Forensic Analysis · Hotels & Casinos · as of Nov 8, 2026
Penn Entertainment, Inc. (PENN)
A forensic read on Penn Entertainment, 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
Distress
Financial health
-0.7
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
3
Forensic signals
-35.9%
ROE
5.8%
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 (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.
Penn Entertainment, Inc. earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads -0.7, placing it in the Distress zone. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
-4.2%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is -4.2% in the latest fiscal year, against -4.0% in FY2023, having run between -4.2% and 0.4% across FY2023–FY2025 with no direction held. After-tax operating profit was ($545M) in FY2023 and ($532M) in FY2025, with operating income at -10.8% of revenue in FY2023, 1.1% in FY2024 and -9.7% in FY2025. The capital base behind it went from $13.6B in FY2023 to $12.7B in FY2025 (-7%), while the revenue it carried went from $6.4B to $7.0B. FY2023's operating profit carried a $131M asset write-down and a $30M goodwill write-off that took about 0.9 points off that year's return, and FY2025's carried a $945M asset write-down and a $832M goodwill write-off that took about 11.1 points off the latest; so, net of each other, the two charges take about 10.2 points off the -0.2-point change across FY2023–FY2025. FY2024's operating profit carried a $89M asset write-down and a $12M goodwill write-off 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.
FCF ($140M)
FY2025
Shareholder returns.Returned $354M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025, but free cash flow was ($140M) after capex — there was no free cash flow to fund the payout from at all, though operating cash flow alone was $508M — 70% of that. Capex and the payout together ran $494M past operating cash flow — a harder case than returns merely running ahead of free cash flow, since here there was none to run ahead of. The balance sheet covered it: cash fell $20M and total debt rose $107M over FY2025 — $127M of the $494M. The FY2025 cash-flow statement filed net cash used in investing activities of $351M; net cash used in financing activities of $166M.
$874M
FY2023–FY2025
Goodwill impairments.Took $874M of goodwill writedowns across 3 years (FY2023 ($30M), FY2024 ($12M), FY2025 ($832M)). Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$6.96B
Revenue Growth YoY+5.8%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+4.6%
Net Margin-12.1%
Free Cash Flow-$139.5M
Return on Equity-35.9%
Debt / Equity1.57x
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 Penn Entertainment, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?