E.W. SCRIPPS Co (SSP) Stock — Forensic Analysis, Red Flags & Rating | Stockonomy · Stockonomy
Forensic Analysis · Communication Services / Telecom · as of Jul 2, 2026
E.W. SCRIPPS Co (SSP)
A forensic read on E.W. SCRIPPS Co built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
C · Mixed — selective
Forensic grade
Distress
Financial health
0.6
Altman Z-score
Clean
Earnings quality
6
Forensic signals
-7.9%
ROE
$286M
Market cap
E.W. SCRIPPS Co earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its Altman Z-score is 0.6, placing it in the Distress zone. 6 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
3%Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 3% and slipping from 5% — well below its ~8% cost of capital, so reinvested dollars may be destroying value, not building it.
stoppedShareholder returns — halted.Capital returns have STOPPED — $17M of buybacks + dividends in FY2020, but ~$0 in FY2021. A halt usually means the company is conserving cash; understand why before reading it as neutral.
97d DSOReceivables vs revenue.Days sales outstanding moved from 83 to 97 days FY2024→FY2025 (receivables +0% vs revenue -14%). Receivables are creeping up relative to sales — watch the trend.
+0.3%/yrShare-count dilution.Diluted share count changed +1% over the last 3 years to FY2025 (+0.3%/yr). Roughly flat — buybacks are about offsetting stock comp, not shrinking the count. Per-share value isn't being meaningfully helped or hurt by the count.
$952MGoodwill impairments.Took $952M of goodwill writedowns across 1 year(s) (FY2023 ($952M)). Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them — worth weighing on capital-allocation skill.
-72%Dividend — cut.The payout was CUT ~72% in FY2018 (from FY2015). It still returns some cash, but it is NOT the dependable, rising dividend an unbroken streak implies — weigh the cut when judging reliability.
Key fundamentals
Net Margin-4.7%
Debt / Equity2.08x
Free Cash Flow$6.5M
Latest Revenue$2.15B
Return on Equity-8.1%
Revenue Growth YoY-14.3%
Go deeper — free with an account
The forensic grade and screens above are free — no account needed. An account adds the full interactive deep-dive on E.W. SCRIPPS Co:
🔒The written investment read — what the numbers mean, in plain English
🔒Ask anything about SSP's filings — AI Q&A across the 10-K, 10-Qs & 8-Ks
🔒Interactive valuation — reverse-DCF sliders, Monte Carlo & scenario stress
🔒Calibrated 12-month price forecast, with the math shown