Forensic Analysis · Industrials / Manufacturing / Defense · as of Jun 28, 2026
INNOVATE Corp. (VATE)
A forensic read on INNOVATE Corp. built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
F · Poor — capital at risk
Forensic grade
Distress
Financial health
-6.0
Altman Z-score
Clean
Earnings quality
4
Forensic signals
-7.1%
ROE
$263M
Market cap
0.87%
Dividend yield
INNOVATE Corp. earns a F (Poor — capital at risk) forensic quality grade, and its Altman Z-score is -6.0, placing it in the Distress zone. 4 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
6%Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 6% and rising from 2% — well below its ~9% cost of capital, so reinvested dollars may be destroying value, not building it.
71d DSOReceivables vs revenue.Days sales outstanding moved from 64 to 71 days FY2024→FY2025 (receivables +24% vs revenue +13%). Receivables are creeping up relative to sales — watch the trend.
$47MGoodwill impairments.Took $47M of goodwill writedowns across 1 year(s) (FY2019 ($47M)). Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them — worth weighing on capital-allocation skill.
-62%Dividend — cut.The payout was CUT ~62% in FY2017 (from FY2016). It still returns some cash, but it is NOT the dependable, rising dividend an unbroken streak implies — weigh the cut when judging reliability.
Key fundamentals
Net Margin-4.9%
Free Cash Flow$146.1M
Latest Revenue$1.25B
Revenue Growth YoY+12.5%
Go deeper — free with an account
The forensic grade and screens above are free — no account needed. An account adds the full interactive deep-dive on INNOVATE Corp.:
🔒The written investment read — what the numbers mean, in plain English
🔒Ask anything about VATE's filings — AI Q&A across the 10-K, 10-Qs & 8-Ks
🔒Interactive valuation — reverse-DCF sliders, Monte Carlo & scenario stress
🔒Calibrated 12-month price forecast, with the math shown