Forensic Analysis · Primary Metals & Steel · as of Nov 8, 2026

Insteel Industries Inc (IIIN)

A forensic read on Insteel Industries 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

9.2

Distress distance

Forensic signals

7.9%

ROE

14.2%

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 (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.

Insteel Industries Inc earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 9.2, placing it in the Safe zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.

What the filings flag

8.2%

FY2026

Return on invested capital. Return on invested capital is 8.2% in the latest fiscal year, against 7.3% in FY2024, having run between 7.3% and 13.2% across FY2024–FY2026 with no direction held. After-tax operating profit was $19M in FY2024 and $30M in FY2026. The capital base behind it grew +37% across FY2024–FY2026, from $264M to $362M, and the return did not fall doing it, so the dollars added over that window earned at least the 7.3% the older base was already earning.

100% of FCF

FY2026

Shareholder returns. Returned $25M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2026 — 100% of free cash flow. That is $35,000 (0.1%) more than free cash flow covered. It came out of the balance sheet's own liquid holdings, not new debt: cash fell $1M over FY2026. Counting the $3M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 114%.

Key fundamentals

Latest Revenue$739.5M

Revenue Growth YoY+14.2%

Revenue CAGR (2yr)+18.2%

Net Margin4.0%

Free Cash Flow$24.8M

Return on Equity7.9%

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Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Nov 8, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.

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