Frontier finance agents stall near ~50% on hard, multi-step tasks. We held the model fixed and toggled a SEC-data MCP — the efficiency gap is the consistent signal, and you can watch a real run and click every number back to the 10-K.
ServiceNow reported Q1 FY2026 revenue of $3.77 billion, beating guidance, and the stock fell ~17% the next day. The 10-Q shows why: a balance sheet reshaped by Veza (closed in-quarter) and Armis (closed April 20, three days before the filing), goodwill up $963M Q/Q, the largest single-quarter buyback in NOW's history, and GAAP operating margin compressing 126 basis points year-over-year while non-GAAP operating margin rose.
Baker Hughes (Nasdaq: BKR) reported Q1 FY2026 revenue of $6.59B (+2% Y/Y) and GAAP EPS of $0.93, beating consensus on adjusted metrics. The 10-Q filed April 24, 2026 reveals what the 8-K narrative skipped: $10B of senior notes priced March 11, of which $9.5B is subject to a special mandatory redemption at par if the $13.6B Chart Industries acquisition does not close by July 28, 2026; total debt rose 166% to $16.16B; the per-share dividend held flat at $0.23 with a zero-cent increase; share buybacks were zero for the third consecutive quarter; and free cash flow fell 60% year-over-year to $164M. This analysis traces the deal-funding architecture, the capital-return pause, the Mexico receivables hedge unwinding through September 2026, and where BKR ranks against SLB, HAL, FTI, NOV, and WFRD.
The Hartford reported Q1 2026 net income of $851M and diluted EPS of $3.04, up 36% year-over-year on a depressed Q1 2025 base. The structured filing-signal layer flagged risk receding (`Critical Liability Findings: no longer present`); the 10-Q narrative simultaneously disclosed a $70M legacy general-liability reserve increase tied to a religious-institution bankruptcy. The aggregate reinsurance treaty consumed $204M of its $750M annual trigger in Q1 alone — 27% of the buffer in 25% of the year. Stock fell 3.70% on April 24.
Masco (NYSE: MAS) reported Q1 FY2026 revenue of $1,918M (+6% Y/Y) and adjusted EPS of $1.04 (+20% Y/Y), driving a 10-12% post-print rally. But the 10-Q — filed the day after Masco signed a new $500M delayed-draw term loan explicitly earmarked for share repurchases — discloses a capital-structure reset absent from the 8-K: a $1.0B new 5-year revolver (with $127M already drawn at 4.69%), the $500M term loan, and a $2.0B Board buyback authorization. This analysis tracks what the 10-Q adds, why Plumbing +9% overstates organic momentum after the Liberty Hardware segment reorganization, and how MAS's peer-leading ROIC and cheapest-in-class P/E frame the debt-funded capital return.
Genuine Parts Company (NYSE: GPC) reported Q1 FY2026 revenue of $6.26B (+6.8% Y/Y) and adjusted EPS of $1.77 (+1.1%). The quarter is the first to show the announced NAPA/Motion split on the financials: a dedicated $17.5M separation-cost line, $1.6B of assets reclassified to the Corporate segment, and NA Automotive CapEx cut 60% year over year. A $250M A/R Sales Agreement benefit padded operating cash flow to a positive $63.9M — without it, underlying OCF would have been roughly negative $186M. Management reaffirmed full-year 2026 guidance of +3% to +5.5% sales growth and $7.50-$8.00 adjusted EPS.
Snowflake's FY2026 10-K reveals that equity compensation costs shareholders $2.27 billion annually — 48.5% of revenue and 42% more than the reported SBC figure. The filing also discloses a shift from annual to quarterly billing that threatens the deferred revenue engine generating 68% of annual free cash flow in Q4. With $9.8B in contracted RPO providing a floor but litigation expanding into discovery, the equity-for-cash conversion system faces its first structural test.
High-bandwidth memory powers every AI accelerator from NVIDIA's H100 to AMD's MI300X—but the most revealing data about HBM supply geography doesn't appear in any chip maker's filing. It's in FormFactor's annual report, where a probe card geographic revenue table shows South Korea overtook the United States as the dominant buyer of HBM test equipment in 2025, adding $53 million while US revenues fell $32 million in a single year. This analysis cross-reads 135 operational SEC filings across four companies and three SIC codes—tracing HBM demand from process equipment through memory production, test infrastructure, and demand driver—to surface a supply chain concentration that no single 10-K can reveal.
Basel III endgame never became law, yet 419 substantive SEC filings prove it functioned as an operative market signal across three distinct industries simultaneously. Morgan Stanley's 10-K disclosed that its risk-weighted assets would rise 40% under the Expanded Approach—nearly three times State Street's 15%—while the G-SIB surcharge offset buried in that same filing contradicts the universal narrative that large trading banks faced unlimited capital pain. The real story emerges only from reading across the chain: bank capital constraints flow downstream through ICE's clearing infrastructure and into the Agency MBS market where mortgage REITs like Bimini Capital hold assets.
AI infrastructure capex has crossed from strategic investment into arms race. Amazon's FY 2025 10-K records $128.3 billion in capital expenditures — up 65% in a single year. Alphabet spent $91.4 billion, up 74%. Meta committed $115-135 billion for 2026 before a dollar has been spent. Reading all five filings together reveals three structural patterns investors are still underestimating: the spending is accelerating, not plateauing; Microsoft's reported margins already show the cost compression that peers only discuss in the future tense; and NVIDIA's own 10-K names the same data centers and power grids that hyperscalers are racing to build as the binding constraint on its revenue growth — completing a self-reinforcing cycle that no single filing captures alone.
On March 11, 2026, Stryker Corporation filed its first 8-K disclosing a cybersecurity incident that disrupted its global Microsoft environment — one of 916 material cybersecurity 8-K disclosures filed with the SEC in the past 12 months. But the initial 8-K is the least financially informative disclosure in the entire lifecycle. Cross-company analysis of four non-tech companies — a medical device maker, a donut chain, a mortgage lender, and a hospital system — reveals that the most financially specific SEC disclosures appear 12–24 months after the incident. Insurance recoveries of $21.5M to $35M, class action consolidations, and settlement disclosures mark the true cost — and they arrive long after the headlines fade.
Across 351 operational SEC filings, the lithium battery supply chain reveals a counter-intuitive pattern: falling lithium prices did not flow evenly through the value chain. Albemarle grew volumes 8% even as pricing collapsed $627 million. Rivian grew deliveries while flagging battery supply as a material risk. But Aspen Aerogels — the company whose thermal barriers physically protect lithium-ion batteries — lost 45% of its revenue despite holding multi-year OEM contracts. Mid-chain component suppliers absorbed the worst of the shock.
Data center power demand appears in 404 SEC filings across 30+ companies and 15 industries, but the most important pattern isn't the breadth — it's the convergence. Bitcoin miners are becoming data center landlords. Solar infrastructure companies are rewiring for server racks. A semiconductor firm cut 19% of its workforce to chase power conversion chips. From opposite ends of the value chain, companies that historically had nothing to do with computing are reorganizing around a single commodity: electricity access.
Nearshoring Mexico appears in 201 operational SEC filings from 30+ companies — but the real finding is that two auto-parts manufacturers in the same SIC code face opposite tariff exposure based solely on USMCA compliance status. Teleflex is pouring $36.4 million into Mexico PP&E while disclosing its products are 'not currently compliant' with USMCA. Standard Motor Products, in the same industry, explicitly states its Mexico operations are 'mostly exempt.' The nearshoring advantage isn't about being in Mexico — it's about qualifying under the trade agreement that makes Mexico economically distinct from China.
PFAS — per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — appear in 736 operational SEC filings across 22 industries, but the most important pattern isn't breadth. It's that the same class of chemicals creates fundamentally different financial exposures at each stage of the value chain: billion-dollar settlements for producers, dual-role plaintiff-defendant paradoxes for water utilities, product lawsuits for companies that never manufactured PFAS, and forward-looking supply chain risk for semiconductor equipment makers who warn there may be no replacement 'at similar costs, or at all.'
