Forensic Analysis · Professional & Commercial Services · as of Aug 11, 2026
Lincoln Educational Services Corp (LINC)
A forensic read on Lincoln Educational Services Corp 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
4.4
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
6
Forensic signals
57.0
P / E (ttm)
10.0%
ROE
$989M
Market cap
17.8%
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.
Lincoln Educational Services Corp earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 4.4, placing it in the Safe zone. 6 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by accruals ratio (% of noa).
What the filings flag
+36.0%
FY2024→FY2025
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +36.0% 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 PP&E up +66% against revenue +18% and inventory up +31% against +13% in cost of sales. The cash-flow cross-check is more mixed: reported earnings ran behind operating cash by 27% of net operating assets, diverging from the balance-sheet accrual read.
6.4%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 6.4% in the latest fiscal year and steady — well below its ~10% cost of capital, so reinvested dollars may be destroying value, not building it.
stopped
FY2023→FY2024
Shareholder returns — halted.Capital returns have STOPPED — $891,000 of buybacks + dividends in FY2023, but ~$0 in FY2024. A halt usually means the company is conserving cash.
suspended
FY2014→FY2016
Dividend — suspended.The dividend has been SUSPENDED — $4M paid in FY2014, then $0 in FY2016. A suspension is a major signal the board is conserving cash; the prior payment history doesn't offset it.
n/m (stock split)
FY2022–FY2025
Share count (stock split).
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$518.2M
Revenue Growth YoY+17.8%
Revenue CAGR (3yr)+14.2%
Net Margin3.9%
Free Cash Flow-$27.3M
Return on Equity10.0%
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 Lincoln Educational Services Corp'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.
Lincoln Educational Services Corp (LINC) Stock — Forensic Analysis, Red Flags & Rating | Stockonomy · Stockonomy
Diluted share count changed -100% over the last 3 years to FY2025, but that includes a large one-time change around FY2023 consistent with a stock split or reverse split, not gradual buybacks or issuance — a split changes the count with NO effect on any holder's proportional ownership, so the raw -89.4%/yr figure isn't a real buyback/dilution read here.
$4M
FY2023–FY2023
Goodwill impairments.Took $4M of goodwill writedowns across 1 year (FY2023 ($4M)) — about 15% of net income over the span. Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them.