Forensic Analysis · Communication Services / Telecom · as of Jun 27, 2026
NETGEAR, INC. (NTGR)
A forensic read on NETGEAR, INC. built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
D · Weak — demands caution
Forensic grade
Grey Zone
Financial health
2.5
Altman Z-score
Clean
Earnings quality
5
Forensic signals
-5.0%
ROE
$613M
Market cap
NETGEAR, INC. earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its Altman Z-score is 2.5, placing it in the Grey zone. 5 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
-7%Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is -7% and rising from -12% — well below its ~8% cost of capital, so reinvested dollars may be destroying value, not building it.
+12.3%Accruals ratio.Net operating assets grew +12.3% relative to their average in FY2025 — the accrual component of earnings. Accruals are building faster than is comfortable — part of profit sits in receivables, inventory or capitalized costs rather than cash. The cash-flow cross-check agrees: reported earnings ran behind operating cash by -7% of net operating assets.
149dInventory days.Days inventory outstanding moved from 124 to 149 FY2024→FY2025 (against cost of goods sold; inventory +9% vs -9% in cost of sales). Inventory is building a little faster than sales — watch for markdowns.
-0.5%/yrShare-count dilution.Diluted share count changed -1% over the last 3 years to FY2025 (-0.5%/yr). Roughly flat — buybacks are about offsetting stock comp, not shrinking the count. Per-share value isn't being meaningfully helped or hurt by the count.
$44MGoodwill impairments.Took $44M of goodwill writedowns across 1 year(s) (FY2022 ($44M)). Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them — worth weighing on capital-allocation skill.
Key fundamentals
Net Margin-2.6%
Free Cash Flow$-18.9M
Latest Revenue$699.6M
Return on Equity-3.6%
Revenue Growth YoY+3.8%
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 NETGEAR, INC.:
🔒The written investment read — what the numbers mean, in plain English
🔒Ask anything about NTGR'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