GLP-1 drugs appear in 977 operational SEC filings across 15+ industries — but the real story isn't the pharmaceutical companies making them. Eli Lilly now derives 56% of revenue from two tirzepatide products, the highest single-drug-class dependency in large-cap pharma. That concentration is simultaneously catalyzing an unbundling of the GLP-1 value chain: compound pharmacies distributing alternatives, weight management companies pivoting to adherence platforms, and device startups building FDA-designated off-ramps for patients who stop.
The CHIPS Act appears in 192 SEC filings from over 30 companies — but the most important finding isn't breadth. It's that the same federal law is creating government equity stakes at Intel, restricting buybacks at Micron, and inflating non-GAAP free cash flow at Texas Instruments by 14%. Investors comparing chip stocks on standard metrics are now comparing figures shaped by structurally incompatible subsidy arrangements.
Dick's Sporting Goods grew its core business EPS 3.8% to $14.58 in FY2025 while consolidated GAAP EPS fell 29% to $9.97. The FY2025 10-K reveals a two-speed retailer: the DICK'S segment earned 11.1% margins while Foot Locker lost $52 million. At $202, the market assigns negative $1.4 billion to the FL acquisition — making this a binary bet on a $177 million turnaround pinned to one back-to-school season.
Everpure generated $615.7 million in free cash flow in FY2026 — and kept $2.2 million of it. The FY2026 10-K reveals that 99.6% of FCF recycles into an equity compensation system where $482M in stock grants, $343M in buybacks, and $271M in tax withholdings consume everything the business produces. Meanwhile, two catalysts sit unpriced: an ~$838M valuation allowance release signaled within 12 months and RPO acceleration from 14% to 40%. The filing shows why headline EPS could surge 3-5x without improving shareholder economics.
Disney reported Q1 FY2026 revenue of $26.0 billion (+5% Y/Y) and adjusted EPS of $1.63, beating consensus by $0.06 — but the 10-Q reveals adjusted EPS actually declined 7.4% from the year-ago quarter's $1.76. Organic streaming subscriber growth was just 1%, with higher prices (+4%) and the Fubo acquisition (+4%) doing the real lifting. Operating cash flow collapsed 77% to $735 million, but the filing attributes this to a multi-year California wildfire tax catch-up — a non-recurring event the 8-K press release failed to explain. Experiences remains the profit anchor at $3.3 billion operating income (33.1% margin), absorbing 76% of Disney's $3.0 billion Q1 capex.
AST SpaceMobile reported a $342 million net loss — and buried in the same filing is $1.2 billion in contractual revenue commitments from AT&T, Verizon, and Vodafone. The company that consensus calls 'pre-revenue' generated $70.9 million in actual revenue, but $298 million in annual fixed costs tick regardless of launch timing.
Amphenol's FY2025 10-K contains a number that doesn't belong in a connector company's filing: 31% operating margins in Communications Solutions. The segment nearly doubled revenue to $12.1 billion, generating software-like profitability on physical connectors. But the same filing reveals that APH's $10.5 billion CommScope CCS acquisition — the second piece of a $12.6 billion systematic dismantlement — will dilute those margins by 150-300 basis points in 2026. The investment question: is the franchise expanding faster than margins are diluting?
Burlington Stores generated $1.2 billion in operating cash flow in FY2025 — yet retained only $172 million as free cash flow. The gap: a $1.06 billion capital expenditure program funding the largest supply chain build-out in the company's history, now 70%+ complete. The 10-K reveals that as capex declines $229 million in FY2026, Burlington's FCF yield — currently the lowest among all peers at 0.9% — could triple to ~2.3% within 12 months. But the thesis depends on whether 53-week-adjusted 6.7% revenue growth can sustain the 2x operating leverage that makes each new dollar of revenue twice as profitable as the average.
Home Depot reported $164.7 billion in revenue for fiscal 2025 — a 3.2% increase that masks organic contraction. The 10-K reveals a 1,105 basis point operating margin gap between HD's core retail business and its newly acquired distribution arm, a 560 basis point ROIC collapse, and a 15-year base-case deleveraging timeline. All headline revenue growth was acquisition-driven; the core retail segment actually shrank 0.75%.
Walmart reported its first operating margin decline in three years — minus 13 basis points to 4.18%. But two line items buried in the MD&A, totaling $1.6 billion, explain the entire drop. Strip them out and margins actually improved. Meanwhile, US eCommerce reached $99.6 billion (20.6% of net sales), membership fees hit $4.4 billion, and Walmart Connect advertising grew 33%. The catch: ROI already declined from 15.5% to 15.1%, and $18.7 billion in construction-in-progress hasn't started earning returns yet.
Block reported revenue growth of 0.3% in FY 2025 — the kind of number that makes growth investors look away. But the 10-K reveals financial solutions operating at 91.9% gross margins grew 28%, driving Cash App's margin from 32.2% to 41.1% in a single year. The catch: loan losses doubled to 19.7% of financial solutions revenue, and Block deployed $3.5B into lending — more than its entire free cash flow. With $8.3B in capital demands against $2.43B in FCF, and a 40% workforce reduction contingent on AI tools management admits may 'fail entirely,' Block's transformation is the highest-stakes bet in fintech.
CoreWeave grew revenue 168% to $5.1 billion in fiscal 2025 and sits on $60.7 billion in committed backlog — more than 11 years at the current run rate. But the 10-K reveals debt service of $4.4 billion already exceeds the $3.1 billion in operating cash flow, interest coverage has fallen below 2.0x, and the company must raise $18-20 billion in 2026 just to refinance and keep building. At $71.61 per share, the stock prices in the growth — but not the cost of funding it.
Dell Technologies reported record $113.5 billion in revenue and 36% EPS growth for fiscal 2026. But buried in the segment footnote of the annual report, ISG gross margin collapsed 550 basis points in a single year — even as the segment's operating income grew 30%. The company's $26 billion services layer and disciplined SG&A efficiency are masking a fundamental shift in earnings quality that the earnings release doesn't show.
Netflix generated $9.46 billion in free cash flow in FY2025 — more than Amazon, on one-sixteenth the revenue. The 10-K reveals a structural inflection: content payments decelerated from +29% to +4%, driving a 47% incremental operating margin. But $45 billion in total obligations and guild agreements expiring mid-2026 complicate the cash machine narrative.
MongoDB's free cash flow exploded 315% to $500 million in FY2026, pushing FCF margin to 20.3%. Wall Street fixated on the 17% revenue growth guide and sent the stock down 22%. But the 10-K reveals something neither bulls nor bears are discussing: nearly 100% of that $505 million in operating cash flow is consumed by a $499 million equity compensation recycling system — buybacks plus a brand-new net share settlement policy that annualizes to ~$300M/year. The real question isn't whether MongoDB can grow — it's whether the S&M leverage engine (47% → 38% of revenue in 3 years) can outrun this treadmill.
McDonald's cut share buybacks by 27% in FY2025 while spending a record $3.365 billion on expansion — a paradox until you see the 10-K's franchise economics. The filing reveals a 90.3% incremental franchise margin, meaning every new restaurant dollar is more profitable than the last. This analysis unpacks the capital allocation pivot, the emerging $647M technology platform, and the real estate fortress financing it all through Euro debt at half the U.S. rate.
Marvell Technology grew revenue 42% to $8.2 billion in FY2026 — the fastest among major semiconductor companies. Free cash flow grew 0.2%. A $735.5 million receivables factoring program buried in an MD&A footnote inflates reported operating cash flow by up to 42%, while non-GAAP adjustments exceeding GAAP operating income create a dual-reality earnings picture. Five findings from the 10-K that aren't in any earnings summary.
At year-end 2025, Strategy Inc was worth $8.85 billion less than its bitcoin. The 17.3% NAV discount, $883 million in annual fixed obligations against negative operating cash flow, and a BTC Yield metric that fell from 74.3% to 22.8% reveal a capital structure approaching a sustainability threshold. This is what Strategy's 10-K tells you that the Bitcoin headlines don't.
