Forensic Analysis · Marine Freight · as of Nov 9, 2026
Matson, Inc. (MATX)
A forensic read on Matson, 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 compounder
Forensic grade
Safe
Financial health
3.9
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
2
Forensic signals
16.4%
ROE
-2.3%
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.
Matson, Inc. earns an A (High-quality compounder) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 3.9, placing it in the Safe zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
10.7%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 10.7% in the latest fiscal year and rising across FY2023–FY2025 from 7.5%. After-tax operating profit was $273M in FY2023 and $416M in FY2025, with operating income at 11.1% of revenue in FY2023, 16.1% in FY2024 and 14.9% in FY2025. The capital base behind it went from $3.6B in FY2023 to $3.9B in FY2025 (+7%), while the revenue it carried went from $3.1B to $3.3B. Across FY2024–FY2025, $704M went into capital expenditure against $294M of depreciation excluding $26M of intangible-asset amortisation. The base is struck net of amortisation, write-downs and the current liabilities that fund it, so it moved by less than that spending net of the wear, and this row does not say which of those absorbed the difference.
227% of FCF
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $348M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 227% of free cash flow, but 64% 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 $23M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 241%.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$3.34B
Revenue Growth YoY-2.3%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+4.0%
Net Margin13.3%
Free Cash Flow$153.7M
Return on Equity16.4%
Debt / Equity0.13x
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 Matson, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?