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Forensic Analysis · Professional & Commercial Services · as of Nov 9, 2026

Costar Group, Inc. (CSGP)

A forensic read on Costar Group, 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
5.6
Distress distance
2
Forensic signals
0.1%
ROE
18.7%
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.

Costar Group, Inc. earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 5.6, placing it in the Safe zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.

What the filings flag

-0.8%
FY2025
Return on invested capital. Return on invested capital is -0.8% in the latest fiscal year and slipping across FY2023–FY2025 from 6.5%. After-tax operating profit was $211M in FY2023 and ($47M) in FY2025, with operating income at 11.5% of revenue in FY2023, 0.2% in FY2024 and -2.2% in FY2025. The capital base behind it grew +87% across FY2023–FY2025, from $3.3B to $6.1B, while the return fell 7.3 points, so the dollars added over that window earned less than the 6.5% the older base was already earning.
407% of FCF
FY2025
Shareholder returns. Returned $500M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 407% of free cash flow. That is $377M (307%) more than free cash flow covered, and more than operating cash flow as well. The balance sheet covered it: cash fell $3.0B and total debt rose $1M over FY2025. A payout past free cash flow draws the balance sheet down in every year it continues, which isn't sustainable indefinitely. Counting the $194M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 564%.

Key fundamentals

Latest Revenue$3.25B
Revenue Growth YoY+18.7%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+15.0%
Net Margin0.2%
Free Cash Flow$123.0M
Return on Equity0.1%
Debt / Equity0.12x

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Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Nov 9, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.

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