Forensic Analysis · Grocery & Drugstore · as of Nov 9, 2026
Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. (SFM)
A forensic read on Sprouts Farmers Market, 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
Grey Zone
Financial health
2.0
Distress distance
2
Forensic signals
38.4%
ROE
14.1%
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.
Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc. earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 2.0, placing it in the Grey zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by accruals ratio (% of NOA).
What the filings flag
+14.3%
FY2024→FY2025
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +14.3% relative to their own average in FY2025 — 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 $121,000 through acquisitions (increase in goodwill and intangibles); that purchase is investing and is excluded from this ratio. The build is led by receivables up +111% against revenue +14% and inventory up +24% against +13% in cost of sales. A cash-flow measure on the same base disagrees: reported earnings ran behind operating cash by 17% of net operating assets, against an accruals ratio of 14.3%. 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.
101% of FCF
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $472M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 101% of free cash flow. That is $4M (0.9%) more than free cash flow covered. The balance sheet covered it: cash fell $8M and total debt rose $74M over FY2025. That ratio has been CLIMBING past free cash flow — 85% of free cash flow two years back — not just sitting there. Counting the $31M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 108%.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$8.81B
Revenue Growth YoY+14.1%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+13.5%
Net Margin5.9%
Free Cash Flow$467.7M
Return on Equity38.4%
Debt / Equity0.06x
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 Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?