Forensic Analysis · Technology / Software · as of Aug 11, 2026
Cerence Inc. (CRNC)
A forensic read on Cerence Inc. built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
D · Weak — demands caution
Forensic grade
Distress
Financial health
-3.1
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
5
Forensic signals
-25.2
P / E (ttm)
-12.4%
ROE
$396M
Market cap
0.00%
Dividend yield
-24.0%
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 (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.
Cerence Inc. earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads -3.1, placing it in the Distress zone. 5 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by receivables vs revenue.
What the filings flag
88d DSO
FY2024→FY2025
Receivables vs revenue.Days sales outstanding moved from 68 to 88 days FY2024→FY2025 (receivables -6% vs revenue -24%). Receivables are outrunning sales — a flag for aggressive revenue recognition or slipping collections. Across FY2021–FY2025 the day count ran 45 → 50 → 66 → 68 → 88 days — the latest step continues a climb that was already under way, which is the persistence that separates a collection problem from a busy quarter.
-0.3%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is -0.3% in the latest fiscal year and rising from -12% — well below its ~10% cost of capital, so reinvested dollars may be destroying value, not building it.
+3.3%/yr
FY2022–FY2025
Share-count dilution.Diluted share count changed +10% over the last 3 years to FY2025 (+3.3%/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 ~3.3% 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 ~9%.
11% of rev
FY2025
Stock-based comp load.Stock-based compensation ran 11% of revenue and 58% of free cash flow in FY2025 — about $0.63 per diluted share. The cost of it is not in the cash flow — no cash left the business — it is in the count: holders gave up about 3.3% of the company a year, and that rate is not falling. That is the figure to weigh, not the share of free cash flow.
$823M
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$251.8M
Revenue Growth YoY-24.0%
Net Margin-7.4%
Free Cash Flow$46.8M
Return on Equity-12.4%
Debt / Equity1.33x
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 Cerence Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?
Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Aug 11, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.
Cerence Inc. (CRNC) Stock — Forensic Analysis, Red Flags & Rating | Stockonomy · Stockonomy
FY2022–FY2024
Goodwill impairments.Took $823M of goodwill writedowns across 2 years (FY2022 ($214M), FY2024 ($609M)). Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them.