Forensic Analysis · Paper & Forest Products · as of Nov 8, 2026
Sylvamo Corp (SLVM)
A forensic read on Sylvamo Corp 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
Clean
Earnings quality
3
Forensic signals
14.6%
ROE
-11.2%
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.
Sylvamo Corp earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 5.0, placing it in the Safe zone. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by accruals ratio (% of NOA).
What the filings flag
+11.0%
FY2024→FY2025
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +11.0% 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 $3.0M through acquisitions (increase in goodwill and intangibles); that purchase is investing and is excluded from this ratio. The build is led by inventory up +16% against -11% in revenue and PP&E up +11% against revenue -11%. A cash-flow measure on the same base disagrees: reported earnings ran behind operating cash by 9% of net operating assets, against an accruals ratio of 11.0%. 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.
9.1%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 9.1% in the latest fiscal year, against 15.2% in FY2023, having run between 9.1% and 18.1% across FY2023–FY2025 with no direction held. After-tax operating profit was $302M in FY2023 and $166M in FY2025, with operating income at 11.9% of revenue in FY2023, 12.0% in FY2024 and 7.5% in FY2025. The capital base behind it went from $2.0B in FY2023 to $1.8B in FY2025 (-7%), while the revenue it carried went from $3.7B to $3.4B.
352% of FCF
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $155M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 352% of free cash flow, but 58% of operating cash flow. Returns run ahead of free cash flow, with the gap funded by debt or cash reserves rather than the cash the business itself throws off; the payout itself is still covered by operating cash. Counting the $18M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 393%.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$3.35B
Revenue Growth YoY-11.2%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)-5.1%
Net Margin3.9%
Free Cash Flow$44.0M
Return on Equity14.6%
Debt / Equity0.81x
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 Sylvamo Corp's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?