Lam Research Corp (LRCX) Stock — Forensic Analysis, Red Flags & Rating | Stockonomy · Stockonomy
Forensic Analysis · Industrials / Manufacturing / Defense · as of Sep 24, 2026
Lam Research Corp (LRCX)
A forensic read on Lam Research 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
Safe
Financial health
22.5
Distress distance
Watch
Earnings quality
2
Forensic signals
46.6
P / E (ttm)
58.3%
ROE
$384.5B
Market cap
1.11%
Dividend yield
26.0%
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.
Lam Research Corp earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 22.5, 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
+28.8%
FY2025→FY2026
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +28.8% relative to their own average in FY2026 — 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 — a large slice of profit sits in operating assets, not cash. An accrual is a claim that still has to be collected or written down, so the gap resolves in a later period whichever way it goes. The build is led by receivables up +58% against revenue +26%. A cash-flow measure on the same base agrees: reported earnings ran ahead of operating cash by 15% of net operating assets, against an accruals ratio of 28.8%. 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.
105% of FCF
FY2026
Shareholder returns.Returned $5.1B to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2026 — 105% of free cash flow. That is $231M (5%) more than free cash flow covered. It came out of the balance sheet's own liquid holdings, not new debt: cash fell $811M over FY2026, while total debt fell $747M. That ratio has been CLIMBING past free cash flow — 91% of free cash flow two years back — not just sitting there. Counting the $386M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 113%.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$23.23B
Revenue Growth YoY+26.0%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+24.9%
Net Margin31.3%
Free Cash Flow$4.89B
Return on Equity58.3%
Debt / Equity0.30x
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 Lam Research Corp's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?