Forensic Analysis · General / Diversified · as of Sep 4, 2026
Cpi Card Group Inc. (PMTS)
A forensic read on Cpi Card 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
4.4
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
4
Forensic signals
23.7
P / E (ttm)
$280M
Market cap
13.1%
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 (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.
Cpi Card Group Inc. earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 4.4, placing it in the Safe zone. 4 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by accruals ratio (% of noa).
What the filings flag
+15.9%
FY2024→FY2025
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +15.9% relative to their own average in FY2025 — scaled by NOA itself, not by total assets, which is what the Forensic Screens card's own accrual row divides by. Accruals are building faster than is comfortable — part of profit is sitting in the balance sheet rather than turning to cash. The build is led by receivables up +12% against revenue +13%. A cash-flow measure on the same base disagrees: reported earnings ran behind operating cash by 19% of net operating assets, against an accruals ratio of 15.9%. The two are computed differently: the accruals ratio is the change in net operating assets over average net operating assets, while the cash-flow figure is net income less operating cash flow over that same average. Read them as two results, not one.
12.8%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 12.8% in the latest fiscal year and slipping from 27% — a modest positive spread over its ~9% cost of capital — growth adds value, though not dramatically.
+0.5%/yr
FY2022–FY2025
Share count.Diluted share count changed +1% over the last 3 years to FY2025 (+0.5%/yr). Roughly flat — the count is neither shrinking nor growing meaningfully. Per-share value isn't being meaningfully helped or hurt by the count.
-97%
FY2015→FY2016
Dividend — cut.The payout was CUT ~97% in FY2016 (from FY2015) and hasn't been restored since. It still returns some cash, but it is NOT the dependable, rising dividend an unbroken streak implies.
Key fundamentals
Net Margin2.8%
Free Cash Flow$41.3M
Latest Revenue$543.5M
Revenue CAGR (3yr)+4.5%
Revenue Growth YoY+13.1%
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 Cpi Card Group Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?