Forensic Analysis · Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology · as of Nov 7, 2026
Pfizer Inc (PFE)
A forensic read on Pfizer Inc built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
B · Sound & dependable
Forensic grade
Safe
Financial health
3.0
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
3
Forensic signals
8.9%
ROE
-1.6%
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 (auditor quality, say on pay, board independence, going concern). 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.
Pfizer Inc earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 3.0, placing it in the Safe zone. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
5.3%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 5.3% in the latest fiscal year and rising across FY2023–FY2025 from 1.7%. After-tax operating profit was $2.9B in FY2023 and $9.2B in FY2025. The capital base behind it went from $178.1B in FY2023 to $173.1B in FY2025 (-3%), while the revenue it carried went from $59.6B to $62.6B. FY2023's operating profit carried a $3.0B asset write-down and a $2.0B restructuring charge that took about 2.5 points off that year's return, and FY2025's carried a $4.9B asset write-down and a $1.1B restructuring charge that took about 3.1 points off the latest; so, net of each other, the two charges take about 0.6 points off the +3.6-point change across FY2023–FY2025. FY2024's operating profit carried a $3.3B asset write-down and a $2.0B restructuring charge that alone took about 2.7 points off that year's return; FY2024 sits between the two ends of FY2023–FY2025, so the charge shapes the path between them without moving the change across it. A non-cash write-down lowers the reported return in the year it lands.
244d
FY2024→FY2025
Inventory days.Days inventory outstanding moved from 215 to 244 FY2024→FY2025 (against cost of goods sold; inventory -2% vs -10% in cost of sales). Inventory did not fall as fast as cost of sales, so days on hand lengthened — watch for markdowns.
108% of FCF
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $9.8B to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 108% of free cash flow. That is $696M (8%) more than free cash flow covered. The balance sheet covered it: cash, short-term investments and long-term marketable securities fell $1.6B and total debt rose $3.5B over FY2025. That ratio has actually been EASING, not tightening further — down from ~193% of free cash flow two years back. Counting the $799M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 116%.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$62.58B
Revenue Growth YoY-1.6%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+2.5%
Net Margin12.4%
Free Cash Flow$9.07B
Return on Equity8.9%
Debt / Equity0.75x
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 Pfizer Inc's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?