Serve Robotics Inc. — Earnings Quality Grade F
SERV · Industrials
Major red flags
Screening Summary
Management Signals
Financial Trends
Revenue & Net Income ($B)
Margins (%)
18-Point Screening
Revenue Quality
DSO surged by 100 days (18 → 117)
Small-cap context: DSO swings on a small revenue base are more often quarterly customer-mix effects than red flags.
AR outpaced revenue for 2 consecutive years
Revenue grew 46.2% but CFFO declined -272.5%
Small-cap context: Small-cap revenue/CFFO ratio is sensitive to growth-stage working-capital draws.
Expense Quality
No material inventory
CapEx growth 268.1% is >2x revenue growth 46.2%
SG&A/Gross Profit = -260.2%, excellent (<30%)
Gross margin swung -576.1pp (-4.1% → -580.2%)
Cash Flow Quality
CFFO < Net Income for 3 consecutive years
Small-cap context: Small-cap CFFO/NI often diverges from working-capital swings, not necessarily manipulation.
FCF is negative ($-0.1B)
Accruals ratio = -5.7%. Low accruals
Cash $0.2B covers debt $0.0B
Balance Sheet Health
Goodwill+Intangibles $0.0B = 13% of equity. Manageable
Interest coverage = -37589.7x (<2x). Financial stress
Other assets 91.5% vs revenue 46.2%. Normal
No write-off data
Acquisition Risk
FCF after acquisitions negative for 3 years
Small-cap context: A single acquisition on a small balance sheet can trip serial-acquirer logic.
Insufficient data
Manipulation Score
M-Score = 21.40 (> -1.78). LIKELY MANIPULATOR
Small-cap context: Beneish M-Score was calibrated on large-caps; small-cap DSO/inventory volatility mechanically inflates it.
Beneish M-Score
Altman Z-Score
Generated from public financial data using forensic accounting frameworks. Not investment advice. Data: Yahoo Finance · 2026-04-25