NL Industries, Inc. — Earnings Quality Grade F
NL · Industrials
Major red flags
Screening Summary
Management Signals
Financial Trends
Revenue & Net Income ($B)
Margins (%)
18-Point Screening
Revenue Quality
DSO 32 days, change -4 days YoY
AR growth -2.4% vs revenue growth 8.5%
Revenue 8.5%, CFFO -242.3%. Cash follows revenue
Expense Quality
Inventory 7.2% vs COGS 5.3%. Normal
CapEx growth 161.7% is >2x revenue growth 8.5%
SG&A/Gross Profit = 55.4%. Normal
Gross margin 30.4%, change +2.1pp. Stable
Cash Flow Quality
CFFO < Net Income for 3 consecutive years
Small-cap context: Small-cap CFFO/NI often diverges from working-capital swings, not necessarily manipulation.
FCF is negative ($-0.0B)
Accruals ratio = -0.3%. Low accruals
Cash $0.1B covers debt $0.0B
Balance Sheet Health
Goodwill+Intangibles $0.0B = 8% of equity. Manageable
Debt/EBITDA = -0.0x. Healthy
Other assets -20.5% vs revenue 8.5%. Normal
No write-off data
Acquisition Risk
FCF after acquisitions positive
Goodwill+Intangibles change 0% YoY. Normal
Manipulation Score
M-Score = -2.27 (< -2.22). Unlikely manipulator
Portfolio monitoring
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Beneish M-Score
Altman Z-Score
Generated from public financial data using forensic accounting frameworks. Not investment advice. Data: Yahoo Finance · 2026-04-25