CrowdStrike's Rule of 40 registers an impressive 49.2% — until you adjust for $1.1 billion in stock-based compensation that the metric treats as free. The adjusted score collapses to 26.4%, exposing a 38.5-percentage-point gap between cash returns (31.2%) and accrual returns (-7.2%). Meanwhile, DOJ and SEC probes have expanded beyond the July 19 outage into revenue recognition and ARR reporting, and three accounting tailwinds totaling $130-140M will inflate FY2027 margins. This is the real CrowdStrike hiding behind the headline numbers.
UnitedHealth Group grew Medicare Advantage membership by 600,000 in FY2025 and revenue surpassed $447 billion. Operating income fell 41%. The FY2025 10-K reveals a medical cost ratio of 89.1% — the worst trajectory among five managed care peers we analyzed from raw filing data. UNH's +5.9 percentage point MCR deterioration is nearly double the peer average, exposing the vertical integration model as a cost amplifier, not a dampener.
BlackRock reported record $14 trillion in AUM, record $698 billion in net inflows, and tripled its private markets revenue to $653 million quarterly after the HPS acquisition. But the same 10-K reveals GAAP EPS fell 16% to $35.31, free cash flow dropped 24% to $3.55 billion, and dividends now consume 91% of remaining cash. A 5-component decomposition of the $12.78-per-share GAAP-adjusted gap reveals that only $3 is genuinely temporary — the other $10 represents real, recurring costs hidden behind management's preferred metric.
DoorDash reported its first full-year GAAP operating profit of $723 million on $13.7 billion in revenue — a milestone investors waited years to see. But the 10-K reveals three hidden subsidies: stock-based compensation 45% larger than operating income, $348 million in capitalized software that never hits the income statement, and a near-zero 0.75% tax rate from one-time acquisition benefits. True free cash flow was flat year-over-year at $1.83 billion, and $9.15 billion in real obligations don't appear on any debt line. The Profitability Gap Cascade — from management's $2.8B Adjusted EBITDA to $776M in commitment-adjusted free cash flow — is a 3.6:1 ratio, the widest among peers.
Marriott International reported 14.2% EPS growth in FY2025, but the 10-K reveals a structural divergence beneath the headline. Co-branded credit card fees grew $105 million — exceeding the $94 million from actual hotel rooms growth — and the credit card increment accelerated 78% year-over-year. Meanwhile, the debt-funded buyback machine that delivered one-third of EPS growth is getting more expensive: average buyback price rose from $273 to $318 per share. This analysis decomposes Marriott's three growth engines and tracks where the efficiency is breaking down.
EchoStar reported a $14.5 billion net loss in FY 2025 while its stock rallied 308% to a $31.3 billion market cap. The 10-K reveals that the FCC compelled the $42.65B spectrum sales under threat of license revocation, that the company already missed interest payments in Q2 2025, and that $30 billion in creditor claims consume most of the deal proceeds before equity holders see an estimated $12.6-15.6 billion residual.
Ameriprise Financial reported a 'record' 53.2% adjusted operating ROE and 10.1% EPS growth in FY2025. But strip away three layers of earnings distortion — insurance fair value gains, buyback-driven share shrinkage, and management's adjusted metrics — and the company's core pretax income actually declined 3.8%. At $490 per share, the 10-K reveals an earnings engine running on borrowed altitude.
Robinhood's pre-tax income nearly doubled in FY 2025, growing 98% to $2.1 billion on a 68.3% incremental operating margin. But a $572 million tax swing compressed headline net income growth to 33%, masking the operating breakout. Our novel revenue fragility scoring reveals only 24% of HOOD's $4.5 billion revenue is structurally durable — with $2 billion in PFOF-dependent trading and event contract revenue facing specific 2026 regulatory catalysts.
Capital One reported the fastest revenue growth (+37%) among large US banks and the highest P/E ratio (60x) — simultaneously. The 10-K reveals a $20.7 billion day-1 CECL provision, 92.3% concentrated in a single segment, that makes the $4.03 EPS the most misleading number in banking. Free cash flow tells a different story: $48.29 per share, a 20% yield. This analysis decomposes the four components of COF's earnings illusion and models when 60x becomes 15x.
Vertiv Holdings generated $10.2 billion in FY2025 revenue with 21.2% ROIC and doubled its backlog to $15 billion. But the 10-K contains no remaining performance obligation disclosure — the word 'backlog' appears only in narrative sections. Meanwhile, Q4 organic growth was Americas +46.2% against EMEA -14.1% and APAC -9.3%, and a $1.14 billion acquisition allocating 91% to intangibles accelerates amortization by $74 million per year. At ~73x trailing P/E — double the ~35x for Schneider Electric and Eaton — the valuation prices a global compounder. The filing shows a US pure-play with an unverifiable backlog.
International Flavors & Fragrances reported an operating loss of $382 million in FY 2025 — yet management called it 'solid performance.' The disconnect: 72% of IFF's $2.1 billion Credit Adjusted EBITDA comes from add-backs. At GAAP EBITDA of $580 million, leverage isn't 2.6x — it's 9.3x. With $3.84 billion in cumulative goodwill impairments across three reporting units, six divestitures in 18 months, and a dividend payout ratio of 161% at the already-cut level, IFF's 10-K documents a $26 billion acquisition being systematically dismantled to save the company it was supposed to transform.
Warner Bros. Discovery reported $728 million in net income for FY 2025 — its first profit since the WarnerMedia Merger. But the 10-K reveals a $2.9 billion debt extinguishment gain is the only item keeping that number positive. Cash taxes and interest consumed 97.7% of operating cash flow. A $15 billion bridge loan at 7.16% replaced the cheap debt that generated the 'gain.' And $16.5 billion in debt matures in 2027 behind a triple credit downgrade. Here's what the filing reveals about why the PSKY merger at $31/share may be less a strategic combination than a financial survival mechanism.
Coterra Energy reported 40% revenue growth, 63% EBITDA margins, and a 20% free cash flow yield in FY2025 — numbers that suggest a company firing on all cylinders. But the 10-K reveals $354 million in derivative timing gains inflating the top line, per-BOE operating costs surging 35%, and $3.5 billion in hidden obligations that Devon Energy inherits in a merger neither party can exit. A 4-factor revenue decomposition shows three different growth stories with radically different durability, and the cheapest upstream FCF yield in the peer set may be the market's way of pricing in what the headlines don't show.
Mondelez International's FY 2025 10-K reveals a $729M gap between input cost inflation and pricing recovery — but that's the number everyone can find. What the filing buries across three separate disclosures is how the company funded $5.5B in shareholder returns on just $2.3B in free cash flow: a 37-fold commercial paper surge, $3.6B in bank-intermediated 'supplier' payables, and a Board that quietly doubled the company's debt authorization. Neither the 44.7% GAAP EPS decline nor management's 12.8% adjusted figure tells the truth.
NVIDIA generated $216 billion in revenue with 75% gross margins — the most dominant operating performance in tech history. But the FY2026 10-K reveals $165 billion in total obligations growing 2-5x faster than revenue, a $17 billion Groq license that created $14.4 billion in goodwill on zero revenue, and a $40 billion equity portfolio entangling NVIDIA with its own customer ecosystem. These aren't reasons to sell — they're the specific conditions investors should monitor at 25x forward earnings.
AbbVie buried $15 billion in non-cash charges inside its fiscal 2025 10-K — more than triple its reported net income. The 96x GAAP P/E collapses to 21x on a cash basis, but $25.4 billion in contingent consideration obligations and a franchise concentration reboot (42.3% of revenue in two drugs, heading to 51.5%) reveal the truth sits between the extremes.
Coupang reported $34.5 billion in revenue and a 1.4% operating margin — a number that prices it like a low-quality retailer. But the 10-K segment footnote reveals Product Commerce alone generated $2,485 million in EBITDA at an 8.4% margin, while Developing Offerings destroyed value on every incremental dollar with -3.7% marginal gross margins. Meanwhile, stock-based compensation consumed 100% of operating income, a 64.2% tax rate ate most of what remained, and a $1.2 billion data breach voucher program looms over Q1 2026. This is a profitable business voluntarily subsidizing a billion-dollar bet — wrapped in a geographic tax trap.
