Choice Hotels International Inc (CHH) Stock — Forensic Analysis, Red Flags & Rating | Stockonomy · Stockonomy
Forensic Analysis · Hospitality & Leisure · as of Sep 24, 2026
Choice Hotels International Inc (CHH)
A forensic read on Choice Hotels International 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
5.3
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
2
Forensic signals
13.3
P / E (ttm)
204.1%
ROE
$4.6B
Market cap
1.01%
Dividend yield
0.8%
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 (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.
Choice Hotels International Inc earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 5.2, placing it in the Safe zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by accruals ratio (% of noa).
What the filings flag
+19.3%
FY2024→FY2025
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +19.3% relative to their own average in FY2025 — scaled by NOA itself, not by total assets, which is what the Forensic Screens card's own accrual row divides by. Accruals are building faster than is comfortable — part of profit is sitting in the balance sheet rather than turning to cash. The build is led by receivables up +17% against revenue +1%. A cash-flow measure on the same base agrees: reported earnings ran ahead of operating cash by 5% of net operating assets, against an accruals ratio of 19.3%. The two are computed differently: the accruals ratio is the change in net operating assets over average net operating assets, while the cash-flow figure is net income less operating cash flow over that same average.
117% of FCF
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $192M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 117% of free cash flow, but 71% of operating cash flow. Returns run ahead of free cash flow, with the gap funded by debt or cash reserves rather than the cash the business itself throws off; the payout itself is still covered by operating cash. Counting the $38M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 141%.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$1.60B
Revenue Growth YoY+0.8%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+1.7%
Net Margin23.2%
Free Cash Flow$163.6M
Return on Equity204.1%
Debt / Equity10.52x
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 Choice Hotels International Inc's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?