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Forensic Analysis · Machinery & Fabricated Metal Products · as of Nov 9, 2026

Lincoln Electric Holdings Inc (LECO)

A forensic read on Lincoln Electric Holdings Inc built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.

A · High-quality, not compounding
Forensic grade
Safe
Financial health
7.0
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
1
Forensic signals
37.2%
ROE
5.6%
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.

Lincoln Electric Holdings Inc earns an A (High-quality, not compounding) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 7.0, placing it in the Safe zone. 1 forensic signal was flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by shareholder returns.

What the filings flag

95% of FCF
FY2025
Shareholder returns. Returned $507M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 95% 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 been CLIMBING toward the limit — 60% of free cash flow two years back — not just sitting there. Counting the $20M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 99%.

Key fundamentals

Latest Revenue$4.23B
Revenue Growth YoY+5.6%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+0.5%
Net Margin12.3%
Free Cash Flow$534.2M
Return on Equity37.2%
Debt / Equity0.88x

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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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