Forensic Analysis · Electrical Equipment · as of Nov 8, 2026
Lsi Industries Inc (LYTS)
A forensic read on Lsi Industries 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
Grey Zone
Financial health
2.6
Distress distance
4
Forensic signals
7.6%
ROE
20.2%
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 (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.
Lsi Industries Inc earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 2.6, placing it in the Grey zone. 4 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
5.7%
FY2026
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 5.7% in the latest fiscal year and slipping across FY2024–FY2026 from 10.0%. After-tax operating profit was $27M in FY2024 and $28M in FY2026, with operating income at 7.6% of revenue in FY2024, 6.2% in FY2025 and 5.6% in FY2026. The capital base behind it grew +81% across FY2024–FY2026, from $269M to $487M, while the return fell 4.3 points, so the dollars added over that window earned less than the 10.0% the older base was already earning.
+5.9%/yr
FY2024–FY2026
Share-count dilution.Diluted share count changed +12% over the last 2 years to FY2026 (+5.9%/yr). The count is growing — 30.1M shares in FY2024, 33.7M in FY2026: more stock was issued than repurchased over this window, so aggregate results grew faster than their per-share equivalents. That's ~5.9% 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 ~11%.
0.6% of rev
FY2026
Stock-based comp load.Stock-based compensation ran 0.6% of revenue and 10% of free cash flow in FY2026 — about $0.12 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 5.9% a year across FY2024–FY2026 and that rate is not falling, so total profit has to grow by that much annually before any of it reaches a share. 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.
+16.4%
FY2025→FY2026
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +16.4% 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 faster than is comfortable — part of profit is sitting in the balance sheet rather than turning to cash. Net operating assets also rose $254.7M through acquisitions (increase in goodwill and intangibles); that purchase is investing and is excluded from this ratio. The build is led by receivables up +45% against revenue +20% and inventory up +41% against +20% in cost of sales. A cash-flow measure on the same base disagrees: reported earnings ran in line with operating cash by 5% of net operating assets, against an accruals ratio of 16.4%. 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.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$689.4M
Revenue Growth YoY+20.2%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+21.2%
Net Margin3.3%
Free Cash Flow$39.0M
Return on Equity7.6%
Debt / Equity0.71x
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 Lsi Industries Inc's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?