Forensic Analysis · Communications Equipment & Electronic Components · as of Nov 10, 2026
Powerfleet, Inc. (AIOT)
A forensic read on Powerfleet, Inc. built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
F · Poor — capital at risk
Forensic grade
Distress
Financial health
0.6
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
5
Forensic signals
-4.5%
ROE
22.4%
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 (auditor quality, say on pay, board independence, going concern). 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.
Powerfleet, Inc. earns an F (Poor — capital at risk) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 0.6, placing it in the Distress zone. 5 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
2.1%
FY2026
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 2.1% in the latest fiscal year, against -4.3% in FY2025. After-tax operating profit was ($20M) in FY2025 and $15M in FY2026, with operating income at -7.1% of revenue in FY2025 and 4.4% in FY2026. The capital base behind it grew +55% across FY2025–FY2026, from $481M to $743M, and the return did not fall doing it, so the dollars added over that window earned at least the -4.3% the older base was already earning. FY2026's operating profit carried a $8M restructuring charge that alone took about 0.9 points off that year's return, so the latest return is depressed by that charge.
+11.6%/yr
FY2025–FY2026
Share-count dilution.Diluted share count changed +12% over the last 1 year to FY2026 (+11.6%/yr). The count is growing — 119.9M shares in FY2025, 133.8M in FY2026: more stock was issued than repurchased over this window, so aggregate results grew faster than their per-share equivalents. That's ~11.6% 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 FY2025 has been diluted ~10%.
stopped
FY2025→FY2026
Shareholder returns — halted.Capital returns have STOPPED — $3M of buybacks + dividends in FY2025, but ~$0 in FY2026. A halt usually means the company is conserving cash.
71d DSO
FY2025→FY2026
Receivables vs revenue.Days sales outstanding moved from 55 to 71 days FY2025→FY2026 (receivables +19% vs revenue +22%). Receivables are creeping up relative to sales. Deferred revenue was roughly flat (+7%) over the same period, which doesn't corroborate a benign upfront-billing explanation for the receivables build. 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 4 consecutive quarters (Dec 2025 +4, Mar 2026 +5, Jun 2026 +4, Sep 2026 +7 days). In the latest of them the receivable balance grew +15% against sales +4%, 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.DSO (days sales outstanding): the average days the company waits to collect cash after a sale.
1.7% of rev
FY2026
Stock-based comp load.Stock-based compensation ran 1.7% of revenue in FY2026 — about $0.06 per diluted share. No cash left the business to pay it, which is why operating cash flow adds it back. Net of repurchases the diluted count still rose about 11.6% a year across FY2025–FY2026, above the level at which the count is a material claim on a stake, and only one year's change is on file — enough to state what a holder gave up, not enough to say whether the rate is climbing or coming down. Stock compensation is one source of that issuance; acquisition consideration, equity raises, convertibles and other employee plans also net into the count, and these figures do not separate them.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$443.8M
Revenue Growth YoY+22.4%
Net Margin-4.6%
Free Cash Flow-$9.7M
Return on Equity-4.5%
Debt / Equity0.50x
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 Powerfleet, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?