Forensic Analysis · Technology / Software · as of Aug 7, 2026
Palo Alto Networks Inc (PANW)
A forensic read on Palo Alto Networks 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
Safe
Financial health
13.2
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
4
Forensic signals
347.6
P / E (ttm)
14.5%
ROE
$310.5B
Market cap
14.9%
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.
Palo Alto Networks Inc earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 13.2, placing it in the Safe zone. 4 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by accruals ratio (% of noa).
What the filings flag
+41.8%
FY2024→FY2025
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +41.8% relative to their own average in FY2025 — 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 receivables up +13% against revenue +15%. 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 56% of net operating assets, diverging from the balance-sheet accrual read.
6.6%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 6.6% in the latest fiscal year and rising from -8% — well below its ~10% cost of capital, so reinvested dollars may be destroying value, not building it.
stopped
FY2024→FY2025
Shareholder returns — halted.Capital returns have STOPPED — $567M of buybacks + dividends in FY2024, but ~$0 in FY2025. A halt usually means the company is conserving cash.
n/m (stock split)
FY2022–FY2025
Share count (stock split).Diluted share count changed +140% over the last 3 years to FY2025, but that includes a large one-time change around FY2023 consistent with a stock split or reverse split, not gradual buybacks or issuance — a split changes the count with NO effect on any holder's proportional ownership, so the raw +33.9%/yr figure isn't a real buyback/dilution read here.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$9.22B
Revenue Growth YoY+14.9%
Revenue CAGR (3yr)+18.8%
Net Margin12.3%
Free Cash Flow$3.47B
Return on Equity14.5%
The forensic grade and screens above are free — no account needed. Want the AI investment read on top — the 0–100 rating, thesis, bull-vs-bear, red flags and the 12-month scenario, written from Palo Alto Networks Inc's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?