Frontier Group Holdings, Inc. — Earnings Quality Grade F
ULCC · Industrials
Major red flags
Screening Summary
Management Signals
Source: SEC EDGAR 8-K Item 5.02, with exhibit links when available
Financial Trends
Revenue & Net Income ($B)
Margins (%)
18-Point Screening
Revenue Quality
DSO 8 days, change +1 days YoY
AR growth 16.4% exceeds revenue growth -1.4%
Revenue -1.4%, CFFO -540.2%. Cash follows revenue
Expense Quality
Inventory 13.9% vs COGS 3.4%. Normal
CapEx growth 30.3% is >2x revenue growth -1.4%
SG&A/Gross Profit = 1135.7%, exceeds 70%
Gross margin 0.4%, change -4.6pp. Stable
Cash Flow Quality
CFFO/NI = 3.83. Profits backed by cash
FCF is negative ($-0.6B)
Accruals ratio = 5.4%. Elevated
Cash $0.7B covers only 12% of debt $5.5B
Balance Sheet Health
Goodwill+Intangibles $0.0B = 5% of equity. Manageable
Interest coverage = -13.5x (<2x). Financial stress
Other assets 15.3% vs revenue -1.4%. 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.
Goodwill+Intangibles change 0% YoY. Normal
Manipulation Score
M-Score = 4.36 (> -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