Ares Management reported a 1% GAAP operating margin on $4.76 billion in revenue — $46.9 million in operating income that makes a grocery store look profitable. But the same 10-K reveals $2,583 million in fee-related earnings hiding behind the GAAP facade, a 55:1 gap driven by $2.6 billion in partnership-structure consolidation costs. At 16.6x FRE with 30% growth and 61% margins, the stock looks cheap — until you account for $1.675 billion in contingent earnout liabilities due by June 2028, $1.38 billion in new floating-rate debt, and a $740 million SBC regime that persists for three more years.
Sempra reported a 36% earnings decline, negative $6 billion in free cash flow, and a 94% dividend payout ratio — yet the stock barely moved. The 10-K reveals why: $1.1 billion in non-recurring charges create the widest GAAP-to-adjusted earnings gap (73%) among major US utilities, producing two contradictory P/E ratios from the same filing. At $88 per share, Sempra trades at either 32x or 19x earnings. Meanwhile, the KKR SI Partners deal is not just $10 billion in cash — $7.9 billion in debt deconsolidation makes it an $18 billion balance sheet event. But California's regulatory disallowances have escalated from zero to $676 million in three years, and wildfire strict liability adds an unquantified overhang. One asset sale close decides which Sempra investors actually own.
Axon Enterprise grew revenue 33.5% to $2.78 billion in FY 2025 while reporting a GAAP operating loss of $62.1 million. The headline SBC figure is $634 million — but the 10-K reveals two additional cost channels totaling $366 million, bringing the total economic cost to approximately $1 billion, or 36% of revenue. When you adjust operating cash flow for financing-classified SBC tax payments, Axon's cash generation flips negative. This analysis unpacks the three-channel SBC model, the $481.7 million working capital paradox behind the $14.4 billion backlog, and what 15.9x EV/Sales actually assumes.
Republic Services grew free cash flow 15.8% to $2.4 billion in FY2025 — four and a half times faster than revenue. But the 10-K reveals the Q4 earnings beat was entirely tax-manufactured (3.4% ETR vs 21.5% Q1-Q3), revenue is decelerating on a 3-year arc (7.1% to 3.5% to a guided 3.0%), and acquisitions now account for 37% of total growth and rising. At 30.7x earnings, investors face a $6.1B 2029 refinancing wall and unquantified PFAS risk against $2.3B in closure obligations.
NextEra Energy reported adjusted earnings growth of 8.2% for FY2025 — and GAAP earnings decline of 2.1%. The 10-K reveals the difference: a $1.25 billion federal tax benefit that surged 8.3× in a single year, converting $4.5 billion in pretax income into $6.8 billion in net income. Strip it out, and investors at $80/share are paying 46× earnings for a company that burned $12 billion more cash than it generated. This is the story of America's largest clean energy company and the tax credit machine that holds its valuation together.
FedEx reported Q3 FY2026 adjusted EPS of $5.25, crushing the $4.14 consensus by 27% — but the 10-Q reveals $0.41 per share came from a non-recurring foreign tax loss carryforward, reducing the operational beat to 17%. Meanwhile, FedEx Freight's operating income didn't actually collapse 97% to $8M as GAAP suggests — $126M in spin-off costs allocated to the segment masked an adjusted margin of 6.7%. With the Freight spin-off 10 weeks away, the standalone entity will start life with $3.7B in debt while FedEx parent retains the cash proceeds. The real story of Q3 is a Federal Express package business delivering 7.9% adjusted margins on 6.1% yield growth, offset by labor costs growing 320 basis points faster than revenue.
PNC Financial Services reported record 21% EPS growth in FY2025 — and the stock trades at 10x forward earnings, pricing in zero growth. Four widely-cited red flags explain the market's skepticism: collapsing cash flow, inflated earnings, a stagnant core segment, and stretched valuation. The 10-K disproves all four. But two genuine risks survive the correction cascade: capital markets revenue cyclicality (47% of fee growth from a +24% surge) and a concentrated CRE office maturity wall (57.7% criticized, 38.7% maturing in 12 months).
Alphabet reported $132.2 billion in net income for FY2025 — a record. But the 10-K reveals $149.1 billion in contractually locked purchase commitments, $24.1 billion in unrealized equity gains inflating headline growth, and a tax timing benefit that boosted cash flow by $13.5 billion. Adjusted earnings grew 15.6%, not 32%, and free cash flow was flat. The investment question: can Google Cloud's 956-basis-point margin expansion convert the largest corporate infrastructure buildout in history into returns?
Otis Worldwide spent $145 million on its UpLift restructuring program in FY2025 and realized $84 million in savings — a net cost of $61 million. The 10-K reveals the real margin engine isn't the restructuring investors have been told to watch: it's the mechanical decline of New Equipment, where Q4 margins hit a record-low 3.64%. With GAAP EPS down 14% and adjusted EPS up 6%, the $0.55 per-share gap between the two earnings realities creates fundamentally different valuations — 24.8x or ~29x — for the same company.
Broadcom reported Q1 FY2026 revenue of $19.3 billion (+28.7% Y/Y) and non-GAAP EPS of $2.05, but the 10-Q reveals a more complex picture. A single distributor now accounts for 42% of total revenue — up from 29% a year ago — as AI semiconductor revenue doubled to $8.4 billion. Meanwhile, infrastructure software grew just 1.4% Y/Y, GAAP EPS declined 14.3% Q/Q due to tax normalization, and capital returns of $10.9 billion exceeded operating cash flow by 32%, requiring new borrowings to bridge the gap.
Roblox — the gaming platform with 85 million daily active users — reported $6.8 billion in bookings and $4.9 billion in revenue for FY2025, with $1.36 billion in free cash flow. But the 10-K reveals a $1.07 billion GAAP loss bridged almost entirely by $1.13 billion in stock-based compensation. Meanwhile, 63% of that revenue came from prior-year bookings, recognized through a $6.5 billion deferred revenue liability controlled by a single 27-month accounting estimate. The structural cost floor consumes 66.6% of revenue before any personnel costs, $1.6 billion in new lease commitments will double infrastructure expenses, and FY2026 GAAP losses are guided to widen even as revenue grows 25%.
Diamondback Energy reported a 63% EPS collapse in FY 2025 while generating record free cash flow of $8.8 billion at a 58% margin — best in its peer set. The 10-K reveals the entire earnings decline was manufactured by a $3.4 billion full-cost ceiling impairment; ex-impairment EPS was virtually flat at ~$15.00. But the same accounting method that destroyed GAAP earnings also hides $837 million in annual interest — 3.4 times what appears on the income statement — while management's $603 million buyback headline masks just $305 million in net repurchases, all from a single related-party transaction.
Keysight Technologies reported record Q1 FY2026 revenue of $1.6 billion, beating consensus by $60 million with non-GAAP EPS of $2.17 topping estimates by 9%. But the 10-Q reveals a $101 million tax benefit from an audit settlement drove the effective tax rate to -42%, inflating GAAP EPS by approximately 40%. Beneath the tax windfall, 14% organic growth — double the FY2025 pace — and a 96% Q/Q cash flow surge to $441M with 1.57x cash conversion signal a genuine inflection in Keysight's demand trajectory, driven by AI data center infrastructure buildout.
Bank of New York Mellon reported record revenue of $20.1 billion and 28.4% ROTCE in FY 2025 — numbers that suggest an efficiently run financial institution earning outsized returns. But the 10-K reveals a paradox: one segment generates 49% operating margins on infrastructure that moves $614 billion in securities, while another runs at 17% margins with declining revenue and $16.8 billion in goodwill from an 18-year-old acquisition. At 15.5x earnings, the market prices one company. The filing shows it's two.
