Forensic Analysis · General / Diversified · as of Jun 27, 2026

NEWELL BRANDS INC. (NWL)

A forensic read on NEWELL BRANDS 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

Distress

Financial health

-0.5

Altman Z-score

Clean

Earnings quality

Forensic signals

-11.1%

ROE

$2.5B

Market cap

5.47%

Dividend yield

NEWELL BRANDS INC. earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its Altman Z-score is -0.5, placing it in the Distress zone. 6 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by receivables vs revenue.

What the filings flag

50d DSOReceivables vs revenue. Days sales outstanding moved from 42 to 50 days FY2024→FY2025 (receivables +12% vs revenue -5%). Receivables are outrunning sales — a flag for aggressive revenue recognition or slipping collections.

0%Return on invested capital. Return on invested capital is 0% and slipping from 3% — well below its ~9% cost of capital, so reinvested dollars may be destroying value, not building it.

1% of revStock-based comp load. Stock-based compensation ran 1% of revenue and 400% of free cash flow in FY2025 — about $0.16 per diluted share. Heavy — a large slice of 'free cash flow' is really being paid out in stock, so the true owner cash per share is well below the headline.

+0.1%/yrShare-count dilution. Diluted share count changed +0% over the last 3 years to FY2025 (+0.1%/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.

706% of FCFShareholder returns. Returned $120M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 706% of free cash flow, but 45% 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.

$777MGoodwill impairments. Took $777M of goodwill writedowns across 4 year(s) (FY2020 ($212M), FY2022 ($164M), FY2023 ($241M)). Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them — worth weighing on capital-allocation skill.

Key fundamentals

Net Margin-4.0%

Debt / Equity1.95x

Free Cash Flow$17.0M

Latest Revenue$7.20B

Return on Equity-11.9%

Revenue Growth YoY-5.0%

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Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Jun 27, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.