Forensic Analysis · Industrials / Manufacturing / Defense · as of Jun 27, 2026
Cooper-Standard Holdings Inc. (CPS)
A forensic read on Cooper-Standard Holdings Inc. built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
F · Poor — capital at risk
Forensic grade
Distress
Financial health
0.1
Altman Z-score
Clean
Earnings quality
5
Forensic signals
-108.8%
ROE
$507M
Market cap
Cooper-Standard Holdings Inc. earns a F (Poor — capital at risk) forensic quality grade, and its Altman Z-score is 0.1, placing it in the Distress zone. 5 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by share-count dilution.
What the filings flag
+1.3%/yrShare-count dilution.Diluted share count changed +4% over the last 3 years to FY2025 (+1.3%/yr). The count is GROWING — existing holders are being diluted. 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 FY2022 has been diluted ~4%.
1% of revStock-based comp load.Stock-based compensation ran 1% of revenue and 94% of free cash flow in FY2025 — about $0.85 per diluted share. Heavy — a large slice of 'free cash flow' is really being paid out in stock, so the true owner cash per share is well below the headline.
stoppedShareholder returns — halted.Capital returns have STOPPED — $37M of buybacks + dividends in FY2019, but ~$0 in FY2021. A halt usually means the company is conserving cash; understand why before reading it as neutral.
7%Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 7% and rising from -7% — around its ~9% cost of capital, so growth is roughly value-neutral — watch the trend.
$390,000Goodwill impairments.Took $390,000 of goodwill writedowns across 1 year(s) (FY2021 ($390,000)). Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them — worth weighing on capital-allocation skill.
Key fundamentals
Net Margin-0.2%
Free Cash Flow$16.2M
Latest Revenue$2.74B
Revenue Growth YoY+0.4%
Go deeper — free with an account
The forensic grade and screens above are free — no account needed. An account adds the full interactive deep-dive on Cooper-Standard Holdings Inc.:
🔒The written investment read — what the numbers mean, in plain English
🔒Ask anything about CPS's filings — AI Q&A across the 10-K, 10-Qs & 8-Ks
🔒Interactive valuation — reverse-DCF sliders, Monte Carlo & scenario stress
🔒Calibrated 12-month price forecast, with the math shown