Forensic Analysis · Educational Services · as of Nov 9, 2026
Graham Holdings Co (GHC)
A forensic read on Graham Holdings Co built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
B · Sound & dependable
Forensic grade
Safe
Financial health
5.7
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
4
Forensic signals
6.5%
ROE
2.5%
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.
Graham Holdings Co earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 5.7, placing it in the Safe zone. 4 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
2.4%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 2.4% in the latest fiscal year and rising across FY2023–FY2025 from 0.8%. After-tax operating profit was $49M in FY2023 and $158M in FY2025, with operating income at 1.6% of revenue in FY2023, 4.5% in FY2024 and 4.8% in FY2025. The capital base behind it grew +12% across FY2023–FY2025, from $5.9B to $6.6B, and the return did not fall doing it, so the dollars added over that window earned at least the 0.8% the older base was already earning. FY2023's operating profit carried a $99M asset write-down and a $98M goodwill write-off that alone took about 2.4 points off that year's return, so more than the whole 1.6-point rise across FY2023–FY2025 is that charge leaving the base year rather than the capital earning more. A non-cash write-down lowers the reported return in the year it lands.
0.76×
FY2023–FY2025
Cash conversion.Over FY2023–FY2025, cumulative operating cash flow was 0.76× cumulative net income before $105.5M 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.
+11.1%
FY2024→FY2025
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +11.1% 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. Net operating assets also rose $90.6M through acquisitions (increase in goodwill and intangibles); that purchase is investing and is excluded from this ratio. The build is led by receivables up +9% against revenue +3%. 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 11.1%. 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.Accruals ratio: the year-over-year change in net operating assets, relative to their own average.NOA (net operating assets): the money tied up in running the business, operating assets minus operating liabilities.
$106M
FY2023–FY2024
Goodwill impairments.Took $106M of goodwill writedowns across 2 years (FY2023 ($98M), FY2024 ($8M)) — about 11% of net income over the span. Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$4.91B
Revenue Growth YoY+2.5%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+5.5%
Net Margin6.0%
Free Cash Flow$275.3M
Return on Equity6.5%
Debt / Equity0.18x
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 Graham Holdings Co's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?