Forensic Analysis · Retail / Consumer Discretionary · as of Nov 8, 2026
Walmart Inc. (WMT)
A forensic read on Walmart Inc. 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
Grey Zone
Financial health
2.0
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
2
Forensic signals
23.0%
ROE
4.7%
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.
Walmart Inc. earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 2.0, placing it in the Grey zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
13.8%
FY2026
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 13.8% in the latest fiscal year and steady across FY2024–FY2026, inside a 1.3-point range. After-tax operating profit was $20.1B in FY2024 and $22.5B in FY2026, with operating income at 4.2% of revenue in FY2024, 4.3% in FY2025 and 4.2% in FY2026. The capital base behind it went from $153.6B in FY2024 to $163.9B in FY2026 (+7%), while the revenue it carried went from $648.1B to $713.2B. Across FY2025–FY2026, $52.4B went into capital expenditure and acquisitions against $27.2B of total depreciation and amortisation. The base is struck net of amortisation, write-downs and the current liabilities that fund it, so it moved by less than that spending net of the wear, and this row does not say which of those absorbed the difference.
105% of FCF
FY2026
Shareholder returns.Returned $15.6B to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2026 — 105% of free cash flow. That is $672M (5%) more than free cash flow covered. New debt covered part of it: total debt rose $2.2B over FY2026, while cash rose $1.7B — $477M of the $672M. The FY2026 cash-flow statement filed $4.0B of debt issued against $2.6B repaid; $111M from shares issued; $106M from sales of property and equipment; net cash used in investing activities of $26.4B; net cash used in financing activities of $13.6B. That ratio has been CLIMBING past free cash flow — 59% of free cash flow two years back — not just sitting there. Counting the $3.6B of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 129%.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$713.16B
Revenue Growth YoY+4.7%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+4.9%
Net Margin3.1%
Free Cash Flow$14.92B
Return on Equity23.0%
Debt / Equity0.38x
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 Walmart Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?