Forensic Analysis · Media / Entertainment / Streaming · as of Sep 25, 2026

Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NXST)

A forensic read on Nexstar Media Group, 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

2.7

Distress distance

Clean

Earnings quality

Forensic signals

25.6

P / E (ttm)

5.3%

ROE

$5.1B

Market cap

3.60%

Dividend yield

-8.5%

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.

Nexstar Media Group, Inc. earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 2.7, placing it in the Safe zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.

What the filings flag

5.5%

FY2025

Return on invested capital. Return on invested capital is 5.5% in the latest fiscal year, against 4.3% in FY2023, having run between 4.3% and 8.5% across FY2023–FY2025 with no direction held. After-tax operating profit was $477M in FY2023 and $552M in FY2025, with operating income at 14.4% of revenue in FY2023, 23.5% in FY2024 and 17.2% in FY2025. The capital base behind it came down -10% across FY2023–FY2025, from $11.1B to $10.0B, so this is a return struck on a smaller base rather than a record of money put to work.

$57M

FY2023–FY2025

Goodwill impairments. Took $57M of goodwill writedowns across 3 years (FY2023 ($19M), FY2024 ($24M), FY2025 ($14M)) — about 5% of net income over the span. Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them.

Key fundamentals

Latest Revenue$4.95B

Revenue Growth YoY-8.5%

Revenue CAGR (2yr)+0.2%

Net Margin2.2%

Free Cash Flow$743.0M

Return on Equity5.3%

Debt / Equity3.07x

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Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Sep 25, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.