Forensic Analysis · Packaged Foods · as of Nov 9, 2026

Smithfield Foods Inc (SFD)

A forensic read on Smithfield Foods 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

5.0

Distress distance

Forensic signals

15.6%

ROE

9.8%

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.

Smithfield Foods Inc earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 5.0, placing it in the Safe zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.

What the filings flag

11.6%

FY2025

Return on invested capital. Return on invested capital is 11.6% in the latest fiscal year and rising across FY2023–FY2025 from -0.4%. After-tax operating profit was ($44M) in FY2023 and $1.0B in FY2025, with operating income at -0.4% of revenue in FY2023, 7.9% in FY2024 and 8.3% in FY2025. The capital base behind it came down -15% across FY2023–FY2025, from $10.2B to $8.7B, so this return is struck on a smaller base than it started on. FY2023's operating profit carried a $108M restructuring charge and a $1M asset write-down that alone took about 0.8 points off that year's return, so about 0.8 of the 12.0-point rise across FY2023–FY2025 is that charge leaving the base year rather than the capital earning more. A non-cash write-down lowers the reported return in the year it lands.

-11%

FY2023→FY2024

Dividend — cut. The payout was CUT ~11% in FY2024 (from FY2023). It still returns some cash, but it is NOT the dependable, rising dividend an unbroken streak implies.

Key fundamentals

Latest Revenue$15.53B

Revenue Growth YoY+9.8%

Revenue CAGR (2yr)+3.0%

Net Margin6.4%

Free Cash Flow$718.0M

Return on Equity15.6%

Debt / Equity0.29x

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Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Nov 9, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.

See a wrong number? Report an error with the filing it should match.