Forensic Analysis · Software & SaaS · as of Nov 9, 2026
Coursera, Inc. (COUR)
A forensic read on Coursera, 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
1.9
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
3
Forensic signals
-8.3%
ROE
9.0%
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.
Coursera, Inc. earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 1.9, placing it in the Grey zone. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by shareholder returns — halted.
What the filings flag
stopped
FY2024→FY2025
Shareholder returns — halted.Capital returns have STOPPED — $37M of buybacks + dividends in FY2024, but ~$0 in FY2025. A halt usually means the company is conserving cash.
+4.2%/yr
FY2023–FY2025
Share-count dilution.Diluted share count changed +8% over the last 2 years to FY2025 (+4.2%/yr). The count is growing — 151.0M shares in FY2023, 163.8M in FY2025: more stock was issued than repurchased over this window, so aggregate results grew faster than their per-share equivalents. That's ~4.2% 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 ~8%.
13% of rev
FY2025
Stock-based comp load.Stock-based compensation ran 13% of revenue and 89% of free cash flow in FY2025 — about $0.58 per diluted share. No cash left the business to pay it, which is why operating cash flow adds it back. Net of repurchases the diluted count still rose about 4.2% a year across FY2023–FY2025 and that rate is not falling, so total profit has to grow by that much annually before any of it reaches a share. Stock compensation is one source of that issuance; acquisition consideration, equity raises, convertibles and other employee plans also net into the count, and these figures do not separate them.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$757.5M
Revenue Growth YoY+9.0%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+9.2%
Net Margin-6.7%
Free Cash Flow$107.2M
Return on Equity-8.3%
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 Coursera, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?