KALUKaiser Aluminum Corporation
Is it safe?
Forensics clean, with a caveat: a safe balance sheet and clean books, but big price swings.
Financially healthy, low distress risk Altman Z-score, a bankruptcy-risk model from five balance-sheet ratios.
Reported earnings show no manipulation flags Beneish M-score, a forensic model that detects earnings-manipulation patterns (receivables outrunning sales, margins slipping, accrual-heavy profit).
High fundamental quality Piotroski F-score, nine pass/fail tests of year-over-year financial health across profitability, balance sheet and efficiency. 7 to 9 is strong, 0 to 3 weak.
Investment-grade balance sheet. A rule of thumb on leverage, not a credit rating.
Large price swings, high volatility. Worst drawdown -58% · now 22% below its 52-week high.
Unless marked, from SEC EDGAR, as of Dec 31, 2025.
Against the whole market›
Percentile against every name Ryufin tracks. Higher is better; the tick marks the middle of the market. Context, not one of the checks above.
Where this answer is blind. Altman sits structurally low for utilities and pipelines; Beneish runs high for fast growers, since sales growth alone lifts it; banks and REITs are excluded.
Can KALU take a bad year?
Kaiser Aluminum Corporation carries $980M of net debt at 2.11× EBITDA: a load its earnings can carry.
Net debt · as at Q2 2026 · under two and a half years of EBITDA, comfortable
- Net debt / EBITDA
- 2.11×
Net debt / EBITDA · 4.26× a year ago · the load is coming down
- Altman Z-score
- 3.05
Altman Z-score · safe zone, above 3
- Interest cover
- 6.16×
Interest cover · operating profit covers the interest bill several times over
Details›
- Total debtQ2 2026
- $1.04B
- Cash and short-term investments
- $59M
- Net debt
- $980M
- EBITDA, trailing twelve months
- $464M
- Operating profit, trailing twelve months
- $341M
- Debt / equity
- 1.10×
- Total debt / EBITDA
- 2.24×
- Annualised volatilitytwo years of daily moves
- 46%
- Worst drawdown on file
- −58%
- Below its 52-week high
- 22%
Balance sheet from SEC filings; drawdown and volatility from end-of-day closes; Altman Z from the filed statements.