Forensic Analysis · Energy / Oil & Gas · as of Nov 8, 2026
LandBridge Corp (LB)
A forensic read on LandBridge 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
Grey Zone
Financial health
1.5
Distress distance
Watch
Earnings quality
4
Forensic signals
10.9%
ROE
81.1%
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.
LandBridge Corp earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 1.5, placing it in the Grey zone. 4 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by accruals ratio (% of NOA).
What the filings flag
+21.7%
FY2024→FY2025
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +21.7% 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, and much of it is accounted for. Net operating assets also rose $91.7M 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 +20% against revenue +81%. That build tracks a +81% revenue year: net operating assets grew +26%, so the balance sheet is carrying more volume rather than getting heavier per dollar of sales — the accrual build is funding demand the company is shipping, not earnings running ahead of collection. A cash-flow measure on the same base disagrees: reported earnings ran behind operating cash by 8% of net operating assets, against an accruals ratio of 21.7%. 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.
9.1%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 9.1% in the latest fiscal year, against -1.3% in FY2024. After-tax operating profit was ($13M) in FY2024 and $105M in FY2025, with operating income at -15.0% of revenue in FY2024 and 59.5% in FY2025. The capital base behind it grew +17% across FY2024–FY2025, from $981M to $1.2B, and the return did not fall doing it, so the dollars added over that window earned at least the -1.3% the older base was already earning.
+4.3%/yr
FY2024–FY2025
Share-count dilution.Diluted share count changed +4% over the last 1 year to FY2025 (+4.3%/yr). The count is growing — 73.4M shares in FY2024, 76.5M in FY2025: more stock was issued than repurchased over this window, so aggregate results grew faster than their per-share equivalents. That's ~4.3% shaved off per-share growth every year — total profit has to grow that much just to keep earnings-per-share flat, and a stake held since FY2024 has been diluted ~4%.
23% of rev
FY2025
Stock-based comp load.Stock-based compensation ran 23% of revenue and 37% of free cash flow in FY2025 — about $0.59 per diluted share. No cash left the business to pay it, which is why operating cash flow adds it back. Net of repurchases the diluted count still rose about 4.3% a year across FY2024–FY2025, above the level at which the count is a material claim on a stake, and only one year's change is on file — enough to state what a holder gave up, not enough to say whether the rate is climbing or coming down. Stock compensation is one source of that issuance; acquisition consideration, equity raises, convertibles and other employee plans also net into the count, and these figures do not separate them.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$199.1M
Revenue Growth YoY+81.1%
Net Margin15.1%
Free Cash Flow$122.0M
Return on Equity10.9%
Debt / Equity1.65x
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 LandBridge Corp's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?