Filing Flows › Companies › Clearwater Paper › Analysis traps
Clearwater Paper (CLW): analysis traps
Where its figures could mislead a reader, and what to check before taking them at face value · Data: Q3 2026, to Sep 30, 2026, filed Oct 26, 2026; rules v1.1
Clearwater Paper (CLW): 1 rule of 10 triggered on the filings to Sep 30, 2026: low net debt = no refinancing risk; 3 with insufficient data; 2 not applicable. Each is a question to verify, with the normal explanation that would produce the same figures.
Check these first
Low net debt = no refinancing risk Triggered · severity high · confidence medium
$275M of debt comes due within a year against $36M of cash and investments and $57M of free cash flow over the last twelve months: $182M short, to be refinanced or raised. Net debt of $238M says nothing about when the debt falls due.
Innocent reading: A committed, undrawn credit facility covers the gap (not visible in the balance sheet).
Every rule
A01 FCF growth = the business improved Not triggered confidence high
Free cash flow did not rise (−$55M → −$76M): the trap does not arise.
The figures and how they are read
| Fiscal year before | FY2024 |
| Fiscal year | FY2025 |
| Operating cash flow, year before | $61M |
| Operating cash flow | $12M |
| Capex, year before | $117M |
| Capex | $89M |
| Free cash flow, year before | −$55M |
| Free cash flow | −$76M |
| Change in FCF | −$21M |
| Change in capex | −$28M |
| Working capital: change in its cash contribution | −$121M |
FCF = operating cash flow − cash capex; ΔFCF = ΔOCF − ΔCapEx; the working-capital part is the change in the cash-bridge items (receivables, inventory, payables, accruals), with the sign of the cash flow statement
Source: FY2025 (cash flow statement, fiscal year) · FY2024 (cash flow statement, fiscal year before)
A07 Stock compensation added back = no economic cost Not triggered confidence high
Stock compensation is 0.2% of revenue: small enough that adding it back changes little.
The figures and how they are read
| Fiscal year | FY2025 |
| Stock compensation | $4M |
| Revenue | $1.6B |
| SBC / revenue | +0.2% |
| Buybacks | $17M |
| Buybacks / SBC | 4.5 |
| Diluted shares, year before | 16.8M shares |
| Diluted shares | 16.2M shares |
| Diluted shares: change | -3.6% |
SBC / revenue from the cash flow statement's add-back; the diluted weighted share count year over year; buybacks from the financing section
Source: FY2025 (stock compensation, buybacks and the diluted share count, fiscal year)
B02 Receivables growing = future cash is certain Not triggered confidence medium
Receivables grew 1% against revenue -4% in Q3 2026; DSO 39 against a median of 43: collections are keeping pace with sales.
The figures and how they are read
| Quarter | Q3 2026 |
| Revenue, year over year | -3.5% |
| Receivables, year over year | +0.7% |
| Quarter before | Q2 2026 |
| Revenue y/y, quarter before | -4.3% |
| Receivables y/y, quarter before | -1.8% |
| Days sales outstanding | 38.9 |
| DSO, median of eight quarters | 42.9 |
| Receivables | $163M |
| Revenue | $385M |
receivables and revenue against the same quarter a year earlier; DSO = receivables / quarterly revenue × days, against the median of the eight quarters before
Source: Q3 2026 (receivables and revenue) · Q3 2025 (the same quarter a year earlier)
B08 Adjusted profit = economic profit Insufficient data
no reconciliation table read from the releases yet and fewer than three quarters with both an adjusted and a GAAP EPS
C02 Low net debt = no refinancing risk Triggered severity high · confidence medium
$275M of debt comes due within a year against $36M of cash and investments and $57M of free cash flow over the last twelve months: $182M short, to be refinanced or raised. Net debt of $238M says nothing about when the debt falls due.
The figures and how they are read
| Cash and investments | $36M |
| Debt | $274M |
| Net debt | $238M |
| Due within a year | $275M |
| Read from | the current portion of debt on the balance sheet |
| Free cash flow, twelve months | $57M |
| Cash plus free cash flow | $92M |
| Coverage of what is due | 0.3 |
| Due in the second year | — |
| Balance sheet date | 2026-09-30 |
due within a year from the maturity table (else the current portion of debt), against cash and investments plus free cash flow over the last twelve months (zero if negative); no credit lines assumed
Source: 2026-09-30 (debt maturities, cash and investments)
What would explain it innocently
- A committed, undrawn credit facility covers the gap (not visible in the balance sheet)
- The notes are routinely rolled over in the commercial-paper or bond market at an investment-grade rating
- Cash held abroad or in subsidiaries can be moved to where the debt is
- A sale of a business or asset already agreed brings the cash
What to look for in the filing
- Undrawn committed facilities and their covenants
- The cost and rating of the refinancing
- Restricted cash and the operating minimum
What would show the trap does not apply
- The 10-K lists an undrawn credit facility that covers the debt due, or the maturity is refinanced before it falls due
- Cash plus FCF of the next quarter exceeds the debt due within a year
Look again: next filing.
D03 EPS growth = profit growth Insufficient data
no quarter with EPS, net income and diluted shares for both this year and last
E02 Low P/E at a cyclical peak = undervalued Not triggered confidence medium
Net income of $2M is not at a cyclical high against the last eight years (median $46M, best $196M): the P/E of 89.2× is on a normal year.
The figures and how they are read
| market value | $214M |
| net income ttm | $2M |
| pe ttm | 89.20 |
| net income median fy | $46M |
| pe mid cycle | 4.70 |
| net income peak fy | $196M |
| years | FY2018 / -144.0; FY2019 / -6.0; FY2020 / 77.0; FY2021 / -28.0; FY2022 / 46.0; FY2023 / 108.0; FY2024 / 196.0; FY2025 / -19.0 |
| down years in window | 2 |
P/E on the trailing twelve months' net income against the P/E on the median net income of the last eight fiscal years (a mid-cycle stand-in); 'at a peak' = this year's profit at or above 90% of the best year and at least 1.3× the median
Source: Q3 2026 (net income, trailing twelve months)
E07 A precise DCF value = the true value Insufficient data
no DCF in the valuation research for this company
J06 A bank's low P/E and high profit = safe Not applicable
not a bank
J08 A REIT's low net income = the dividend is unsafe Not applicable
not a REIT
What the statuses mean
Triggered: the filings show the pattern; read the normal explanations and the missing evidence before concluding anything. To review: one quarter or a weak signal; a reader's judgement, not a pattern. Not triggered: the pattern is absent on these figures. Insufficient data: the filings read so far do not hold what the rule needs; this is not a clean bill. Not applicable: the rule is not meant for this kind of company (a bank's working capital, a loss-making quarter's EPS growth). Out of date: the latest filing is more than fifteen months old.
Severity is what the pattern could mean for cash, value or solvency; confidence is how reliable the inputs and the reading are. The two are kept apart.
Record a view
A reader's judgement, grounds, what would change it and the next review; kept in the browser (needs JavaScript).
Every rule and the companies it triggers on → Clearwater Paper: cash flow →
Each rule reads the company's own filings by a fixed formula and says what would explain the same figures innocently. A triggered rule is a question to verify, not a finding of manipulation, and not a view on the stock. Missing data is shown as missing, never as clear. Not investment advice.