Forensic Analysis · Restaurants · as of Nov 9, 2026

Wendy's Co (WEN)

A forensic read on Wendy's Co built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.

B · Sound & dependable

Forensic grade

Clean

Earnings quality

Forensic signals

-3.1%

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.

Wendy's Co earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.

What the filings flag

5.8%

FY2025

Return on invested capital. Return on invested capital is 5.8% in the latest fiscal year and steady across FY2023–FY2025, inside a 0.7-point range. After-tax operating profit was $279M in FY2023 and $249M in FY2025, with operating income at 17.5% of revenue in FY2023, 16.5% in FY2024 and 15.8% in FY2025. The capital base behind it went from $4.3B in FY2023 to $4.3B in FY2025 (0%), while the revenue it carried went from $2.2B to $2.2B.

136% of FCF

FY2025

Shareholder returns. Returned $330M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 136% of free cash flow. That is $88M (36%) more than free cash flow covered. The balance sheet covered it: cash fell $150M and total debt rose $20M over FY2025. A payout past free cash flow draws the balance sheet down in every year it continues, which isn't sustainable indefinitely. Counting the $15M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 142%.

-33%

FY2024→FY2025

Dividend — cut. The payout was CUT ~33% in FY2025 (from FY2024). It still returns some cash, but it is NOT the dependable, rising dividend an unbroken streak implies.

Key fundamentals

Latest Revenue$2.18B

Revenue Growth YoY-3.1%

Revenue CAGR (2yr)-0.1%

Net Margin7.6%

Free Cash Flow$242.6M

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Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Nov 9, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.

See a wrong number? Report an error with the filing it should match.