Forensic Analysis · Communication Services / Telecom · as of Sep 25, 2026
Lumen Technologies, Inc. (LUMN)
A forensic read on Lumen Technologies, Inc. built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
F · Poor — capital at risk
Forensic grade
Distress
Financial health
-1.2
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
4
Forensic signals
-6.3
P / E (ttm)
$6.3B
Market cap
0.03%
Dividend yield
-5.4%
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, 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.
Lumen Technologies, Inc. earns an F (Poor — capital at risk) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads -1.2, placing it in the Distress zone. 4 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
-2.2%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is -2.2% in the latest fiscal year, against -26.7% in FY2023, having run between -26.7% and 1.3% across FY2023–FY2025 with no direction held. After-tax operating profit was ($7.6B) in FY2023 and ($641M) in FY2025, with operating income at -65.8% of revenue in FY2023, 3.5% in FY2024 and -6.5% in FY2025. The capital base behind it barely moved across FY2023–FY2025 ($28.4B to $29.0B, +2%), so there has been little new capital for that return to be earned on. FY2023's operating profit carried a $10.7B goodwill write-off that took about 29.7 points off that year's return, and FY2025's carried a $628M goodwill write-off that took about 1.7 points off the latest; so, net of each other, the two charges add about 28.0 points to the +24.5-point change across FY2023–FY2025.
+0.6%/yr
FY2023–FY2025
Share count.Diluted share count changed +1% over the last 2 years to FY2025 (+0.6%/yr). Roughly flat — the count is neither shrinking nor growing meaningfully. Per-share value isn't being meaningfully helped or hurt by the count.
$11.3B
FY2023–FY2025
Goodwill impairments.Took $11.3B of goodwill writedowns across 2 years (FY2023 ($10.7B), FY2025 ($628M)). Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them.
-73%
FY2023→FY2024
Dividend — cut.The payout was CUT ~73% in FY2024 (from FY2023). It still returns some cash, but it is NOT the dependable, rising dividend an unbroken streak implies.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$12.40B
Revenue Growth YoY-5.4%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)-7.7%
Net Margin-14.0%
Free Cash Flow$371.0M
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 Lumen Technologies, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?