Forensic Analysis · Technology / Software · as of Aug 11, 2026
Duolingo, Inc. (DUOL)
A forensic read on Duolingo, 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
Safe
Financial health
14.1
Distress distance
Watch
Earnings quality
4
Forensic signals
13.5
P / E (ttm)
30.7%
ROE
$6.3B
Market cap
38.7%
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 (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.
Duolingo, Inc. earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 14.1, placing it in the Safe zone. 4 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by accruals ratio (% of noa).
What the filings flag
+155.6%
FY2024→FY2025
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +155.6% relative to their own average in FY2025 — scaled by NOA itself, not total assets (see the Forensic Screens card's differently-scaled Sloan Accrual Ratio for that read). Accruals are building sharply — a large slice of profit sits in operating assets, not cash; Richardson/Sloan link high accruals to weaker future returns as they reverse. The build is led by receivables up +26% against revenue +39%. The cash-flow cross-check agrees: reported earnings ran ahead of operating cash by 15% of net operating assets.
+7.0%/yr
FY2022–FY2025
Share-count dilution.Diluted share count changed +22% over the last 3 years to FY2025 (+7.0%/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 ~7.0% 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 ~18%.
stopped
FY2021→FY2023
Shareholder returns — halted.Capital returns have STOPPED — $868,000 of buybacks + dividends in FY2021, but ~$0 in FY2023. A halt usually means the company is conserving cash.
13% of rev
FY2025
Stock-based comp load.Stock-based compensation ran 13% of revenue and 37% of free cash flow in FY2025 — about $2.85 per diluted share. The cost of it is not in the cash flow — no cash left the business — it is in the count, and there it has run at about 7.2% a year and is falling.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$1.04B
Revenue Growth YoY+38.7%
Revenue CAGR (3yr)+41.1%
Net Margin39.9%
Free Cash Flow$369.7M
Return on Equity30.7%
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 Duolingo, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?