Cheniere Energy, Inc. (LNG) Stock — Forensic Analysis, Red Flags & Rating | Stockonomy · Stockonomy
Forensic Analysis · Energy / Oil & Gas · as of Sep 24, 2026
Cheniere Energy, Inc. (LNG)
A forensic read on Cheniere Energy, 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
3.8
Distress distance
Watch
Earnings quality
2
Forensic signals
19.0
P / E (ttm)
67.3%
ROE
$56.5B
Market cap
0.97%
Dividend yield
27.2%
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, going concern, valuation). 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.
Cheniere Energy, Inc. earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 3.8, 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
+13.7%
FY2024→FY2025
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +13.7% 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 faster than is comfortable — part of profit is sitting in the balance sheet rather than turning to cash. The build is led by receivables up +87% against revenue +27% and payables paid down 28% against +27% in revenue. A cash-flow measure on the same base disagrees: reported earnings ran in line with operating cash by 1% of net operating assets, against an accruals ratio of 13.7%. 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.
129% of FCF
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $3.2B to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 129% of free cash flow, but 57% of operating cash flow. Returns run ahead of free cash flow because the business is also funding heavy growth capex (usually debt-financed); the payout itself is covered by operating cash — sustainable as long as that spending is genuine expansion, not upkeep. Counting the $161M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 136%.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$19.98B
Revenue Growth YoY+27.2%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)-1.0%
Net Margin26.7%
Free Cash Flow$2.46B
Return on Equity67.3%
Debt / Equity2.91x
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 Cheniere Energy, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?