Forensic Analysis · Industrials / Manufacturing / Defense · as of Jun 27, 2026
Rocket Lab Corp (RKLB)
A forensic read on Rocket Lab 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
Safe
Financial health
3.8
Altman Z-score
Clean
Earnings quality
4
Forensic signals
-12.3%
ROE
$48.9B
Market cap
Rocket Lab Corp earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its Altman Z-score is 3.8, placing it in the Safe zone. 4 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by accruals ratio.
What the filings flag
+136.9%Accruals ratio.Net operating assets grew +136.9% relative to their average in FY2025 — the accrual component of earnings. Accruals are building sharply — a large slice of profit sits in operating assets, not cash; Richardson/Sloan link high accruals to weaker future returns as they reverse. The cash-flow cross-check agrees: reported earnings ran behind operating cash by -6% of net operating assets.
-16%Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is -16% and rising from -18% — well below its ~9% cost of capital, so reinvested dollars may be destroying value, not building it.
+4.6%/yrShare-count dilution.Diluted share count changed +14% over the last 3 years to FY2025 (+4.6%/yr). The count is GROWING — existing holders are being diluted. That's ~4.6% shaved off per-share growth every year — total profit has to grow that much just to keep earnings-per-share flat, and a stake held since FY2022 has been diluted ~14%.
147dInventory days.Days inventory outstanding moved from 136 to 147 FY2024→FY2025 (against cost of goods sold; inventory +33% vs +23% in cost of sales). Inventory is building a little faster than sales — watch for markdowns.
Key fundamentals
Net Margin-32.9%
Debt / Equity0.00x
Free Cash Flow$-321.8M
Latest Revenue$601.8M
Return on Equity-11.5%
Revenue Growth YoY+38.0%
Go deeper — free with an account
The forensic grade and screens above are free — no account needed. An account adds the full interactive deep-dive on Rocket Lab Corp:
🔒The written investment read — what the numbers mean, in plain English
🔒Ask anything about RKLB's filings — AI Q&A across the 10-K, 10-Qs & 8-Ks
🔒Interactive valuation — reverse-DCF sliders, Monte Carlo & scenario stress
🔒Calibrated 12-month price forecast, with the math shown