Forensic Analysis · Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology · as of Nov 11, 2026
Alpha Teknova, Inc. (TKNO)
A forensic read on Alpha Teknova, 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
-1.6
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
3
Forensic signals
-22.8%
ROE
7.4%
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.
Alpha Teknova, Inc. earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads -1.6, placing it in the Distress zone. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
-13.5%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is -13.5% in the latest fiscal year and rising across FY2023–FY2025 from -30.8%. After-tax operating profit was ($28M) in FY2023 and ($13M) in FY2025, with operating income at -96.9% of revenue in FY2023, -69.3% in FY2024 and -41.9% in FY2025. The capital base behind it went from $91M in FY2023 to $99M in FY2025 (+9%), while the revenue it carried went from $37M to $41M. $21M of the $99M base at FY2025 is short-term investments (21.3%) — 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.
+29.6%/yr
FY2023–FY2025
Share-count dilution.Diluted share count changed +68% over the last 2 years to FY2025 (+29.6%/yr). The count is growing — 31.8M shares in FY2023, 53.5M in FY2025: more stock was issued than repurchased over this window, so aggregate results grew faster than their per-share equivalents. That's ~29.6% shaved off per-share growth every year — total profit has to grow that much just to keep earnings-per-share flat, and a stake held since FY2023 has been diluted ~41%.
8% of rev
FY2025
Stock-based comp load.Stock-based compensation ran 8% of revenue in FY2025 — about $0.06 per diluted share. No cash left the business to pay it, which is why operating cash flow adds it back. Net of repurchases the diluted count still rose about 29.6% a year across FY2023–FY2025, and the rate is falling. Stock compensation is one source of that issuance; acquisition consideration, equity raises, convertibles and other employee plans also net into the count, and these figures do not separate them.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$40.5M
Revenue Growth YoY+7.4%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+5.1%
Net Margin-42.6%
Free Cash Flow-$9.8M
Return on Equity-22.8%
Debt / Equity0.19x
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 Alpha Teknova, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?