Forensic Analysis · Energy / Oil & Gas · as of Aug 11, 2026

Quaker Chemical Corp (KWR)

A forensic read on Quaker Chemical Corp 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

Safe

Financial health

4.3

Distress distance

Clean

Earnings quality

Forensic signals

683.2

P / E (ttm)

-0.2%

ROE

$2.9B

Market cap

1.27%

Dividend yield

2.7%

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 (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.

Quaker Chemical Corp earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 4.2, placing it in the Safe zone. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.

What the filings flag

1.5%

FY2025

Return on invested capital. Return on invested capital is 1.5% in the latest fiscal year and steady — well below its ~8% cost of capital, so reinvested dollars may be destroying value, not building it.

$182M

FY2022–FY2025

Goodwill impairments. Took $182M of goodwill writedowns across 2 years (FY2022 ($93M), FY2025 ($89M)) — about 86% of net income over the span. A large writedown means an acquisition turned out worth far less than was paid — a real mark against M&A discipline.

94% of FCF

FY2025

Shareholder returns. Returned $76M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 94% of free cash flow. Right at the limit of what free cash flow covers — little room before it's funded by debt or the balance sheet. That ratio has actually been EASING, not tightening further — down from ~227% of free cash flow a few years back. Counting the $14M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 111%.

Key fundamentals

Latest Revenue$1.89B

Revenue Growth YoY+2.7%

Revenue CAGR (3yr)-1.0%

Net Margin-0.1%

Free Cash Flow$80.6M

Return on Equity-0.2%

Debt / Equity0.63x

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Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Aug 11, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.