Forensic Analysis · Primary Metals & Steel · as of Nov 9, 2026
Kaiser Aluminum Corp (KALU)
A forensic read on Kaiser Aluminum Corp 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
3.3
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
2
Forensic signals
14.3%
ROE
11.5%
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 (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.
Kaiser Aluminum Corp earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 3.3, placing it in the Safe zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by shareholder returns.
What the filings flag
FCF ($26M)
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $51M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025, but free cash flow was ($26M) after capex — there was no free cash flow to fund the payout from at all, though operating cash flow alone was $111M — 46% of that. Capex and the payout together ran $77M past operating cash flow — a harder case than returns merely running ahead of free cash flow, since here there was none to run ahead of. The balance sheet covered it: cash fell $11M and total debt rose $18M over FY2025 — $29M of the $77M. The FY2025 cash-flow statement filed $631M of debt repaid; $53M from sales of property and equipment; net cash used in investing activities of $78M; net cash used in financing activities of $45M.
6.9%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 6.9% in the latest fiscal year, against 5.5% in FY2023, having run between 4.4% and 6.9% across FY2023–FY2025 with no direction held. After-tax operating profit was $100M in FY2023 and $142M in FY2025, with operating income at 4.0% of revenue in FY2023, 3.7% in FY2024 and 5.6% in FY2025. The capital base behind it grew +14% across FY2023–FY2025, from $1.8B to $2.1B, and the return did not fall doing it, so the dollars added over that window earned at least the 5.5% the older base was already earning.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$3.37B
Revenue Growth YoY+11.5%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+4.5%
Net Margin3.3%
Free Cash Flow-$25.5M
Return on Equity14.3%
Debt / Equity1.28x
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 Kaiser Aluminum Corp's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?