Forensic Analysis · Homebuilders & Residential Construction · as of Nov 9, 2026
Ameresco, Inc. (AMRC)
A forensic read on Ameresco, 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
Grey Zone
Financial health
1.7
Distress distance
5
Forensic signals
5.9%
ROE
28.8%
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.
Ameresco, Inc. earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 1.7, placing it in the Grey zone. 5 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by cash conversion.
What the filings flag
-1.35×
FY2022–FY2024
Cash conversion.Over FY2022–FY2024, cumulative operating cash flow was -1.35× cumulative net income before $1.6M of non-cash goodwill impairment. Reported profit is not turning into cash. The shortfall is profit tied up in working capital rather than collected — the accrual and receivables lines below show where.Cash conversion: operating cash flow divided by net income, the share of profit that arrived as cash.
53d DSO
FY2023→FY2024
Receivables vs revenue.Days sales outstanding moved from 41 to 53 days FY2023→FY2024 (receivables +68% vs revenue +29%). Receivables are outrunning sales — a flag for aggressive revenue recognition or slipping collections. Only -135¢ of operating cash arrived for every dollar of profit reported over FY2022–FY2024 (-$290.7M against $215.8M), and the receivables balance is one of the places the rest is sitting. Across FY2022–FY2024 the day count ran 35 → 41 → 53 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. Deferred revenue grew +73% over the same period, but billing ahead of recognition does not account for this one: that pattern leaves the day count steady and the cash arriving early, and here the day count has climbed across the years on file while the cash did not arrive. Both figures are measured on period-end balances rather than the beginning-plus-ending average, because averaging needs the balance a year before every reading — FY2023's opening balance is on file, but across the 3 fiscal years read here (FY2022–FY2024) the average yields only 2 day counts (1 step), too few to tell a climb from one year's move.DSO (days sales outstanding): the average days the company waits to collect cash after a sale.
3.1%
FY2024
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 3.1% in the latest fiscal year and slipping across FY2022–FY2024 from 5.2%. After-tax operating profit was $120M in FY2022 and $98M in FY2024, with operating income at 7.3% of revenue in FY2022, 6.0% in FY2023 and 6.1% in FY2024. The capital base behind it grew +40% across FY2022–FY2024, from $2.3B to $3.2B, while the return fell 2.1 points, so the dollars added over that window earned less than the 5.2% the older base was already earning. FY2024's operating profit carried a $12M asset write-down that alone took about 0.4 points off that year's return, so about 0.4 of the 2.1-point fall across FY2022–FY2024 is that charge landing in the latest year rather than the capital earning less. A non-cash write-down lowers the reported return in the year it lands.
$2M
FY2023
Goodwill impairments.Took $2M of goodwill writedowns across 1 year (FY2023 ($2M)) — about 3% of net income over the span. Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them.
-42%
FY2022→FY2023
Dividend — cut.The payout was CUT ~42% in FY2023 (from FY2022). It still returns some cash, but it is NOT the dependable, rising dividend an unbroken streak implies.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$1.77B
Revenue Growth YoY+28.8%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)-1.5%
Net Margin3.2%
Free Cash Flow$113.3M
Return on Equity5.9%
Debt / Equity1.61x
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 Ameresco, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?