Forensic Analysis · Industrials / Manufacturing / Defense · as of Jun 28, 2026
VALHI INC /DE/ (VHI)
A forensic read on VALHI INC /DE/ 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
Safe
Financial health
3.5
Altman Z-score
Clean
Earnings quality
5
Forensic signals
-7.0%
ROE
$417M
Market cap
2.21%
Dividend yield
VALHI INC /DE/ earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its Altman Z-score is 3.5, placing it in the Safe zone. 5 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by cash conversion.
What the filings flag
0.31×Cash conversion.Over FY2023–FY2025, operating cash flow was 0.31× cumulative net income. Reported profit is not turning into cash — a classic earnings-quality warning.
3%Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 3% and slipping from 10% — well below its ~9% cost of capital, so reinvested dollars may be destroying value, not building it.
+11.3%Accruals ratio.Net operating assets grew +11.3% relative to their average in FY2025 — the accrual component of earnings. Accruals are building faster than is comfortable — part of profit sits in receivables, inventory or capitalized costs rather than cash. The cash-flow cross-check agrees: reported earnings ran in line with operating cash by -2% of net operating assets.
+0.0%/yrShare-count dilution.Diluted share count changed +0% over the last 3 years to FY2025 (+0.0%/yr). Roughly flat — buybacks are about offsetting stock comp, not shrinking the count. Per-share value isn't being meaningfully helped or hurt by the count.
-50%Dividend — cut.The payout was CUT ~50% in FY2020 (from FY2019). It still returns some cash, but it is NOT the dependable, rising dividend an unbroken streak implies — weigh the cut when judging reliability.
Key fundamentals
Net Margin-2.8%
Debt / Equity0.58x
Free Cash Flow$-82.1M
Latest Revenue$2.08B
Return on Equity-5.6%
Revenue Growth YoY-1.3%
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 VALHI INC /DE/:
🔒The written investment read — what the numbers mean, in plain English
🔒Ask anything about VHI'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