Forensic Analysis · Materials / Mining & Chemicals · as of Aug 10, 2026
Sensient Technologies Corp (SXT)
A forensic read on Sensient Technologies 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
11.2
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
5
Forensic signals
35.1
P / E (ttm)
11.3%
ROE
$5.5B
Market cap
1.28%
Dividend yield
3.5%
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.
Sensient Technologies Corp earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 11.2, placing it in the Safe zone. 5 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by accruals ratio (% of noa).
What the filings flag
+12.4%
FY2024→FY2025
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +12.4% 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 +13% against +2% in cost of sales and PP&E up +10% against revenue +4%. The cash-flow cross-check is more mixed: reported earnings ran in line with operating cash by 0% of net operating assets, diverging from the balance-sheet accrual read.
217d
FY2024→FY2025
Inventory days.Days inventory outstanding moved from 208 to 217 FY2024→FY2025 (against cost of goods sold; inventory +13% vs +2% in cost of sales). Inventory is building a little faster than sales — watch for markdowns.
8.1%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 8.1% in the latest fiscal year and steady — around its ~8% cost of capital, so growth is roughly value-neutral.
+0.3%/yr
FY2022–FY2025
Share count.Diluted share count changed +1% over the last 3 years to FY2025 (+0.3%/yr). Roughly flat — the count is neither shrinking nor growing meaningfully. Per-share value isn't being meaningfully helped or hurt by the count.
181% of FCF
FY2025
Shareholder returns.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$1.61B
Revenue Growth YoY+3.5%
Revenue CAGR (3yr)+3.9%
Net Margin8.3%
Free Cash Flow$38.4M
Return on Equity11.3%
Debt / Equity0.59x
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 Sensient Technologies Corp's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?
Returned $70M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 181% of free cash flow, but 54% of operating cash flow. Returns run ahead of free cash flow because the business is also funding heavy growth capex (usually debt-financed); the payout itself is covered by operating cash — sustainable as long as that spending is genuine expansion, not upkeep. Counting the $14M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 218%.