Forensic Analysis · Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology · as of Nov 9, 2026
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc / Ma (VRTX)
A forensic read on Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc / Ma 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
7.5
Distress distance
3
Forensic signals
22.5%
ROE
8.9%
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.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc / Ma earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 7.5, placing it in the Safe zone. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by inventory days.
What the filings flag
320d
FY2024→FY2025
Inventory days.Days inventory outstanding moved from 232 to 320 FY2024→FY2025 (against cost of goods sold; inventory +40% vs +8% in cost of sales). Inventory is outrunning what's being sold — a flag for softening demand or obsolescence risk ahead.
0.95×
FY2023–FY2025
Cash conversion.Over FY2023–FY2025, cumulative operating cash flow was 0.95× cumulative net income. Cash is lagging reported profit. The shortfall is profit tied up in working capital rather than collected — the accrual and receivables lines below show where.Cash conversion: operating cash flow divided by net income, the share of profit that arrived as cash.
+13.7%
FY2024→FY2025
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +13.7% relative to their own average in FY2025 — scaled by NOA itself, not by total assets, which is what the Forensic Screens card's own accrual row divides by. Accruals are building faster than is comfortable — part of profit is sitting in the balance sheet rather than turning to cash. The build is led by inventory up +40% against +8% in cost of sales and receivables up +28% against revenue +9%. A cash-flow measure on the same base disagrees: reported earnings ran in line with operating cash by 3% of net operating assets, against an accruals ratio of 13.7%. The two are computed differently: the accruals ratio is the change in net operating assets over average net operating assets, while the cash-flow figure is net income less operating cash flow over that same average. Read them as two results, not one.Accruals ratio: the year-over-year change in net operating assets, relative to their own average.NOA (net operating assets): the money tied up in running the business, operating assets minus operating liabilities.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$12.00B
Revenue Growth YoY+8.9%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+10.3%
Net Margin32.9%
Free Cash Flow$3.19B
Return on Equity22.5%
Debt / Equity0.00x
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 Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc / Ma's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?