Welltower generated $10.8 billion in revenue in FY2025 and lost $480 million at the operating line. The gap between EPS ($1.39) and FFO per share ($4.45) — a 220% spread — is the widest among major REITs, driven by $1.5 billion in immediately-vested stock compensation. Meanwhile, $8.9 billion in equity issuance created a 12.1 percentage-point dilution drag, and UK revenue tripled overnight to 22.3% of the senior housing segment. At 42× FFO, the market is betting demographics will overcome all of it.
MercadoLibre generated $10.8 billion in free cash flow in FY 2025 — or $1.5 billion, depending on which line of its own 10-K you read. That $9.3 billion gap reveals a fintech business consuming 86% of cash flow for customer deposits and loan originations. Meanwhile, $1.1 billion in credit card receivable gains — classified as 'non-recurring' both years — represent 56% of net income, pushing the effective P/E from 51x to 117x. And Argentina, generating 3.6 times Brazil's adjusted operating margin in a hyperinflationary economy, supplies the profitability that makes the story work.
Apollo Global Management reported $32 billion in revenue and declared 'record' earnings — while the 10-K shows net income fell 24.2% to $3.4 billion. The filing reveals that 42.5% of Asset Management fees are captive intersegment payments from its own Athene insurance subsidiary, SRE missed 10% growth guidance at just 4.2% as net investment spread compressed to 1.61%, and a $755 million non-operating insurance liability swing drove 70% of the GAAP earnings decline. At $145/share, APO trades at 25x GAAP P/E (expensive) and 9x EV/FCF (cheap) — the answer depends on whether Athene's spread compression stays below 25bp annually.
Boston Scientific has written off $9.9 billion in cumulative goodwill impairments — 35% of every dollar ever booked. Yet in FY2025, the serial acquirer's ROIC crossed 9.1% for the first time in 20 quarters. Then BSX announced $14.5 billion for Penumbra, which will spike leverage from 1.95× to ~4.1× net debt/EBITDA — landing 0.65× below the covenant ceiling. The 10-K reveals a company at a binary inflection: the acquisition lifecycle model either compounds from here, or a history of goodwill destruction repeats at unprecedented scale.
Williams Companies reported record Modified EBITDA of $7.7 billion in FY2025 while free cash flow collapsed 58% to $1 billion. The 10-K reveals the company's data center power contracts are 10-12.5 years — half the 20-year duration management cited — with zero quantified return metrics in the filing. Meanwhile, $965 million in equity-method JV income inflates the preferred EBITDA by 15%, creating a 17% valuation gap. At a 243% FCF payout ratio, WMB's 3.3% dividend yield is funded by debt, not cash flow.
Ferrari returned €1.3 billion to shareholders in FY2025 while carrying just €72 million of industrial net debt — a 0.03x leverage ratio on 38.8% EBITDA margins. But the 20-F reveals that widely-cited free cash flow of €1.9 billion excludes €458 million in capitalized BEV development costs. True FCF is €1.4 billion, and capital returns consume 93.5% of it. Meanwhile, a €89 million Patent Box tax reversal explains why net income grew only 4.8% despite EBIT growing 11.8%. The fortress is real. The margin of safety is thinner than it appears.
Stryker just posted its fourth consecutive year of double-digit revenue growth, crossing $25 billion. Operating margins expanded 314 basis points. But the 10-K reveals that $807 million of that expansion is an impairment swing — not operational efficiency. The annual cost of being a serial acquirer totals $1,659 million, exceeding Stryker's entire R&D budget, and all of it is excluded from the adjusted earnings that underpin a 41x multiple. Meanwhile, 68% of pre-tax income flows through international operations generating just 24% of revenue, and the German tax authority has assessed $754 million.
Danaher reported its worst operating margin decline in years — down 130 basis points to 19.1%, with Life Sciences collapsing to 7.1%. But the 10-K reveals that $562 million in non-cash impairments explain 92% of the decline. Adjusted margins were flat. FCF per share rose 2.2% while EPS fell 4.5%. And exactly 8 days before filing, Danaher announced a $9.9 billion Masimo acquisition that will push leverage to ~4.4x — its highest since the financial crisis. This is not a margin story. It's a capital allocation inflection point.
Bloom Energy's stock surged 527% in eight months on a $20 billion backlog and 37% revenue growth. But the FY2025 10-K reveals that only $419 million — or 2.1% — of that backlog qualifies as a GAAP Remaining Performance Obligation. The other 97.9% includes $14 billion in service contracts terminable annually for convenience, product backlog inflated by anticipated tax credits, and 43% concentration on a single related party. Meanwhile, the company issued $2.5 billion in 0% convertible notes and posted a GAAP net loss of $88.4 million in its record year.
Palo Alto Networks delivered $2.594 billion in Q2 FY2026 revenue (+15% Y/Y) and $1.03 non-GAAP EPS, beating consensus by 10%. But the stock dropped 5% on Q3 EPS guidance of $0.78–$0.80 versus the Street's $0.92. The 10-Q reveals why: stripping CyberArk's ~$280 million quarterly revenue contribution from Q3 guidance implies organic sequential growth of just 2.7%, while 73% headline incremental operating margins collapse to 16% when stock-based compensation timing is removed. With $6.45 billion in non-cancelable cloud commitments and four new CyberArk-related risk factors, the platformization thesis faces its first real integration test.
Caterpillar grew revenue 4.3% to $67.6 billion in FY 2025, but every new dollar destroyed $0.69 of operating profit — an incremental margin of -69.1%. Buried inside the collapse: a $3.5 billion capex concentration in Power & Energy while Construction Industries hemorrhages pricing power. The filing reveals two fundamentally different businesses sharing one ticker, one balance sheet, and a 30x P/E that demands a $2.17 billion pricing reversal to justify.
Medtronic delivered Q3 FY2026 revenue of $9.02 billion — its highest growth rate in 10 quarters at 8.7% year-over-year — with non-GAAP EPS of $1.36 beating consensus by $0.02. The stock fell 3.2% anyway. The 10-Q filing reveals why: $306-356M in MiniMed separation costs are front-loaded into the income statement, a $1.146B antitrust verdict went unmentioned in the press release, and Medical Surgical's $19.8B goodwill sits on a cushion of just 12%. Cardiovascular acceleration — up 13.8% with PFA capturing 80% of the EP market — is the real story, but the separation repricing makes it harder to see.
Equinix generated $4,530M in Adjusted EBITDA and negative $400M in free cash flow in FY2025 — a $4.9 billion definitional chasm. At $766 per share, the world's largest data center REIT trades at 22× FFO while running FCF-negative for the first time, funding $1.86B in dividends entirely from capital markets while betting $4.3B that AI demand will fill 52 data centers under construction. The entire bull/bear debate collapses into one number: $284M in 'recurring capex.'
Chevron's FY2025 10-K reports a 106% dividend payout ratio — the company paid more in dividends than it earned. But operating cash flow tells the opposite story, covering the dividend 2.6 times. The $73.5 billion Hess PP&E step-up created the widest cash-vs-earnings divergence among supermajors, collapsed ROIC from 9.5% to 5.9%, and transformed Chevron from the least leveraged to the most leveraged in its peer group. Here's what the filing reveals about dividend safety, balance sheet risk, and when the Hess bet might pay off.
Booking Holdings generated $9.1 billion in free cash flow in FY2025 — a record — while GAAP earnings fell 8%. The $26.9 billion online travel agency's 10-K reveals why: $2.7 billion in accounting artifacts (FX losses on EUR debt, a KAYAK impairment, and convertible note charges) consumed the entire $1.67 billion operating improvement. Underneath the GAAP noise, adjusted EBITDA grew 20.5%, the merchant moat deepened to 70% of bookings, and the self-funding cash flow flywheel returned 84% of FCF to shareholders. The complication: the AI disruption that triggered a $457M write-down of KAYAK is the same force BKNG is betting $700M to harness.
Shopify's gross margins have declined from 50% to 46% over six quarters. Most investors see this as a red flag. But Shopify's FY2025 10-K reveals a counter-intuitive dynamic: as lower-margin Merchant Solutions grows to dominate the revenue mix, operating margins are actually expanding — because it needs dramatically less incremental S&M and R&D. The question is whether fintech risk changes this equation.
