National CineMedia, Inc. — Earnings Quality Grade F
NCMI · Communication Services
Major red flags
Screening Summary
Management Signals
Financial Trends
Revenue & Net Income ($B)
Margins (%)
18-Point Screening
Revenue Quality
DSO surged by 20 days (126 → 146)
Small-cap context: DSO swings on a small revenue base are more often quarterly customer-mix effects than red flags.
AR growth 16.7% exceeds revenue growth 1.0%
Revenue 1.0%, CFFO -86.1%. Cash follows revenue
Expense Quality
No material inventory
CapEx growth -3.4% vs revenue 1.0%. Normal
SG&A/Gross Profit = 78.5%, exceeds 70%
Gross margin 45.9%, change -1.9pp. 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 $0.0B, FCF/NI = -0.26
Accruals ratio = -3.9%. Low accruals
Cash $0.0B covers debt $0.0B
Balance Sheet Health
Goodwill+Intangibles $0.3B = 82% of equity. Over 50%
Interest coverage = -23.2x (<2x). Financial stress
Other assets -17.1% vs revenue 1.0%. Normal
No write-off data
Acquisition Risk
FCF after acquisitions negative for 2/3 years
Goodwill+Intangibles change -12% YoY. Normal
Manipulation Score
M-Score = -2.46 (< -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