Forensic Analysis · Retail / Consumer Discretionary · as of Aug 11, 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
2.1
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
4
Forensic signals
9.0
P / E (ttm)
27.7%
ROE
$6.9B
Market cap
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 (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.
Autonation, Inc. earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 2.1, placing it in the Grey zone. 4 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by cash conversion.
What the filings flag
0.49×
FY2023–FY2025
Cash conversion.Over FY2023–FY2025, operating cash flow was 0.49× cumulative net income. 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.
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.
10.1%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 10.1% in the latest fiscal year and slipping from 23% — around its ~9% cost of capital, so growth is roughly value-neutral.
$384M
FY2020–FY2025
Goodwill impairments.Took $384M of goodwill writedowns across 2 years (FY2020 ($318M), FY2025 ($65M)) — about 7% 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 (3yr)+0.8%
Net Margin2.3%
Free Cash Flow-$197.5M
Return on Equity27.7%
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?