American Public Education Inc (APEI) Stock — Forensic Analysis, Red Flags & Rating | Stockonomy · Stockonomy
Forensic Analysis · Professional & Commercial Services · as of Sep 25, 2026
American Public Education Inc (APEI)
A forensic read on American Public Education Inc built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
B · Sound & dependable
Forensic grade
Safe
Financial health
6.3
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
3
Forensic signals
17.6
P / E (ttm)
10.7%
ROE
$757M
Market cap
0.00%
Dividend yield
3.9%
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, going concern, valuation). 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.
American Public Education Inc earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 6.3, placing it in the Safe zone. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by share-count dilution.
What the filings flag
+1.3%/yr
FY2023–FY2025
Share-count dilution.Diluted share count changed +3% over the last 2 years to FY2025 (+1.3%/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 ~1.3% 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 ~3%.
12.7%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 12.7% in the latest fiscal year and rising across FY2023–FY2025 from -10.4%. After-tax operating profit was ($38M) in FY2023 and $35M in FY2025, with operating income at -8.0% of revenue in FY2023, 5.3% in FY2024 and 7.4% in FY2025. The capital base behind it came down -26% across FY2023–FY2025, from $367M to $272M, so this is a return struck on a smaller base rather than a record of money put to work. FY2023's operating profit carried a $53M goodwill write-off and a $26M asset write-down that alone took about 17.1 points off that year's return, so about 17.1 of the 23.1-point rise across FY2023–FY2025 is that charge leaving the base year rather than the capital earning more. FY2024's operating profit carried a $26M asset write-down that alone took about 4.9 points off that year's return; FY2024 sits between the two ends of FY2023–FY2025, so the charge shapes the path between them without moving the change across it.
$53M
FY2023–FY2023
Goodwill impairments.Took $53M of goodwill writedowns across 1 year (FY2023 ($53M)). Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$648.9M
Revenue Growth YoY+3.9%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+3.9%
Net Margin4.9%
Free Cash Flow$46.1M
Return on Equity10.7%
Debt / Equity0.32x
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 American Public Education Inc's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?