Humana grew revenue 10.1% to $129.7 billion in FY2025 — and saw operating cash flow collapse 69% to $921 million. Management calls it 'timing,' but the filing's own receivables numbers explain only 28% of the $2.05 billion decline. Meanwhile, Q4 quietly ran at an estimated 106.6% combined ratio, Star Ratings plunged from 94% to 20% of members in 4+ star plans, and a $3.5 billion revenue headwind looms for 2026. The only bright spot: CenterWell's 5.96% margin engine generates 44.6% of segment profits from 17.3% of revenue.
Cadence Design Systems reported a 93 basis point operating margin decline in its FY2025 10-K — but the same filing reveals that adjusted margins expanded 200+ basis points to 31.1%. A four-surface earnings decomposition shows the widest GAAP/non-GAAP gap in company history (16.4 pp), a $151M legislative tax windfall inflating FCF, and a China 'recovery' that merely returned to FY2023 levels. With $7.8B in backlog and 6.8% ROIIC, the Hexagon acquisition is the swing factor.
Arista Networks reported $9 billion in revenue growing 29% with 43% operating margins, zero debt, and a $10.7 billion cash fortress. But the FY2025 10-K reveals something the earnings call doesn't say: 42% of that revenue comes from two customers (Microsoft surging to 26%), $6.8 billion in non-cancellable purchase commitments just jumped 42% in a single quarter, and the headline cash flow quality flatters the income statement. ANET trades at nearly the same P/E as NVIDIA. The filing shows why that comparison deserves scrutiny.
SoFi reported $481 million in net income for FY2025 — but 73% came from unrealized fair value gains on loans valued using management's models. The same 10-K reveals a $576 million fee business growing 234% that generates cash without touching the balance sheet. SoFi is transforming from a lender that risks its own capital to a platform that earns fees on other people's. The 3.62x book value — 2.5x LendingClub's — is a bet on which story wins.
S&P Global posted a 42.2% operating margin in FY2025 — the highest since the IHS Markit merger. Two weeks later, the stock dropped 18%. The 10-K reveals that two definitively non-recurring tailwinds — $133M in merger cost elimination and a $273M disposition gain — account for approximately 270 of the 290-basis-point margin expansion, while $1,064M in annual deal amortization suppresses a 50% adjusted margin by 8 percentage points. Ratings generates 45.6% of segment profit at a 63.8% margin, powered by a 28% billed issuance surge that may not sustain. The market repriced growth from 14% to 9-10% — directionally correct, but the underlying quality may be mispriced from both directions.
Philip Morris trades at 22x earnings — double Altria's multiple — on the promise that ZYN and IQOS justify a consumer tech premium. But MetricDuck's ROIC data shows Altria earns 44.8% on invested capital versus PM's 34.5%. The FY2025 10-K reveals why: $28 billion in goodwill and intangibles from the Swedish Match acquisition, $11.7 billion in trade receivable factoring inflating operating cash flow, and an Americas segment earning just 10.4% margins while East Asia delivers 47%. The transformation is real. The valuation premium may not be.
Amphenol posted 52% revenue growth, 450bps of margin expansion, and closed its largest acquisition in history. The stock dropped. DuPont decomposition explains why: 86% of the balance sheet growth came from a single quarter, and incremental returns fell below the cost of debt.
We screened 1,752 SEC filings for recession-resistance metrics — ROIC, FCF margin, interest coverage, leverage, and consistency. The results were counterintuitive: nearly 80% of the strongest companies are in sectors most investors consider cyclical. Defensive sectors scored lower on every single metric. Here are the 15 most recession-resistant operations in the S&P 500, ranked by the numbers.
86% of Amazon's ROIC decline is capital turnover compression — not margin deterioration. The 10-K reveals why: $59B in new servers, a depreciation reversal on AI hardware, and $440B in irrevocable commitments. At $200B capex, the margin of safety is compressing.
Screen 50 stocks by ROIC, FCF Yield, and 3 other metrics yfinance cannot provide. Percentile-ranked composite score: Quality (60%) + Value (40%). One script, one API call, no signup.
Micron Technology reported Q2 FY2026 revenue of $23.9 billion, nearly tripling year-over-year as the AI-driven memory supercycle delivered unprecedented pricing power. Gross margins hit 74.4% — double the year-ago level — while the balance sheet flipped from net debt to $6.5 billion net cash after $4.6 billion in debt prepayments. But the 10-Q reveals a deteriorating risk landscape with new tariff and trade investigation risks, a widening patent litigation front, and $27 billion in FY2026 capital commitments that test whether peak-cycle returns can fund the next generation of capacity.
Meta's Family of Apps earns a 51.5% operating margin. Its ROIC is declining at -6.3 points per quarter. Both facts are true simultaneously. The gap between them reveals everything about the largest AI infrastructure bet in advertising history — and the accounting policies designed to make it look cheaper than it is.
A stock with a low PE looks cheap. But if ROIC is declining, you're buying a deteriorating business at a discount that keeps getting bigger. Stock Pulse compares any stock to its own 2-year baseline and diagnoses VALUE TRAP or OPPORTUNITY. One API call, no signup.
At $2,800+ gold, all three major gold miners are profitable. The question is what each does with the windfall. Newmont (NEM) is shrinking — divesting six non-core mines for $3.4 billion, retiring $3.9 billion in debt — and its quarterly ROIC peaked at 19.1% in Q2 2025 before declining to 16.9% in Q3. But NEM's 20-quarter median ROIC is 5.6%, and $1.1 billion in divestiture gains inflate current earnings. Agnico Eagle (AEM) produces gold at the industry's lowest all-in sustaining cost — $1,339/oz in FY2025, up $100/oz from FY2024 due to higher royalties — from mines concentrated in Canada, Australia, and Finland. AEM generated record free cash flow of $4.4 billion and grew reserves to a record 55.4 million ounces. Barrick (B) holds 85 million ounces in reserves but its AISC rose to $1,637/oz in FY2025 — making it unprofitable below $1,637 gold while AEM breaks even at $1,339. Barrick's Mali crisis was resolved in December 2025 after costing an estimated $1.25 billion. This analysis compares per-ounce economics, capital allocation strategies, and jurisdiction risk using SEC filing data.
We computed ROIC from XBRL financial data for four agricultural equipment companies. Deere reports 5.9% consolidated ROIC — nearly identical to AGCO's 5.3%. But Deere's three equipment segments earn 23.8% return on $20.6 billion in segment assets. Financial Services earns 1.6% on $70 billion. The same ROIC number simultaneously hides world-class equipment economics and a $70 billion finance arm with deteriorating credit quality, interest coverage below 2x, and $47.5 billion in commitments. AGCO's FY2025 10-K resolved key uncertainties: the $350M revolver drawdown was fully repaid ($0 at year-end), the PTx Trimble goodwill impairment was a FY2024 charge (FY2025 assessment: clean), and interest coverage recovered to ~4.9x. Replacement parts revenue grew 3.2% to $1,873M while tractor sales fell 23% — the balance sheet signature of an aging fleet. Tariff exposure is wildly asymmetric: Deere faces $1.2B in costs, AGCO just $65M. Titan Machinery has three of four segments at a loss.
Our analysis of 2,100+ SEC filers reveals that cost of revenue reporting in XBRL is even more fragmented than revenue. Only 38% of filers use the most common element (CostOfGoodsAndServicesSold), 36% have no standard COGS element at all, and ExxonMobil's $199.5 billion in crude oil purchases is invisible to standard extraction — producing a misleading 100% gross margin.
Seven years after ASC 606 became effective, our analysis of 2,100+ SEC filers shows revenue reporting in XBRL remains deeply fragmented. Only 46% of filers use the ASC 606 element exclusively, 25% still use legacy Revenues, and 11% have no standard revenue element at all.
