Forensic Analysis · Retail / Consumer Discretionary · as of Nov 8, 2026
Autonation, Inc. (AN)
A forensic read on Autonation, Inc. built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
C · Mixed — selective
Forensic grade
Grey Zone
Financial health
1.7
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
4
Forensic signals
27.1%
ROE
3.2%
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.
Autonation, Inc. earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 1.7, placing it in the Grey zone. 4 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by cash conversion.
What the filings flag
0.47×
FY2023–FY2025
Cash conversion.Over FY2023–FY2025, cumulative operating cash flow was 0.47× cumulative net income before $65.3M 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.
FCF ($198M)
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $792M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025, but free cash flow was ($198M) after capex — there was no free cash flow to fund the payout from at all, though operating cash flow alone was $112M — 707% of that. The entire return is coming from debt or cash reserves, not cash the business itself generated — a harder case than returns merely running ahead of free cash flow, since here there was none to run ahead of.
11.2%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 11.2% in the latest fiscal year and slipping across FY2023–FY2025 from 18.4%. After-tax operating profit was $1.2B in FY2023 and $910M in FY2025, with operating income at 6.1% of revenue in FY2023, 4.9% in FY2024 and 4.5% in FY2025. The capital base behind it grew +20% across FY2023–FY2025, from $6.8B to $8.1B, while the return fell 7.2 points, so the dollars added over that window earned less than the 18.4% the older base was already earning.
$65M
FY2025
Goodwill impairments.Took $65M of goodwill writedowns across 1 year (FY2025 ($65M)) — about 10% of net income over the span. Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$27.63B
Revenue Growth YoY+3.2%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+1.3%
Net Margin2.3%
Free Cash Flow-$197.5M
Return on Equity27.1%
Debt / Equity1.67x
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 Autonation, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?