Forensic Analysis · Technology / Software · as of Aug 13, 2026
Quantum Corp /De/ (QMCO)
A forensic read on Quantum Corp /De/ 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
-24.1
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
4
Forensic signals
-1.4
P / E (ttm)
$864M
Market cap
0.00%
Dividend yield
2.0%
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.
Quantum Corp /De/ earns an F (Poor — capital at risk) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads -24.1, 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
-81.5%
FY2023
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is -81.5% in the latest fiscal year and slipping from 194% — below its ~10% cost of capital. If that gap persists through the cycle, incremental reinvestment reduces rather than creates value per share.
40d
FY2025→FY2026
Inventory days.Days inventory outstanding moved from 33 to 40 FY2025→FY2026 (against cost of goods sold; inventory -28% vs +7% in cost of sales). Inventory is building a little faster than sales — watch for markdowns.
n/m (stock split)
FY2023–FY2026
Share count (stock split).Diluted share count changed -86% over the last 3 years to FY2026, but that includes a large one-time change around FY2024 consistent with a stock split or reverse split, not gradual buybacks or issuance — a split changes the count with NO effect on any holder's proportional ownership, so the raw -48.2%/yr figure isn't a real buyback/dilution read here.
-0.3% of rev
FY2026
Stock-based comp load.Stock-based compensation ran -0.3% of revenue in FY2026 — about $-0.07 per diluted share. No cash left the business to pay it, which is why operating cash flow adds it back. Net of repurchases the diluted count still rose about 33.5% a year, and the rate is falling. Stock compensation is one source of that issuance; acquisition consideration, equity raises, convertibles and other employee plans also net into the count, and these figures do not separate them.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$279.6M
Revenue Growth YoY+2.0%
Revenue CAGR (3yr)-12.8%
Net Margin-36.1%
Free Cash Flow-$39.6M
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 Quantum Corp /De/'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?