W.W. Grainger, Inc. (GWW) Stock — Forensic Analysis, Red Flags & Rating | Stockonomy · Stockonomy
Forensic Analysis · Trading Companies & Distributors · as of Aug 11, 2026
W.W. Grainger, Inc. (GWW)
A forensic read on W.W. Grainger, Inc. 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
22.1
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
3
Forensic signals
33.8
P / E (ttm)
45.7%
ROE
$60.8B
Market cap
0.78%
Dividend yield
4.5%
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 (red flags, auditor quality, say on pay, board independence). 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.
W.W. Grainger, Inc. earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 22.1, placing it in the Safe zone. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by accruals ratio (% of noa).
What the filings flag
+10.0%
FY2024→FY2025
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +10.0% relative to their own average in FY2025 — scaled by NOA itself, not total assets (see the Forensic Screens card's differently-scaled Sloan Accrual Ratio for that read). Accruals are building faster than is comfortable — part of profit is sitting in the balance sheet rather than turning to cash. The cash-flow cross-check is more mixed: reported earnings ran behind operating cash by 6% of net operating assets, diverging from the balance-sheet accrual read.
114% of FCF
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $1.5B to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 114% of free cash flow, but 75% of operating cash flow. Returns run ahead of free cash flow because the business is also funding heavy growth capex (usually debt-financed); the payout itself is covered by operating cash — sustainable as long as that spending is genuine expansion, not upkeep. Counting the $64M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 118%.
$58M
FY2020–FY2020
Goodwill impairments.Took $58M of goodwill writedowns across 1 year (FY2020 ($58M)) — about 8% of net income over the span. Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$17.94B
Revenue Growth YoY+4.5%
Revenue CAGR (3yr)+5.6%
Net Margin9.5%
Free Cash Flow$1.33B
Return on Equity45.7%
Debt / Equity0.67x
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 W.W. Grainger, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?