Forensic Analysis · Exhibition & Theaters · as of Nov 9, 2026
Marcus Corp (MCS)
A forensic read on Marcus 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
Grey Zone
Financial health
1.2
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
2
Forensic signals
2.8%
ROE
3.1%
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.
Marcus Corp earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 1.2, placing it in the Grey zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
1.8%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 1.8% in the latest fiscal year and steady across FY2023–FY2025, inside a 1.2-point range. After-tax operating profit was $23M in FY2023 and $15M in FY2025, with operating income at 4.7% of revenue in FY2023, 2.2% in FY2024 and 2.2% in FY2025. The capital base behind it went from $855M in FY2023 to $832M in FY2025 (-3%), while the revenue it carried went from $730M to $758M. FY2025's operating profit carried a $5M asset write-down that alone took about 0.6 points off that year's return, so about 0.6 of the 0.9-point fall across FY2023–FY2025 is that charge landing in the latest year rather than the capital earning less. FY2024's operating profit carried a $7M asset write-down that alone took about 0.6 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.
926% of FCF
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $9M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 926% of free cash flow, but 11% of operating cash flow. Returns run ahead of free cash flow, with the gap funded by debt or cash reserves rather than the cash the business itself throws off; the payout itself is still covered by operating cash. Counting the $8M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 1685%.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$758.5M
Revenue Growth YoY+3.1%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+2.0%
Net Margin1.7%
Free Cash Flow$989,000
Return on Equity2.8%
Debt / Equity0.35x
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 Marcus Corp's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?