Forensic Analysis · Retail / Consumer Discretionary · as of Aug 11, 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.

D · Weak — demands caution

Forensic grade

Grey Zone

Financial health

1.4

Distress distance

Clean

Earnings quality

Forensic signals

9.5

P / E (ttm)

$1.4B

Market cap

7.57%

Dividend yield

-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 (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.

Wendy'S Co earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 1.4, placing it in the Grey zone. 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 — well below its ~9% cost of capital, so reinvested dollars may be destroying value, not building it.

136% of FCF

FY2025

Shareholder returns. Returned $330M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 136% of free cash flow. More than free cash flow generated — and beyond operating cash too, so the extra is coming from debt or cash reserves, 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 (3yr)+1.3%

Net Margin7.6%

Free Cash Flow$242.6M

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Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Aug 11, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.