Forensic Analysis · Materials / Mining & Chemicals · as of Aug 11, 2026
Suncoke Energy, Inc. (SXC)
A forensic read on Suncoke Energy, 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
Grey Zone
Financial health
1.5
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
6
Forensic signals
-14.6
P / E (ttm)
-7.4%
ROE
$786M
Market cap
5.00%
Dividend yield
-5.1%
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 (red flags, auditor quality, say on pay, board independence). 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.
Suncoke Energy, Inc. earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 1.5, placing it in the Grey zone. 6 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
-2.4%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is -2.4% in the latest fiscal year and slipping from 10% — well below its ~8% cost of capital, so reinvested dollars may be destroying value, not building it.
+18.7%
FY2024→FY2025
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +18.7% relative to their own average in FY2025 — scaled by NOA itself, not total assets (see the Forensic Screens card's differently-scaled Sloan Accrual Ratio for that read). Accruals are building faster than is comfortable — part of profit is sitting in the balance sheet rather than turning to cash. The build is led by inventory up +22% against -5% in revenue and receivables up +15% against revenue -5%. The cash-flow cross-check is more mixed: reported earnings ran behind operating cash by 14% of net operating assets, diverging from the balance-sheet accrual read.
40d
FY2024→FY2025
Inventory days.Days inventory outstanding moved from 34 to 40 FY2024→FY2025 (against revenue (COGS not disclosed); inventory +22% vs -5% in revenue). Inventory is building a little faster than sales — watch for markdowns.
+0.4%/yr
FY2022–FY2025
Share count.Diluted share count changed +1% over the last 3 years to FY2025 (+0.4%/yr). Roughly flat — the count is neither shrinking nor growing meaningfully. Per-share value isn't being meaningfully helped or hurt by the count.
98% of FCF
FY2025
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$1.84B
Revenue Growth YoY-5.1%
Revenue CAGR (3yr)-2.3%
Net Margin-2.4%
Free Cash Flow$42.3M
Return on Equity-7.4%
Debt / Equity1.15x
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 Suncoke Energy, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?
Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Aug 11, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.
Shareholder returns.
Returned $41M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 98% of free cash flow. Right at the limit of what free cash flow covers — little room before it's funded by debt or the balance sheet. That ratio has been CLIMBING toward the limit — 18% of free cash flow a few years back — not just sitting there. Counting the $2M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 104%.
$74M
FY2019–FY2019
Goodwill impairments.Took $74M of goodwill writedowns across 1 year (FY2019 ($74M)). Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them.
Suncoke Energy, Inc. (SXC) Stock — Forensic Analysis, Red Flags & Rating | Stockonomy · Stockonomy