Forensic Analysis · Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology · as of Nov 10, 2026
QuidelOrtho Corp (QDEL)
A forensic read on QuidelOrtho 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
Distress
Financial health
-0.6
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
4
Forensic signals
-46.1%
ROE
-1.9%
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 (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.
QuidelOrtho Corp earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads -0.6, placing it in the Distress zone. 4 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
-13.9%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is -13.9% in the latest fiscal year, against 1.4% in FY2023, having run between -23.1% and 1.4% across FY2023–FY2025 with no direction held. After-tax operating profit was $110M in FY2023 and ($726M) in FY2025, with operating income at 4.6% of revenue in FY2023, -70.5% in FY2024 and -33.7% in FY2025. The capital base behind it came down -32% across FY2023–FY2025, from $7.8B to $5.2B, so this return is struck on a smaller base than it started on. FY2025's operating profit carried a $701M goodwill write-off that alone took about 10.6 points off that year's return, so about 10.6 of the 15.3-point fall across FY2023–FY2025 is that charge landing in the latest year rather than the capital earning less. FY2024's operating profit carried a $1.8B goodwill write-off that alone took about 21.5 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.
stopped
FY2023→FY2025
Shareholder returns — halted.Capital returns have STOPPED — $7M of buybacks + dividends in FY2023, but ~$0 in FY2025. A halt usually means the company is conserving cash.
56d DSO
FY2024→FY2025
Receivables vs revenue.Days sales outstanding moved from 37 to 56 days FY2024→FY2025 (receivables +48% vs revenue -2%). Across FY2023–FY2025 the day count ran 37 → 37 → 56 days, so the latest reading sits on top of a record that was flat or falling before it — one year's move, not a direction the business has been travelling in. Deferred revenue grew +13% over the same period, which accounts for part of the balance but not for a day count that widened against the same quarters a year earlier. Measured against the same quarter twelve months earlier — like-for-like on the calendar, so an ordinary seasonal build cannot produce it — receivables took longer to collect in 7 consecutive quarters (Mar 2025 +3, Jun 2025 +2, Sep 2025 +13, Dec 2025 +16, Mar 2026 +15, Jun 2026 +10, Sep 2026 +5 days). In the latest of them the receivable balance grew -3% against sales -12%, so more of a quarter's billings were still outstanding at the period end than a year earlier — money the company has recognized and not yet been paid. Both figures are measured on period-end balances rather than the beginning-plus-ending average, because averaging needs the balance a year before every reading — FY2024's opening balance is on file, but across the 3 fiscal years read here (FY2023–FY2025) the average yields only 2 day counts (1 step), too few to tell a climb from one year's move.DSO (days sales outstanding): the average days the company waits to collect cash after a sale.
$2.5B
FY2024–FY2025
Goodwill impairments.Took $2.5B of goodwill writedowns across 2 years (FY2024 ($1.8B), FY2025 ($701M)). Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$2.73B
Revenue Growth YoY-1.9%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)-4.6%
Net Margin-41.5%
Free Cash Flow-$83.0M
Return on Equity-46.1%
Debt / Equity1.38x
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 QuidelOrtho Corp's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?