Forensic Analysis · Retail / Consumer Discretionary · as of Aug 7, 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

Safe

Financial health

6.4

Distress distance

Clean

Earnings quality

Forensic signals

39.0

P / E (ttm)

22.0%

ROE

$890.1B

Market cap

0.76%

Dividend yield

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 (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.

Walmart Inc. earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 6.4, placing it in the Safe zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.

What the filings flag

13.3%

FY2026

Return on invested capital. Return on invested capital is 13.3% in the latest fiscal year and rising from 9% — a modest positive spread over its ~9% cost of capital — growth adds value, though not dramatically.

105% of FCF

FY2026

Shareholder returns. Returned $15.6B to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2026 — 105% of free cash flow. Right at the limit of what free cash flow covers — little room before it's funded by debt or the balance sheet. That ratio has actually been EASING, not tightening further — down from ~134% of free cash flow a few years back. 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 (3yr)+5.3%

Net Margin3.1%

Free Cash Flow$14.92B

Return on Equity22.0%

Debt / Equity0.41x

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Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Aug 7, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.