Forensic Analysis · Radio Broadcasting · as of Nov 11, 2026
iHeartMedia, Inc. (IHRT)
A forensic read on iHeartMedia, 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
-2.7
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
2
Forensic signals
0.3%
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.
IHeartMedia, Inc. earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads -2.7, placing it in the Distress zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
-0.4%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is -0.4% in the latest fiscal year and rising across FY2023–FY2025 from -10.9%. After-tax operating profit was ($630M) in FY2023 and ($16M) in FY2025, with operating income at -21.3% of revenue in FY2023, -19.8% in FY2024 and -0.5% in FY2025. The capital base behind it came down -27% across FY2023–FY2025, from $5.8B to $4.2B, so this return is struck on a smaller base than it started on. FY2023's operating profit carried a $965M asset write-down, a $595M goodwill write-off and a $60M restructuring charge that took about 22.2 points off that year's return, and FY2025's carried a $214M asset write-down and a $78M restructuring charge that took about 5.5 points off the latest; so, net of each other, the two charges add about 16.7 points to the +10.5-point change across FY2023–FY2025. FY2024's operating profit carried a $923M asset write-down, a $616M goodwill write-off and a $101M restructuring charge that alone took about 25.4 points off that year's return; FY2024 sits between the two ends of FY2023–FY2025, so the charge shapes the path between them without moving the change across it. A non-cash write-down lowers the reported return in the year it lands.
$1.2B
FY2023–FY2024
Goodwill impairments.Took $1.2B of goodwill writedowns across 2 years (FY2023 ($595M), FY2024 ($616M)). Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$3.86B
Revenue Growth YoY+0.3%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+1.5%
Net Margin-12.2%
Free Cash Flow$10.9M
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 iHeartMedia, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?