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Forensic Analysis · Plastics Products · as of Nov 9, 2026

Karat Packaging Inc. (KRT)

A forensic read on Karat Packaging 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
4.9
Distress distance
1
Forensic signals
20.6%
ROE
10.7%
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.

Karat Packaging Inc. earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 4.9, placing it in the Safe zone. 1 forensic signal was flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by shareholder returns.

What the filings flag

118% of FCF
FY2025
Shareholder returns. Returned $39M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 118% of free cash flow. That is $6M (18%) more than free cash flow covered, and more than operating cash flow as well. It came out of the balance sheet's own liquid holdings, not new debt: cash and short-term investments fell $22M over FY2025, while total debt fell $13M. A payout past free cash flow draws the balance sheet down in every year it continues, which isn't sustainable indefinitely. Counting the $1M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 122%.

Key fundamentals

Latest Revenue$467.7M
Revenue Growth YoY+10.7%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+7.4%
Net Margin6.7%
Free Cash Flow$33.1M
Return on Equity20.6%
Debt / Equity0.24x

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Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Nov 9, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.

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