Forensic Analysis · Packaged Foods · as of Nov 9, 2026
Tyson Foods, Inc. (TSN)
A forensic read on Tyson Foods, Inc. built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
C · Mixed — selective
Forensic grade
Safe
Financial health
3.5
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
5
Forensic signals
2.6%
ROE
2.1%
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 (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.
Tyson Foods, Inc. earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 3.5, placing it in the Safe zone. 5 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 rising across FY2023–FY2025 from -1.0%. After-tax operating profit was ($312M) in FY2023 and $724M in FY2025, with operating income at -0.7% of revenue in FY2023, 2.6% in FY2024 and 2.0% in FY2025. The capital base behind it went from $31.1B in FY2023 to $30.3B in FY2025 (-2%), while the revenue it carried went from $52.9B to $54.4B. FY2023's operating profit carried a $781M goodwill write-off, a $124M restructuring charge and a $101M asset write-down that took about 2.6 points off that year's return, and FY2025's carried a $343M goodwill write-off, a $126M asset write-down and a $45M restructuring charge that took about 1.1 points off the latest; so, net of each other, the two charges add about 1.5 points to the +3.4-point change across FY2023–FY2025. A non-cash write-down lowers the reported return in the year it lands.
+12.1%/yr
FY2023–FY2025
Share-count dilution.Diluted share count changed +26% over the last 2 years to FY2025 (+12.1%/yr). The count is growing — 284.0M shares in FY2023, 357.0M in FY2025: more stock was issued than repurchased over this window, so aggregate results grew faster than their per-share equivalents. That's ~12.1% 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 ~20%.
$1.1B
FY2023–FY2025
Goodwill impairments.Took $1.1B of goodwill writedowns across 2 years (FY2023 ($781M), FY2025 ($343M)) — about 180% of net income over the span. A large writedown means an acquisition turned out worth far less than was paid — a real mark against M&A discipline.
0.2% of rev
FY2025
Stock-based comp load.Stock-based compensation ran 0.2% of revenue and 8% of free cash flow in FY2025 — about $0.28 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 12.1% 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.
-19%
FY2023→FY2024
Dividend — cut.The payout was CUT ~19% in FY2024 (from FY2023). It still returns some cash, but it is NOT the dependable, rising dividend an unbroken streak implies.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$54.44B
Revenue Growth YoY+2.1%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+1.5%
Net Margin0.9%
Free Cash Flow$1.18B
Return on Equity2.6%
Debt / Equity0.49x
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 Tyson Foods, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?