Forensic Analysis · Consulting & Engineering Services · as of Nov 11, 2026
Hackett Group, Inc. (HCKT)
A forensic read on Hackett Group, 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
Safe
Financial health
3.6
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
3
Forensic signals
14.1%
ROE
-2.6%
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.
Hackett Group, Inc. earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 3.6, placing it in the Safe zone. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by shareholder returns.
What the filings flag
253% of FCF
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $82M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 253% of free cash flow. That is $50M (153%) more than free cash flow covered, and more than operating cash flow as well. New debt covered it: total debt rose $63M over FY2025, while cash rose $2M. A payout past free cash flow draws the balance sheet down in every year it continues, which isn't sustainable indefinitely. Counting the $11M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 287%.
+10.1%
FY2024→FY2025
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +10.1% 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 $1.8M through acquisitions (increase in goodwill and intangibles); that purchase is investing and is excluded from this ratio. A cash-flow measure on the same base disagrees: reported earnings ran behind operating cash by 23% of net operating assets, against an accruals ratio of 10.1%. 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.
11.6%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 11.6% in the latest fiscal year and slipping across FY2023–FY2025 from 33.1%. After-tax operating profit was $37M in FY2023 and $15M in FY2025, with operating income at 16.6% of revenue in FY2023, 14.2% in FY2024 and 7.7% in FY2025. The capital base behind it grew +19% across FY2023–FY2025, from $111M to $132M, while the return fell 21.5 points, so the dollars added over that window earned less than the 33.1% the older base was already earning.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$305.6M
Revenue Growth YoY-2.6%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+1.5%
Net Margin4.2%
Free Cash Flow$32.4M
Return on Equity14.1%
Debt / Equity1.11x
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 Hackett Group, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?