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
6.9
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
4
Forensic signals
11.9%
ROE
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 (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.
Sensient Technologies Corp earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 6.9, placing it in the Safe zone. 4 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by accruals ratio (% of NOA).
What the filings flag
+10.9%
FY2024→FY2025
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +10.9% relative to their own average in FY2025 — scaled by NOA itself, not by total assets, which is what the Forensic Screens card's own accrual row divides by. Accruals are building faster than is comfortable — part of profit is sitting in the balance sheet rather than turning to cash. Net operating assets also rose $26.2M through acquisitions (increase in goodwill and intangibles); that purchase is investing and is excluded from this ratio. The build is led by inventory up +13% against +2% in cost of sales and PP&E up +10% against revenue +4%. A cash-flow measure on the same base disagrees: reported earnings ran in line with operating cash by 0% of net operating assets, against an accruals ratio of 10.9%. 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. Read them as two results, not one.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.
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.
8.5%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 8.5% in the latest fiscal year and rising across FY2023–FY2025 from 6.4%. After-tax operating profit was $111M in FY2023 and $157M in FY2025, with operating income at 10.6% of revenue in FY2023, 12.3% in FY2024 and 12.8% in FY2025. The capital base behind it went from $1.7B in FY2023 to $1.8B in FY2025 (+5%), while the revenue it carried went from $1.5B to $1.6B.
181% of FCF
FY2025
Shareholder returns.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%.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$1.61B
Revenue Growth YoY+3.5%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+5.2%
Net Margin8.3%
Free Cash Flow$38.4M
Return on Equity11.9%
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?