Accenture beat Q2 FY2026 estimates with $18.04 billion in revenue (+8% Y/Y) and $2.93 EPS — but the 10-Q tells a different story. Below-the-line headwinds from a 390-basis-point tax rate spike and an unexplained $84.5 million non-operating swing consumed $0.25 per share of the $0.30 operating improvement investors didn't see. Meanwhile, EMEA's operating margin collapsed to 10.30% in a quarter with zero restructuring costs — worse than Q1's 12.99% which included $170 million in business optimization charges. The headline 'beat and raise' masks a business where 85% of revenue is growing at low-single-digit local currency rates and the post-restructuring margin recovery thesis faces its first real test.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals reported $4,505 million in net income for FY2025 — a 2.1% increase that suggests stability through the EYLEA biosimilar storm. But the 10-K reveals operating income fell 10.4%, a $581.5 million equity securities windfall inflated Q3 earnings, the OBBBA tax law nearly doubled the effective rate, and $3.7 billion in share buybacks reduced diluted shares by 6.9%. A four-component earnings bridge shows that none of REGN's headline growth came from selling more drugs at better margins.
Compare any two stocks across Valuation and Quality panels — ROIC, FCF Margin, EV/EBIT, FCF Yield, and Total Shareholder Yield that yfinance cannot provide. One API call, no signup. Clone the repo and run it in 60 seconds.
Developer tutorials that ship working code. Each lab walks you through building a real financial tool with the MetricDuck API — from stock comparison tools to valuation alerts. Clone the repo, run the code, extend it for your own projects.
Data centers need contractors. But which contractor stocks are worth buying? This practical framework covers the 5 metrics that matter: ROIC, backlog, operating margin, DSO, and cash conversion—with real benchmarks and SEC filing examples.
Intuitive Surgical generates 3x the returns on capital of Medtronic and Stryker. DuPont decomposition reveals ISRG wins on both NOPAT margin (25.6% vs 15%) AND capital turnover (0.84x vs 0.49x) — a rare double advantage. The counter-intuitive finding: high stock compensation actually understates their operating efficiency.
Both Jabil (29% ROIC) and Celestica (39% ROIC) rank among the best capital allocators in EMS. But DuPont decomposition reveals they get there through opposite mechanisms — JBL wins on turnover (13x), CLS wins on margin (10.2%). The counter-intuitive finding: CLS has better metrics AND faster growth, yet trades at an apparent discount. Here's what the data reveals.
Boston Scientific has 69% gross margins. Abbott has 56%. Yet Abbott's ROIC is 2.6x higher. This paradox reveals something fundamental about capital efficiency in medical devices—and why screening for 'high margin' stocks can lead you astray.
High BDC yields attract income investors, but most analysis stops at yield percentage. This 5-point framework using dividend coverage, cash conversion, and AFFO trajectory reveals the critical difference between ARCC's negative dividend coverage (-2.42) and MAIN's sustainable payout (+1.06).
The conventional wisdom says Visa is the safer, higher-quality payment stock. Our ROIC analysis tells a different story: Mastercard's 78% ROIC dwarfs Visa's 36%, and the reason reveals something important about how to read these metrics.
Dividend investing isn't just about yield—it's about sustainability. Our dividend research library covers payout ratio analysis, hidden liability screening, and sector-specific safety rankings across insurance, utilities, consumer staples, and more.
CL has the highest ROIC (34.4%), yet PG—with the lowest ROIC (23.9%)—shows the strongest improvement trajectory (+21.6% over 8 quarters). Meanwhile, KO's superior cash generation masks a $12 billion tax liability. Here's how to read beyond the headline metrics.
GE Vernova's Electrification segment grew +32% YoY, but the company trades at 98.9x earnings with a 3.57% ROIC. Eaton's Electrical Americas grew +15% with 30.3% operating margins—twice GEV's margin at half the P/E. MetricDuck data shows why quality beats hype in AI infrastructure.
At $25B market cap and 41x revenue, Rocket Lab prices in Neutron success. Our 5-pass filing analysis reveals what the narrative misses: Launch Services growth inflated 32% by catch-up accounting, backlog concentration (69% top 5) exceeds revenue concentration, and gross margins compressed from 55% to 37%. Here's what to watch before the rocket flies.
PSX 21% ROIC vs VLO 4.5%? The numbers lie. VLO's Cash ROIC is 23.3%—actually the highest. One-time California impairments distort the picture. Here's the analytical framework that matters.
Yum Brands' shareholder equity is -$7.5 billion. Yet its ROIC is 50.8% - 2.2x McDonald's 22.8%. This isn't financial engineering. It's the byproduct of franchise economics: when a business doesn't need capital, it returns excess to shareholders. We break down the mechanism behind negative equity in asset-light models.
All three mega-banks maintain similar capital adequacy (TCE ratios 6.7-6.9%), but reserve quality tells a divergent story: JPM 5.43x vs BAC 2.48x coverage, BAC's flat ALLL despite highest NPLs, JPM's hidden deterioration (NPAs up 23%), WFC turnaround validated (lowest NCOs). The 4-metric framework reveals which banks are prepared for credit stress.
The market bet on CVX after Maduro's arrest, but the data reveals COP's pure E&P model (29.9% ROIC) plus $8.5B in claims creates asymmetric upside. Chevron books zero proved reserves in Venezuela despite being the only US operator. Which exposure would you rather have?
Palantir (14.6% SBC) and AppLovin (2.4% SBC) both grew revenue ~65% in Q3 2025. So why does one require 6x more equity compensation? Our SEC filing analysis reveals diverging trajectories that matter more than static spreads: APP's SBC is declining 38% YoY while PLTR's is accelerating 42% YoY. The difference: human-intensive vs AI-engine scaling economics.
CrowdStrike's 10-Q tells a rare story: risk factors that are actively materializing. Two risks escalated, one is new, and zero have been resolved. The July 19 incident created $101M+ in expenses, litigation with no disclosed maximum exposure, and management admissions that read like warnings, not disclaimers. This is a test case for reading risk factors seriously.
Wall Street treats homebuilders as a monolithic 'housing play.' But our analysis reveals a 4x ROIC spread (NVR 35% vs LEN 9%) that cannot be explained by margins alone. The divergence stems from three structural factors: NVR's asset-light lot model vs LEN's Millrose spin-off creating structural margin compression, DHI's $26B in specific performance land contracts creating downside asymmetry, and NVR's paradoxically 'cautious' guidance signaling genuine competitive strength.
The semiconductor equipment ROIC spread (LRCX 54% vs AMAT 27%) is observable in any screener. But SEC filings reveal four hidden signals: AMAT faces TWO government investigations plus $181M restructuring, KLAC's AI packaging segment grew 37% with 401bps margin expansion (proving AI demand is real), LRCX's cash conversion is declining -23.7% (hidden stress beneath high ROIC), and ASML's 4-customer concentration creates feast-or-famine cycles.
SanDisk's +569% stock surge looks disconnected from -17% TTM ROIC, but the real story is in the cycle fundamentals: +31% bit shipment growth overwhelming -9% ASP normalization, gross margins inflecting at +7.4pp/quarter, and positive FCF despite transition losses. This is textbook early-cycle recovery, not a bubble.
The average 10-K filing contains over 500,000 characters of text. Most investors don't know what sections exist, let alone where to find specific information. This guide breaks down every section and explains what investors actually find in each.
AI infrastructure spending is approaching $500B annually across hyperscalers alone. Our research library covers capex efficiency metrics, depreciation manipulation detection, concentration risk screening, nuclear power for data centers, and supply chain analysis—everything you need to evaluate AI infrastructure investments.
The conventional wisdom says NuScale (SMR) is safer because it has NRC approval. But filing data reveals SMR paid $495M—$6.9M per reactor—to trigger a non-binding customer agreement. OKLO has regulatory uncertainty but uncommitted cash.
KLA Corporation delivers 43% ROIC—highest in semiconductor equipment. But SEC filings reveal 33% China revenue concentration, DOJ export investigations, and rare earth supply risks. Our DuPont analysis shows KLAC's zero-debt, asset-light model drives returns, while ASML's 75% invested capital growth explains its ROIC decline. Lam Research emerges as the 'boring winner' with stable returns and minimal risk.
