Forensic Analysis · Software & SaaS · as of Nov 9, 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.
B · Sound & dependable
Forensic grade
Grey Zone
Financial health
1.3
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
2
Forensic signals
10.5%
ROE
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 (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.
Guidewire Software, Inc. earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 1.3, placing it in the Grey zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by shareholder returns.
What the filings flag
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%.
8.4%
FY2026
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 8.4% in the latest fiscal year and rising across FY2024–FY2026 from -4.9%. After-tax operating profit was ($42M) in FY2024 and $127M in FY2026, with operating income at -5.4% of revenue in FY2024, 3.4% in FY2025 and 10.2% in FY2026. The capital base behind it grew +79% 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 -4.9% the older base was already earning. $814M of the $1.5B base at FY2026 is short-term investments and long-term marketable securities (53.9%) — securities held beside cash, which the base keeps because only cash is subtracted from it; they earn the balance sheet's yield, which is not in the operating profit above, so this rate understates what the operating capital earns.
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 Equity10.5%
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?