Forensic Analysis · Healthcare / Pharmaceuticals / Biotech · as of Jun 27, 2026
NEKTAR THERAPEUTICS (NKTR)
A forensic read on NEKTAR THERAPEUTICS built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
F · Poor — capital at risk
Forensic grade
Distress
Financial health
-41.6
Altman Z-score
Clean
Earnings quality
5
Forensic signals
-45.8%
ROE
$2.2B
Market cap
NEKTAR THERAPEUTICS earns a F (Poor — capital at risk) forensic quality grade, and its Altman Z-score is -41.6, placing it in the Distress zone. 5 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by accruals ratio.
What the filings flag
+127.7%Accruals ratio.Net operating assets grew +127.7% relative to their average in FY2025 — the accrual component of earnings. 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 cash-flow cross-check agrees: reported earnings ran ahead of operating cash by +97% of net operating assets.
-52%Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is -52% and steady — well below its ~10% cost of capital, so reinvested dollars may be destroying value, not building it.
stoppedShareholder returns — halted.Capital returns have STOPPED — $3M of buybacks + dividends in FY2024, but ~$0 in FY2025. A halt usually means the company is conserving cash; understand why before reading it as neutral.
23% of revStock-based comp load.Stock-based compensation ran 23% of revenue in FY2025 — about $0.75 per diluted share. Meaningful — reported free cash flow flatters the economics, since SBC is a real cost paid in shares.
$77MGoodwill impairments.Took $77M of goodwill writedowns across 1 year(s) (FY2023 ($77M)). Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them — worth weighing on capital-allocation skill.
Key fundamentals
Net Margin-297.1%
Debt / Equity1.49x
Free Cash Flow$-208.7M
Latest Revenue$55.2M
Return on Equity-182.6%
Revenue Growth YoY-43.9%
Go deeper — free with an account
The forensic grade and screens above are free — no account needed. An account adds the full interactive deep-dive on NEKTAR THERAPEUTICS:
🔒The written investment read — what the numbers mean, in plain English
🔒Ask anything about NKTR's filings — AI Q&A across the 10-K, 10-Qs & 8-Ks
🔒Interactive valuation — reverse-DCF sliders, Monte Carlo & scenario stress
🔒Calibrated 12-month price forecast, with the math shown