Forensic Analysis · Professional & Commercial Services · as of Aug 11, 2026
Willdan Group, Inc. (WLDN)
A forensic read on Willdan Group, 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
7.6
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
4
Forensic signals
19.7
P / E (ttm)
17.2%
ROE
$1.2B
Market cap
20.5%
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.
Willdan Group, Inc. earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 7.6, placing it in the Safe zone. 4 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by share-count dilution.
What the filings flag
+3.7%/yr
FY2022–FY2026
Share-count dilution.Diluted share count changed +16% over the last 4 years to FY2026 (+3.7%/yr). The count is growing: more stock was issued than repurchased over this window, so aggregate results grew faster than their per-share equivalents. That's ~3.7% shaved off per-share growth every year — total profit has to grow that much just to keep earnings-per-share flat, and a stake held since FY2022 has been diluted ~14%.
1.7% of rev
FY2026
Stock-based comp load.Stock-based compensation ran 1.7% of revenue and 17% of free cash flow in FY2026 — about $0.78 per diluted share. The cost of it is not in the cash flow — no cash left the business — it is in the count: holders gave up about 4.6% of the company a year, and that rate is not falling. That is the figure to weigh, not the share of free cash flow.
+14.0%
FY2024→FY2026
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +14.0% relative to their own average in FY2026 — 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 10% of net operating assets, diverging from the balance-sheet accrual read.
12.5%
FY2026
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 12.5% in the latest fiscal year and rising from -2% — a modest positive spread over its ~10% cost of capital — growth adds value, though not dramatically.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$681.6M
Revenue Growth YoY+20.5%
Revenue CAGR (3yr)+15.5%
Net Margin7.7%
Free Cash Flow$70.7M
Return on Equity17.2%
Debt / Equity0.16x
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 Willdan Group, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?