Forensic Analysis · Professional & Commercial Services · as of Sep 25, 2026
Izea Worldwide, Inc. (IZEA)
A forensic read on Izea Worldwide, 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
Safe
Financial health
5.2
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
5
Forensic signals
0.1%
ROE
-12.9%
Revenue growth
The financial-health reading above compares this company's equity at BOOK value, not at what the market currently pays for it — this free snapshot doesn't pull live market data. Treat it as a rough read, not the final word.
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, going concern, valuation). 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.
Izea Worldwide, Inc. earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 5.2, placing it in the Safe zone (based on book value, not market value, since this free snapshot doesn't pull live market data — treat this zone as a rough read, not the final word). 5 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
-366.4%
FY2024
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is -366.4% in the latest fiscal year, against -27.4% in FY2023. After-tax operating profit was ($8M) in FY2023 and ($15M) in FY2024, with operating income at -27.3% of revenue in FY2023 and -54.3% in FY2024. The capital base behind it came down -85% across FY2023–FY2024, from $28M to $4M, so this is a return struck on a smaller base rather than a record of money put to work. FY2024's operating profit carried a $4M goodwill write-off that alone took about 77.7 points off that year's return, so about 77.7 of the 339.0-point fall across FY2023–FY2024 is that charge landing in the latest year rather than the capital earning less.
+5.7%/yr
FY2023–FY2025
Share-count dilution.Diluted share count changed +12% over the last 2 years to FY2025 (+5.7%/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 ~5.7% 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 FY2023 has been diluted ~11%.
5% of rev
FY2025
Stock-based comp load.Stock-based compensation ran 5% of revenue and 95% of free cash flow in FY2025 — about $0.08 per diluted share. No cash left the business to pay it, which is why operating cash flow adds it back. Net of repurchases the diluted count still rose about 5.8% a year and that rate is not falling, so total profit has to grow by that much annually before any of it reaches a share. Stock compensation is one source of that issuance; acquisition consideration, equity raises, convertibles and other employee plans also net into the count, and these figures do not separate them.
n/m (sign flip)
FY2024→FY2025
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$31.2M
Revenue Growth YoY-12.9%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)-7.1%
Net Margin0.1%
Free Cash Flow$1.6M
Return on Equity0.1%
Debt / Equity0.00x
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 Izea Worldwide, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?
Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Sep 25, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.
Izea Worldwide, Inc. (IZEA) Stock — Forensic Analysis, Red Flags & Rating | Stockonomy · Stockonomy
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets flipped from positive to negative FY2024→FY2025 (FY2024 $+4.3M to FY2025 $-2.0M) — the standard accruals ratio divides by the average of the two, which collapses toward zero right as the sign changes, so the resulting percentage is a denominator artifact, not a real accrual measurement. Treat this as a structural balance-sheet shift to understand on its own terms rather than a clean or dirty accruals read.
$4M
FY2024–FY2024
Goodwill impairments.Took $4M of goodwill writedowns across 1 year (FY2024 ($4M)). Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them.