Forensic Analysis · Nonmetallic Mineral Mining & Quarrying · as of Nov 9, 2026
Knife River Corp (KNF)
A forensic read on Knife River 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
3.4
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
2
Forensic signals
10.1%
ROE
8.5%
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.
Knife River Corp earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 3.4, placing it in the Safe zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by accruals ratio (% of NOA).
What the filings flag
+25.4%
FY2024→FY2025
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +25.4% 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 sharply — a large slice of profit sits in operating assets, not cash. An accrual is a claim that still has to be collected or written down, so the gap resolves in a later period whichever way it goes. Net operating assets also rose $225.7M through acquisitions (increase in goodwill and intangibles); that purchase is investing and is excluded from this ratio. The build is led by PP&E up +41% against revenue +9% and inventory up +15% against +10% in cost of sales. A cash-flow measure on the same base disagrees: reported earnings ran behind operating cash by 5% of net operating assets, against an accruals ratio of 25.4%. 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.
7.7%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 7.7% in the latest fiscal year and slipping across FY2023–FY2025 from 10.8%. After-tax operating profit was $221M in FY2023 and $211M in FY2025, with operating income at 10.5% of revenue in FY2023, 10.9% in FY2024 and 9.1% in FY2025. The capital base behind it grew +34% across FY2023–FY2025, from $2.0B to $2.7B, while the return fell 3.1 points, so the dollars added over that window earned less than the 10.8% the older base was already earning.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$3.15B
Revenue Growth YoY+8.5%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+5.4%
Net Margin5.0%
Free Cash Flow-$69.6M
Return on Equity10.1%
Debt / Equity0.71x
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