Forensic Analysis · Retail / Consumer Discretionary · as of Nov 9, 2026
Pricesmart Inc (PSMT)
A forensic read on Pricesmart 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
3.9
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
3
Forensic signals
12.3%
ROE
11.5%
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.
Pricesmart Inc earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 3.9, placing it in the Safe zone. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by accruals ratio (% of NOA).
What the filings flag
+16.1%
FY2025→FY2026
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +16.1% relative to their own average in FY2026 — scaled by NOA itself, not by total assets, which is what the Forensic Screens card's own accrual row divides by. Accruals are building faster than is comfortable — part of profit is sitting in the balance sheet rather than turning to cash. Net operating assets also rose $48,000 through acquisitions (increase in goodwill and intangibles); that purchase is investing and is excluded from this ratio. The build is led by PP&E up +19% against revenue +12% and inventory up +10% against +11% in cost of sales. A cash-flow measure on the same base disagrees: reported earnings ran behind operating cash by 11% of net operating assets, against an accruals ratio of 16.1%. The two are computed differently: the accruals ratio is the change in net operating assets over average net operating assets, while the cash-flow figure is net income less operating cash flow over that same average. Read them as two results, not one.Accruals ratio: the year-over-year change in net operating assets, relative to their own average.NOA (net operating assets): the money tied up in running the business, operating assets minus operating liabilities.
13.0%
FY2026
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 13.0% in the latest fiscal year and rising across FY2024–FY2026 from 11.5%. After-tax operating profit was $144M in FY2024 and $191M in FY2026, with operating income at 4.5% of revenue in FY2024, 4.4% in FY2025 and 4.4% in FY2026. The capital base behind it grew +17% across FY2024–FY2026, from $1.3B to $1.5B, and the return did not fall doing it, so the dollars added over that window earned at least the 11.5% the older base was already earning.
-42%
FY2024→FY2025
Dividend — cut.The payout was CUT ~42% in FY2025 (from FY2024). It still returns some cash, but it is NOT the dependable, rising dividend an unbroken streak implies.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$5.88B
Revenue Growth YoY+11.5%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+9.4%
Net Margin2.8%
Free Cash Flow$96.4M
Return on Equity12.3%
Debt / Equity0.12x
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 Pricesmart Inc's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?