Forensic Analysis · Media / Entertainment / Streaming · as of Aug 11, 2026
Sphere Entertainment Co. (SPHR)
A forensic read on Sphere Entertainment Co. 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
Safe
Financial health
2.7
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
4
Forensic signals
-69.7
P / E (ttm)
1.5%
ROE
$5.8B
Market cap
0.00%
Dividend yield
23.4%
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.
Sphere Entertainment Co. earns an F (Poor — capital at risk) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 2.7, placing it in the Safe zone. 4 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 and slipping from -2% — well below its ~9% cost of capital, so reinvested dollars may be destroying value, not building it.
+9.8%/yr
FY2022–FY2025
Share-count dilution.Diluted share count changed +32% over the last 3 years to FY2025 (+9.8%/yr). The count is growing: more stock was issued than repurchased over this window, so aggregate results grew faster than their per-share equivalents. That's ~9.8% shaved off per-share growth every year — total profit has to grow that much just to keep earnings-per-share flat, and a stake held since FY2022 has been diluted ~24%.
5% of rev
FY2025
Stock-based comp load.Stock-based compensation ran 5% of revenue in FY2025 — about $1.30 per diluted share. The cost of it is not in the cash flow — no cash left the business — it is in the count: holders gave up about 10.5% of the company a year, and that rate is not falling. That is the figure to weigh, not the share of free cash flow.
$154M
FY2020–FY2025
Goodwill impairments.Took $154M of goodwill writedowns across 2 years (FY2020 ($89M), FY2025 ($65M)) — about 88% of net income over the span. A large writedown means an acquisition turned out worth far less than was paid — a real mark against M&A discipline.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$1.22B
Revenue CAGR (3yr)+21.9%
Net Margin2.7%
Return on Equity1.5%
Debt / Equity0.37x
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 Sphere Entertainment Co.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?