Forensic Analysis · Energy / Oil & Gas · as of Aug 11, 2026
Valvoline Inc (VVV)
A forensic read on Valvoline 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
3.0
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
5
Forensic signals
53.6
P / E (ttm)
62.2%
ROE
$4.3B
Market cap
1.43%
Dividend yield
5.6%
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 (red flags, auditor quality, say on pay, board independence). 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.
Valvoline Inc earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 3.0, placing it in the Safe zone. 5 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by cash conversion.
What the filings flag
0.28×
FY2023–FY2025
Cash conversion.Over FY2023–FY2025, operating cash flow was 0.28× cumulative net income. Reported profit is not turning into cash. The shortfall is profit tied up in working capital rather than collected — the accrual and receivables lines below show where.
suspended
FY2023→FY2025
Dividend — suspended.The dividend has been SUSPENDED — $22M paid in FY2023, then $0 in FY2025. A suspension is a major signal the board is conserving cash; the prior payment history doesn't offset it.
+11.6%
FY2024→FY2025
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +11.6% relative to their own average in FY2025 — scaled by NOA itself, not total assets (see the Forensic Screens card's differently-scaled Sloan Accrual Ratio for that read). Accruals are building faster than is comfortable — part of profit is sitting in the balance sheet rather than turning to cash. The cash-flow cross-check is more mixed: reported earnings ran behind operating cash by 7% of net operating assets, diverging from the balance-sheet accrual read.
12.5%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 12.5% in the latest fiscal year and rising from 6% — a modest positive spread over its ~8% cost of capital — growth adds value, though not dramatically.
202% of FCF
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $77M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 202% of free cash flow, but 26% of operating cash flow. Returns run ahead of free cash flow because the business is also funding heavy growth capex (usually debt-financed); the payout itself is covered by operating cash — sustainable as long as that spending is genuine expansion, not upkeep. Counting the $10M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 230%.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$1.71B
Revenue Growth YoY+5.6%
Revenue CAGR (3yr)+11.4%
Net Margin12.3%
Free Cash Flow$38.0M
Return on Equity62.2%
Debt / Equity3.17x
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 Valvoline Inc's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?