The Arena Group Holdings, Inc. — Earnings Quality Grade F
AREN · Communication Services
Major red flags
Screening Summary
Management Signals
Financial Trends
Revenue & Net Income ($B)
Margins (%)
18-Point Screening
Revenue Quality
DSO 60 days, change -30 days YoY
AR growth -28.4% vs revenue growth 7.1%
Revenue 7.1%, CFFO 344.1%. Cash follows revenue
Expense Quality
No material inventory
CapEx growth 85.3% is >2x revenue growth 7.1%
SG&A/Gross Profit = 35.2%. Normal
Gross margin swung +6.4pp (44.3% → 50.7%)
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 $0.0B, FCF/NI = 0.24
Accruals ratio = 76.0%. Exceeds 10%
Cash $0.0B covers only 10% of debt $0.1B
Balance Sheet Health
Goodwill+Intangibles $0.1B = -1549% of equity. Manageable
Debt/EBITDA = 2.0x. Healthy
Insufficient data
No write-off data
Acquisition Risk
FCF after acquisitions negative for 2/3 years
Goodwill+Intangibles change 2% YoY. Normal
Manipulation Score
M-Score = 1.04 (> -1.78). LIKELY MANIPULATOR
Small-cap context: Beneish M-Score was calibrated on large-caps; small-cap DSO/inventory volatility mechanically inflates it.
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