Forensic Analysis · Durable-Goods Wholesale · as of Nov 11, 2026
Richardson Electronics, Ltd. (RELL)
A forensic read on Richardson Electronics, Ltd. built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
C · Mixed — selective
Forensic grade
Safe
Financial health
10.5
Distress distance
3
Forensic signals
4.0%
ROE
9.4%
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.
Richardson Electronics, Ltd. earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 10.5, 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
4.3%
FY2026
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 4.3% in the latest fiscal year, against 0.2% in FY2024, having run between -1.5% and 4.3% across FY2024–FY2026 with no direction held. After-tax operating profit was $226,200 in FY2024 and $6M in FY2026, with operating income at 0.2% of revenue in FY2024, -1.2% in FY2025 and 2.8% in FY2026. The capital base behind it went from $136M in FY2024 to $129M in FY2026 (-6%), while the revenue it carried went from $196M to $229M.
FCF ($4M)
FY2026
Shareholder returns.Returned $3M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2026, but free cash flow was ($4M) after capex — there was no free cash flow to fund the payout from at all, though operating cash flow alone was $762,000 — 451% of that. The entire return is coming from debt or cash reserves, not cash the business itself generated — a harder case than returns merely running ahead of free cash flow, since here there was none to run ahead of.
53d DSO
FY2025→FY2026
Receivables vs revenue.Days sales outstanding moved from 42 to 53 days FY2025→FY2026 (receivables +38% vs revenue +9%). Receivables are creeping up relative to sales. Across FY2024–FY2026 the day count ran 46 → 42 → 53 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 was roughly flat (+7%) over the same period, which doesn't corroborate a benign upfront-billing explanation for the receivables build. 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 3 consecutive quarters (Feb 2026 +2, May 2026 +3, Aug 2026 +4 days). In the latest of them the receivable balance grew +29% against sales +19%, 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 — FY2025's opening balance is on file, but across the 3 fiscal years read here (FY2024–FY2026) 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.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$228.6M
Revenue Growth YoY+9.4%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+7.9%
Net Margin2.8%
Free Cash Flow-$3.6M
Return on Equity4.0%
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 Richardson Electronics, Ltd.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?