Forensic Analysis · Consumer Staples / Food & Beverage · as of Jun 28, 2026
Vital Farms, Inc. (VITL)
A forensic read on Vital Farms, 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
6.1
Altman Z-score
Watch
Earnings quality
3
Forensic signals
10.0
P / E (ttm)
14.5%
ROE
$479M
Market cap
Vital Farms, Inc. earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its Altman Z-score is 6.1, placing it in the Safe zone. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by accruals ratio.
What the filings flag
+87.3%Accruals ratio.Net operating assets grew +87.3% relative to their average in FY2025 — the accrual component of earnings. Accruals are building sharply — a large slice of profit sits in operating assets, not cash; Richardson/Sloan link high accruals to weaker future returns as they reverse. The cash-flow cross-check agrees: reported earnings ran ahead of operating cash by +15% of net operating assets.
51dInventory days.Days inventory outstanding moved from 23 to 51 FY2024→FY2025 (against cost of goods sold; inventory +181% vs +26% in cost of sales). Inventory is outrunning what's being sold — a flag for softening demand or obsolescence risk ahead.
+2.0%/yrShare-count dilution.Diluted share count changed +6% over the last 3 years to FY2025 (+2.0%/yr). The count is GROWING — existing holders are being diluted. That's ~2.0% shaved off per-share growth every year — total profit has to grow that much just to keep earnings-per-share flat, and a stake held since FY2022 has been diluted ~6%.
Key fundamentals
Net Margin8.7%
Debt / Equity0.01x
Free Cash Flow$-48.2M
Latest Revenue$759.4M
Return on Equity18.9%
Revenue Growth YoY+25.3%
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 Vital Farms, Inc.:
🔒The written investment read — what the numbers mean, in plain English
🔒Ask anything about VITL'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