Forensic Analysis · Media / Entertainment / Streaming · as of Aug 10, 2026

News Corp (NWS)

A forensic read on News Corp 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

Safe

Financial health

3.8

Distress distance

Clean

Earnings quality

Forensic signals

29.7

P / E (ttm)

6.7%

ROE

$17.8B

Market cap

0.67%

Dividend yield

6.8%

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.

News Corp earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 3.8, placing it in the Safe zone. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by goodwill impairments.

What the filings flag

$1.1B

FY2020–FY2024

Goodwill impairments. Took $1.1B of goodwill writedowns across 2 years (FY2020 ($1.1B), FY2024 ($9M)) — about 1118% of net income over the span. A large writedown means an acquisition turned out worth far less than was paid — a real mark against M&A discipline.

7.0%

FY2026

Return on invested capital. Return on invested capital is 7.0% in the latest fiscal year and rising from 2% — slightly below its ~9% cost of capital — reinvestment is roughly a wash.

104% of FCF

FY2026

Shareholder returns. Returned $845M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2026 — 104% of free cash flow. Right at the limit of what free cash flow covers — little room before it's funded by debt or the balance sheet. That ratio has been CLIMBING toward the limit — 56% of free cash flow a few years back — not just sitting there. Counting the $77M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 114%.

Key fundamentals

Latest Revenue$9.03B

Revenue Growth YoY+6.8%

Revenue CAGR (3yr)+4.1%

Net Margin6.3%

Free Cash Flow$811.0M

Return on Equity6.7%

Debt / Equity0.23x

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Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Aug 10, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.