Forensic Analysis · Software & SaaS · as of Nov 9, 2026
Snowflake Inc. (SNOW)
A forensic read on Snowflake 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
Distress
Financial health
-3.2
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
2
Forensic signals
-54.1%
ROE
29.2%
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.
Snowflake Inc. earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads -3.2, placing it in the Distress zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
-45.5%
FY2026
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is -45.5% in the latest fiscal year and slipping across FY2024–FY2026 from -23.2%. After-tax operating profit was ($865M) in FY2024 and ($1.1B) in FY2026, with operating income at -39.0% of revenue in FY2024, -40.2% in FY2025 and -30.6% in FY2026. The capital base behind it came down -33% across FY2024–FY2026, from $3.7B to $2.5B, so this return is struck on a smaller base than it started on. $2.3B of the $2.5B base at FY2026 is short-term investments and long-term marketable securities (92.7%) — securities held beside cash, which the base keeps because only cash is subtracted from it; they earn the balance sheet's yield, which is not in the operating profit above, so the loss on the operating capital is larger than this rate shows.
n/m (sign flip)
FY2025→FY2026
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets flipped from positive to negative FY2025→FY2026 (FY2025 $+377.8M to FY2026 $-904.1M) — the standard accruals ratio divides by the average of the two, which collapses toward zero right as the sign changes, so the resulting percentage is a denominator artifact, not a real accrual measurement. Treat this as a structural balance-sheet shift to understand on its own terms rather than a clean or dirty accruals read.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.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$4.68B
Revenue Growth YoY+29.2%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+29.2%
Net Margin-28.4%
Free Cash Flow$1.12B
Return on Equity-54.1%
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 Snowflake Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?