Forensic Analysis · Machinery & Fabricated Metal Products · as of Nov 8, 2026
Tennant Co (TNC)
A forensic read on Tennant Co 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
4.5
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
3
Forensic signals
7.2%
ROE
-6.5%
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.
Tennant Co earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 4.5, placing it in the Safe zone. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
6.2%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 6.2% in the latest fiscal year and slipping across FY2023–FY2025 from 16.8%. After-tax operating profit was $123M in FY2023 and $52M in FY2025, with operating income at 11.1% of revenue in FY2023, 8.9% in FY2024 and 5.7% in FY2025. The capital base behind it grew +14% across FY2023–FY2025, from $729M to $835M, while the return fell 10.6 points, so the dollars added over that window earned less than the 16.8% the older base was already earning.
255% of FCF
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $110M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 255% of free cash flow. That is $67M (155%) more than free cash flow covered, and more than operating cash flow as well. New debt covered it: total debt rose $74M over FY2025, while cash rose $7M. A payout past free cash flow draws the balance sheet down in every year it continues, which isn't sustainable indefinitely. Counting the $10M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 279%.
97d
FY2024→FY2025
Inventory days.Days inventory outstanding moved from 89 to 97 FY2024→FY2025 (against cost of goods sold; inventory +8% vs -2% in cost of sales). Inventory is building a little faster than sales — watch for markdowns.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$1.20B
Revenue Growth YoY-6.5%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)-1.6%
Net Margin3.6%
Free Cash Flow$43.3M
Return on Equity7.2%
Debt / Equity0.45x
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 Tennant Co's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?