Forensic Analysis · Technology / Software · as of Aug 7, 2026

Microsoft Corp (MSFT)

A forensic read on Microsoft 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

15.5

Distress distance

Clean

Earnings quality

Forensic signals

27.9

P / E (ttm)

30.2%

ROE

$3.8T

Market cap

0.73%

Dividend yield

17.8%

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). 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.

Microsoft Corp earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 15.5, 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

+25.8%

FY2025→FY2026

Accruals ratio (% of NOA). Net operating assets grew +25.8% relative to their own average in FY2026 — scaled by NOA itself, not total assets (see the Forensic Screens card's differently-scaled Sloan Accrual Ratio for that read). Accruals are building sharply — a large slice of profit sits in operating assets, not cash; Richardson/Sloan link high accruals to weaker future returns as they reverse. The build is led by PP&E up +53% against revenue +18% and inventory up +49% against +21% in cost of sales. This is the third straight fiscal year of building accruals — a multi-year streak is a materially stronger tell than a single year's move. The cash-flow cross-check is more mixed: reported earnings ran behind operating cash by 12% of net operating assets, diverging from the balance-sheet accrual read.

-0.1%/yr

FY2023–FY2026

Share count. Diluted share count changed -0% over the last 3 years to FY2026 (-0.1%/yr). Roughly flat — buybacks ($22.3B) are about offsetting stock comp ($12.4B), not shrinking the count. Per-share value isn't being meaningfully helped or hurt by the count.

Key fundamentals

Latest Revenue$331.84B

Revenue Growth YoY+17.8%

Revenue CAGR (3yr)+16.1%

Net Margin40.3%

Free Cash Flow$66.99B

Return on Equity30.2%

Debt / Equity0.09x

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Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Aug 7, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.