Forensic Analysis · Computer Hardware · as of Nov 9, 2026
Super Micro Computer, Inc. (SMCI)
A forensic read on Super Micro Computer, Inc. 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
6.7
Distress distance
Watch
Earnings quality
6
Forensic signals
21.5%
ROE
77.8%
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.
Super Micro Computer, Inc. earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 6.7, placing it in the Safe zone. 6 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by cash conversion.
What the filings flag
-1.72×
FY2024–FY2026
Cash conversion.Over FY2024–FY2026, cumulative operating cash flow was -1.72× cumulative net income. Reported profit is not turning into cash. The shortfall is profit tied up in working capital rather than collected — the accrual and receivables lines below show where.Cash conversion: operating cash flow divided by net income, the share of profit that arrived as cash.
+144.0%
FY2025→FY2026
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +144.0% relative to their own average in FY2026 — scaled by NOA itself, not by total assets, which is what the Forensic Screens card's own accrual row divides by. Accruals are building sharply — a large slice of profit sits in operating assets, not cash. An accrual is a claim that still has to be collected or written down, so the gap resolves in a later period whichever way it goes. The build is led by receivables up +178% against revenue +78% and inventory up +176% against +78% in cost of sales. A cash-flow measure on the same base agrees: reported earnings ran ahead of operating cash by 223% of net operating assets, against an accruals ratio of 144.0%. 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.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.
+7.6%/yr
FY2024–FY2026
Share-count dilution.Diluted share count changed +16% over the last 2 years to FY2026 (+7.6%/yr). The count is growing — 602.1M shares in FY2024, 697.3M in FY2026: more stock was issued than repurchased over this window, so aggregate results grew faster than their per-share equivalents. That's ~7.6% 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 FY2024 has been diluted ~14%.
1.1% of rev
FY2026
Stock-based comp load.Stock-based compensation ran 1.1% of revenue in FY2026 — about $0.59 per diluted share. No cash left the business to pay it, which is why operating cash flow adds it back. Net of repurchases the diluted count still rose about 7.6% a year across FY2024–FY2026 and that rate is not falling, so total profit has to grow by that much annually before any of it reaches a share. Stock compensation is one source of that issuance; acquisition consideration, equity raises, convertibles and other employee plans also net into the count, and these figures do not separate them.
stopped
FY2025→FY2026
Shareholder returns — halted.Capital returns have STOPPED — $200M of buybacks + dividends in FY2025, but ~$0 in FY2026. A halt usually means the company is conserving cash.
57d DSO
FY2025→FY2026
Receivables vs revenue.Days sales outstanding moved from 37 to 57 days FY2025→FY2026 (receivables +178% vs revenue +78%). Only -172¢ of operating cash arrived for every dollar of profit reported over FY2024–FY2026 (-$7.6B against $4.4B), and the receivables balance is one of the places the rest is sitting. Across FY2024–FY2026 the day count ran 67 → 37 → 57 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. Receivables grew, but deferred revenue grew +328% over the same period too — rising alongside rising unearned revenue reads as upfront billing on multi-period contracts, not slipping collections. 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$39.06B
Revenue Growth YoY+77.8%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+61.4%
Net Margin5.7%
Free Cash Flow-$6.97B
Return on Equity21.5%
Debt / Equity0.28x
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 Super Micro Computer, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?