Forensic Analysis · Technology / Software · as of Aug 10, 2026
C3.Ai, Inc. (AI)
A forensic read on C3.Ai, Inc. built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
D · Weak — demands caution
Forensic grade
Safe
Financial health
3.6
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
5
Forensic signals
-3.1
P / E (ttm)
-71.9%
ROE
$1.6B
Market cap
0.00%
Dividend yield
-35.7%
Revenue growth
This free snapshot doesn't read filing or proxy text, so the auditor-quality and governance checks that can lower a grade were not evaluated (red flags, auditor quality, say on pay, board independence). Those checks only ever lower a grade, so the full analysis can land below the grade above but never above it — treat it as the most favourable reading, not the settled one.
C3.Ai, Inc. earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 3.6, placing it in the Safe zone. 5 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
-61.2%
FY2026
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is -61.2% in the latest fiscal year and slipping from -34% — well below its ~10% cost of capital, so reinvested dollars may be destroying value, not building it.
+8.6%/yr
FY2023–FY2026
Share-count dilution.Diluted share count changed +28% over the last 3 years to FY2026 (+8.6%/yr). The count is growing: more stock was issued than repurchased over this window, so aggregate results grew faster than their per-share equivalents. That's ~8.6% shaved off per-share growth every year — total profit has to grow that much just to keep earnings-per-share flat, and a stake held since FY2023 has been diluted ~22%.
105% of rev
FY2026
Stock-based comp load.Stock-based compensation ran 105% of revenue in FY2026 — about $1.88 per diluted share. The cost of it is not in the cash flow — no cash left the business — it is in the count: holders gave up about 8.6% of the company a year, and that rate is not falling. That is the figure to weigh, not the share of free cash flow.
stopped
FY2022→FY2024
Shareholder returns — halted.Capital returns have STOPPED — $15M of buybacks + dividends in FY2022, but ~$0 in FY2024. A halt usually means the company is conserving cash.
173d DSO
FY2025→FY2026
Receivables vs revenue.Days sales outstanding moved from 125 to 173 days FY2025→FY2026 (receivables -27% vs revenue -36%). Receivables are creeping up relative to sales. Across FY2022–FY2026 the day count ran 105 → 147 → 156 → 125 → 173 days — the latest step continues a climb that was already under way, which is the persistence that separates a collection problem from a busy quarter. Measured against the same quarter twelve months earlier — like-for-like on the calendar, so an ordinary seasonal build cannot produce it — receivables took longer to collect in 3 consecutive quarters (Oct 2025 +11, Jan 2026 +45, Apr 2026 +61 days). In the latest of them the receivable balance grew -27% against sales -53%, so more of a quarter's billings were still outstanding at the period end than a year earlier — money the company has recognized and not yet been paid.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$250.3M
Revenue Growth YoY-35.7%
Net Margin-187.9%
Free Cash Flow-$192.1M
Return on Equity-71.9%
The forensic grade and screens above are free — no account needed. Want the AI investment read on top — the 0–100 rating, thesis, bull-vs-bear, red flags and the 12-month scenario, written from C3.Ai, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?