Guidewire Software, Inc. (GWRE) Stock — Forensic Analysis, Red Flags & Rating | Stockonomy · Stockonomy
Forensic Analysis · Technology / Software · as of Sep 24, 2026
Guidewire Software, Inc. (GWRE)
A forensic read on Guidewire Software, Inc. built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
A · High-quality
Forensic grade
Safe
Financial health
9.9
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
3
Forensic signals
84.9
P / E (ttm)
11.7%
ROE
$12.5B
Market cap
22.7%
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.
Guidewire Software, Inc. earns an A (High-quality) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 9.9, placing it in the Safe zone. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by share-count dilution.
What the filings flag
+1.9%/yr
FY2024–FY2026
Share-count dilution.Diluted share count changed +4% over the last 2 years to FY2026 (+1.9%/yr). The count is growing: more stock was issued than repurchased over this window, so aggregate results grew faster than their per-share equivalents. That's ~1.9% shaved off per-share growth every year — total profit has to grow that much just to keep earnings-per-share flat, and a stake held since FY2024 has been diluted ~4%.
169% of FCF
FY2026
Shareholder returns.Returned $606M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2026 — 169% of free cash flow. That is $248M (69%) more than free cash flow covered, and more than operating cash flow as well. It came out of the balance sheet's own liquid holdings, not new debt: cash, short-term investments and long-term marketable securities fell $268M over FY2026, while total debt fell $9M. A payout past free cash flow draws the balance sheet down in every year it continues, which isn't sustainable indefinitely. Counting the $182M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 220%.
8.3%
FY2026
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 8.3% in the latest fiscal year and rising across FY2024–FY2026 from -5%. The capital base behind it grew +83% across FY2024–FY2026, from $841M to $1.5B, and the return did not fall doing it, so the dollars added over that window earned at least the -5% the older base was already earning.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$1.48B
Revenue Growth YoY+22.7%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+22.7%
Net Margin9.4%
Free Cash Flow$358.7M
Return on Equity11.7%
Debt / Equity0.60x
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 Guidewire Software, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?