$3.9B
Market cap
3.09%
Dividend yield
4.4%
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.
Greif, Inc earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 3.1, placing it in the Safe zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by accruals ratio (% of noa).
What the filings flag
+14.7%
FY2023→FY2024
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +14.7% relative to their own average in FY2024 — 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 +21% against +7% in cost of sales and receivables up +13% against revenue +4%. A cash-flow measure on the same base disagrees: reported earnings ran in line with operating cash by 2% of net operating assets, against an accruals ratio of 14.7%. 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.
7.6%
FY2024
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 7.6% in the latest fiscal year and slipping across FY2022–FY2024 from 11%. The capital base behind it grew +27% across FY2022–FY2024, from $4.3B to $5.5B, while the return fell 3.0 points, so the dollars added over that window earned less than the 11% the older base was already earning.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$5.45B
Revenue Growth YoY+4.4%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)-7.4%
Net Margin4.9%
Free Cash Flow$169.5M
Return on Equity12.9%
Debt / Equity1.31x
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 Greif, Inc's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?