Forensic Analysis · Materials / Mining & Chemicals · as of Aug 11, 2026
International Flavors & Fragrances Inc (IFF)
A forensic read on International Flavors & Fragrances Inc built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
D · Weak — demands caution
Forensic grade
Grey Zone
Financial health
1.9
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
5
Forensic signals
25.3
P / E (ttm)
-2.6%
ROE
$21.6B
Market cap
1.89%
Dividend yield
-5.2%
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.
International Flavors & Fragrances Inc earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 1.9, placing it in the Grey zone. 5 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
-1.4%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is -1.4% in the latest fiscal year and rising from -3% — well below its ~8% cost of capital, so reinvested dollars may be destroying value, not building it.
+0.1%/yr
FY2022–FY2025
Share count.Diluted share count changed +0% over the last 3 years to FY2025 (+0.1%/yr). Roughly flat — buybacks ($38M) are about offsetting stock comp ($88M), not shrinking the count. Per-share value isn't being meaningfully helped or hurt by the count.
175% of FCF
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $447M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 175% of free cash flow, but 53% 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 $88M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 209%.
$6.1B
FY2022–FY2025
Goodwill impairments.Took $6.1B of goodwill writedowns across 4 years (FY2023 ($2.6B), FY2024 ($64M), FY2025 ($1.2B)). Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them.
-38%
FY2023→FY2024
Dividend — cut.The payout was CUT ~38% in FY2024 (from FY2023). It still returns some cash, but it is NOT the dependable, rising dividend an unbroken streak implies. Measured on total dividend dollars rather than per share: the reported share count steps sharply around FY2021, a stock-split seam between filing vintages rather than a change in the payout, and a split leaves the dollars paid untouched.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$10.89B
Revenue Growth YoY-5.2%
Revenue CAGR (3yr)-4.3%
Net Margin-3.3%
Free Cash Flow$256.0M
Return on Equity-2.6%
Debt / Equity0.42x
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 International Flavors & Fragrances Inc's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?