Forensic Analysis · Durable Goods, Textiles & Apparel · as of Aug 11, 2026
Whirlpool Corp /De/ (WHR)
A forensic read on Whirlpool Corp /De/ 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
Distress
Financial health
0.2
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
5
Forensic signals
15.0
P / E (ttm)
11.7%
ROE
$2.7B
Market cap
6.78%
Dividend yield
-6.5%
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.
Whirlpool Corp /De/ earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 0.2, placing it in the Distress zone. 5 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
6.5%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 6.5% in the latest fiscal year and rising from -9% — well below its ~9% cost of capital, so reinvested dollars may be destroying value, not building it.
+0.2%/yr
FY2022–FY2025
Share count.Diluted share count changed +1% over the last 3 years to FY2025 (+0.2%/yr). Roughly flat — the count is neither shrinking nor growing meaningfully. Per-share value isn't being meaningfully helped or hurt by the count.
370% of FCF
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $300M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 370% of free cash flow, but 64% of operating cash flow. Returns run ahead of free cash flow, with the gap funded by debt or cash reserves rather than the cash the business itself throws off; the payout itself is still covered by operating cash. Counting the $137M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 540%.
$278M
FY2022–FY2022
Goodwill impairments.Took $278M of goodwill writedowns across 1 year (FY2022 ($278M)). Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them.
-23%
FY2024→FY2025
Dividend — cut.The payout was CUT ~23% 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$15.52B
Revenue Growth YoY-6.5%
Revenue CAGR (3yr)-7.7%
Net Margin2.0%
Free Cash Flow$81.0M
Return on Equity11.7%
Debt / Equity2.26x
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 Whirlpool Corp /De/'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?