Novo Nordisk outearns Eli Lilly on every margin metric: 84.7% gross margin vs 82.9%, 44.2% operating margin vs 44.4%, and 41.7% FCF margin vs ~27%. Yet LLY's 52% ROIC far exceeds NVO's—which appears as an anomalous -3.6%. This isn't a data error: NVO's negative invested capital reveals an extraordinarily asset-light business model where the standard ROIC formula breaks down. For margin-focused investors, NVO wins. For capital efficiency purists, LLY dominates.
Reddit is playing both sides of the AI data war: licensing to Google and OpenAI for $130M/year while suing Anthropic and Perplexity. SEC filings reveal 'content licensing agreements' driving 'Other revenue' growth. We analyze the dual strategy, quantify the revenue, and assess the legal risk.
LYFT has higher gross margin (42.6%) AND better earnings quality (7/10) than UBER. So why is LYFT barely profitable? The answer: OpEx. LYFT spends 42.2% of revenue on operating expenses vs UBER's 30.6%. Our 5-pass filing intelligence reveals how scale economics beat unit economics in rideshare.
AppLovin's ROIC went from 4.5% to 75% in 2.5 years while revenue growth accelerated from +17% to +86%. Meanwhile, Unity's ironSource merger resulted in -9% ROIC and declining revenue. The data reveals one of the most dramatic capital efficiency divergences in tech history.
Five cloud security platforms, five different approaches to shareholder value. Elastic (7/10) stands out with neutral accounting and sustainable SBC. CrowdStrike (4/10) raises red flags with 22.9% SBC/revenue and multi-front July 19 litigation. Our 5-pass filing intelligence reveals what standard screeners miss.
Devon Energy generated 48% ROIC in Q3 2025. ExxonMobil generated 11%. Both produce oil and gas. Why the 4.5x difference? The answer lies in capital allocation: XOM returns 73% of FCF as dividends while pure E&P operators reinvest in high-return wells.
Walmart's net margin is actually higher than Costco's (3.96% vs 2.97%). But Costco's ROIC is 2x higher (41.2% vs 20.9%). The difference isn't profit margin—it's asset turnover. Here's the DuPont decomposition of retail capital efficiency.
Morgan Stanley estimates 99% of software FCF goes to stock-based compensation. But the impact varies dramatically: Snowflake's SBC is 14x higher than Amazon's as a percentage of revenue. Our Filing Intelligence analysis reveals which companies offset dilution - and which leave shareholders holding the bill.
AVGO's top 5 customers account for 40% of revenue. NVDA's largest customer is 22%. ANET depends on Microsoft (20%) and Meta (15%). Standard AI stock screens show none of this. Here's our 2-signal framework for stress-testing AI beneficiaries.
EQIX's capex intensity jumped +8.7pp in 8 quarters. CCI's ROIC collapsed to -12%. ANET's customer concentration is HIGH (Microsoft + Meta). Standard screeners show none of this. Here's our 4-signal framework for screening AI data center infrastructure stocks.
Most investors buy stocks based on tips, news, or gut feeling. The edge comes from going to the source: the company's own financial reports. Here's how to research any stock like a professional, starting from zero.
Earnings can be manipulated through accounting choices. Cash flow cannot. Our earnings quality research library covers OCF/NI ratios, FCF consistency, stock-based compensation dilution, depreciation divergence, and buyback effectiveness—everything you need to separate real profits from accounting fiction.
Learn how to monitor $370B in AI infrastructure spending quarterly with a 3-metric framework. Track capex/revenue trends, depreciation manipulation signals, and growth alignment across Google, Microsoft, Amazon & Meta. Updated December 2025 with Meta's $600B commitment and Michael Burry's depreciation thesis.
Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) measures how efficiently a company turns invested capital into profit. Our ROIC research library covers sector benchmarks from 938 companies and detailed peer comparisons across 8 industries—everything you need to identify high-quality stocks.
Michael Burry warns Big Tech will understate depreciation by $176B through 2028. Amazon is taking a contrarian approach—shortening useful lives and accepting a $700M profit hit while peers extend to boost earnings. Learn how to screen for earnings quality using the capex/depreciation ratio.
Earnings quality measures how sustainable and real a company's profits are. High-quality earnings convert to cash; low-quality earnings are accounting tricks. This guide shows you exactly how to evaluate any company using our 3-metric framework with original data.
The Magnificent 7 make up 35% of the S&P 500. But comparing them all using P/E ratios is methodologically flawed—they span 5 distinct business models. Our sector-adjusted scorecard reveals GOOGL as best value (17.4x P/E), TSLA as most overvalued (85% optionality premium), and which stocks actually EARN their premiums.
ROIC measures how efficiently a company turns capital into profits. A good ROIC is 15%+ for most sectors, but utilities median is 5.7% while retail is 15.9%. This guide shows you exactly how to calculate, interpret, and screen for ROIC using original data from 938 companies.
Companies spent $2.9 trillion on buybacks since 2019. But are they actually reducing shares? Our analysis reveals the uncomfortable truth that 95% of programs are ineffective.
Earnings can be manipulated through accounting choices. Cash flow cannot. Learn the cash conversion framework—synthesizing Damodaran's multi-period analysis, Greenwald's earnings power value, and Sloan's accruals anomaly—to separate real profits from accounting fiction.
Wall Street ranks Lockheed Martin's 30% ROIC as best-in-class. But our 8-quarter trajectory analysis reveals LMT's capital efficiency is actually declining (-0.018 trend) while RTX improves (+0.004). The data suggests the market may be mispricing defense contractor quality.
Learn to calculate free cash flow (FCF = OCF - CapEx) with real 2025 SEC filing data from Adobe, Zoom, Snowflake, and Intuit. Discover why ZM's 41.7% FCF margin beats Adobe, how Snowflake generates positive FCF despite $1.35B net loss, and why Intuit's quarterly FCF swings 7x between tax seasons.
Compare any S&P 500 company against 10 competitors using 20+ metrics with 5-7 temporal dimensions each. MetricDuck's free peer comparison tool automates 3-5 hours of manual Excel work in 2 minutes with 8-quarter trends, YoY analysis, and SEC-backed data.
Master the 3-metric cash flow quality framework used by institutional investors. Analyze OCF/NI Ratio, FCF Consistency, and Cash Conversion Cycle with validated 2025 data for NVIDIA, AMD, Intel, and Broadcom. Includes specific thresholds and step-by-step methodology.
Reading 10-Q quarterly filings takes 3+ hours per company. For a 20-stock portfolio, that is 240+ hours per year. MetricDuck structures the key insights with QoQ/YoY comparisons so you can analyze any 10-Q in 5 minutes.
Forward guidance is a company official forecast of future revenue, EPS, and margins. Learn where to find it in SEC filings and how to track guidance revisions for 500+ public companies.
Traditional dividend screening misses deterioration. This 4-metric framework with 8-quarter payout trends predicted 3M's 54% cut 6 months early, Intel's 2024 suspension, and Leggett & Platt's 89% reduction. Screen 938 dividend stocks for sustainability in under 30 seconds.
Manual ROIC screening takes 4+ hours per session. Learn our 5-step framework with sector-specific benchmarks from 938 companies showing why retail median ROIC (15.9%) differs from utilities (5.7%). Screen 500+ companies in 30 minutes with sector-adjusted thresholds.
Every guide to Form 20-F is written for companies filing it—not investors reading it. This guide shows you which sections to focus on, what to skip, and how to spot red flags in foreign company annual reports.
If you've searched EDGAR for ASML or Novo Nordisk quarterly earnings and found nothing, here's why: foreign companies use Form 6-K instead of 10-Q. This guide shows you exactly how to find quarterly results for any foreign stock.
Foreign companies file Form 6-K for everything from quarterly earnings to routine governance notices. Understanding this catch-all form is essential for analyzing international stocks—here's what you need to know.
If you've ever searched for a 10-Q from ASML, Novo Nordisk, or Alibaba and come up empty, you're not alone. Foreign companies have completely different SEC filing requirements—and understanding them is essential for investing in international stocks.