The AES Corporation — Earnings Quality Grade F
AES · Utilities
Major red flags
Screening Summary
Financial Trends
Revenue & Net Income ($B)
Margins (%)
18-Point Screening
Revenue Quality
DSO 50 days, change +1 days YoY
AR outpaced revenue for 2 consecutive years
Revenue -0.4%, CFFO 56.5%. Cash follows revenue
Expense Quality
Inventory 3.2% vs COGS 0.6%. Normal
CapEx growth -19.8% vs revenue -0.4%. Normal
SG&A/Gross Profit = 10.9%, excellent (<30%)
Gross margin 18.1%, change -0.8pp. Stable
Cash Flow Quality
CFFO/NI = 4.73. Profits backed by cash
FCF < 50% of Net Income for 3 years
Accruals ratio = -6.6%. Low accruals
Cash $1.6B covers only 5% of debt $29.9B
Balance Sheet Health
Goodwill+Intangibles $2.4B = 59% of equity. Over 50%
Debt/EBITDA = 10.2x (>4x). Interest coverage = 1.4x (<2x). Financial stress
Other assets -19.8% vs revenue -0.4%. Normal
Write-offs normal
Acquisition Risk
FCF after acquisitions negative for 3 years
Goodwill+Intangibles change 4% YoY. Normal
Manipulation Score
M-Score = -2.73 (< -2.22). Unlikely manipulator
Beneish M-Score
Altman Z-Score
Generated from public financial data using forensic accounting frameworks. Not investment advice. Data: Yahoo Finance · 2026-04-10