Telephone and Data Systems, Inc — Earnings Quality Grade F
TDS · Communication Services
Major red flags
Screening Summary
Management Signals
Financial Trends
Revenue & Net Income ($B)
Margins (%)
18-Point Screening
Revenue Quality
DSO 20 days, change +4 days YoY
AR growth 20.3% exceeds revenue growth -5.3%
Revenue -5.3%, CFFO -48.5%. Cash follows revenue
Expense Quality
Inventory 0.2% vs COGS -14.7%. Normal
CapEx growth 2.6% vs revenue -5.3%. Normal
SG&A/Gross Profit = 60.0%. Normal
Gross margin 59.0%, change +4.5pp. Stable
Cash Flow Quality
CFFO < Net Income for 3 consecutive years
FCF $0.2B, FCF/NI = -31.30
Accruals ratio = -7.1%. Low accruals
Cash $0.8B covers 55% of debt $1.4B
Balance Sheet Health
Goodwill+Intangibles $1.8B = 37% of equity
Interest coverage = -0.6x (<2x). Financial stress
Other assets -62.1% vs revenue -5.3%. Normal
No write-off data
Acquisition Risk
FCF after acquisitions positive
Goodwill+Intangibles change -49% YoY. Normal
Manipulation Score
M-Score = -2.61 (< -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