Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. (SPB) Stock — Forensic Analysis, Red Flags & Rating | Stockonomy · Stockonomy
Forensic Analysis · Industrials / Manufacturing / Defense · as of Sep 24, 2026
Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. (SPB)
A forensic read on Spectrum Brands Holdings, 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
5.1
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
4
Forensic signals
25.0
P / E (ttm)
5.2%
ROE
$2.0B
Market cap
2.54%
Dividend yield
-5.2%
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 (red flags, auditor quality, say on pay, board independence, going concern, valuation). 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.
Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 5.1, placing it in the Safe zone. 4 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by cash conversion.
What the filings flag
-0.02×
FY2023–FY2025
Cash conversion.Over FY2023–FY2025, cumulative operating cash flow was -0.02× 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.
4.1%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 4.1% in the latest fiscal year and rising across FY2023–FY2025 from -4%. The capital base behind it came down -27% across FY2023–FY2025, from $3.7B to $2.7B, so this is a return struck on a smaller base rather than a record of money put to work.
227% of FCF
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $375M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 227% of free cash flow. That is $209M (127%) more than free cash flow covered, and more than operating cash flow as well. The balance sheet covered it: cash fell $245M and total debt rose $7M over FY2025. A payout past free cash flow draws the balance sheet down in every year it continues, which isn't sustainable indefinitely. Counting the $20M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 239%.
$111M
FY2023–FY2023
Goodwill impairments.Took $111M of goodwill writedowns across 1 year (FY2023 ($111M)) — about 6% of net income over the span. Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$2.81B
Revenue Growth YoY-5.2%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)-1.9%
Net Margin3.6%
Free Cash Flow$165.3M
Return on Equity5.2%
Debt / Equity0.30x
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 Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?