Forensic Analysis · Technology / Software · as of Aug 2, 2026
Tucows Inc /Pa/ (TCX)
A forensic read on Tucows Inc /Pa/ 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
-2.6
Altman Z-score
Clean
Earnings quality
4
Forensic signals
7.7%
Revenue growth
Financial health / Altman Z-score above is based on book value, not market value — this free snapshot doesn't pull live market data. Treat it as a rough read, not the final word.
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.
Tucows Inc /Pa/ earns an F (Poor — capital at risk) forensic quality grade, and its Altman Z-score is -2.6, placing it in the Distress zone (based on book value, not market value, since this free snapshot doesn't pull live market data — treat this zone as a rough read, not the final word). 4 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
-5.2%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is -5.2% in the latest fiscal year and steady — well below its ~10% cost of capital, so reinvested dollars may be destroying value, not building it.
stopped
FY2020→FY2022
Shareholder returns — halted.Capital returns have STOPPED — $3M of buybacks + dividends in FY2020, but ~$0 in FY2022. A halt usually means the company is conserving cash.
n/m (sign flip)
FY2024→FY2025
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets flipped from positive to negative FY2024→FY2025 (FY2024 $+43.2M to FY2025 $-20.6M) — the standard accruals ratio divides by the average of the two, which collapses toward zero right as the sign changes, so the resulting percentage is a denominator artifact, not a real accrual measurement. Treat this as a structural balance-sheet shift to understand on its own terms rather than a clean or dirty accruals read.
+0.9%/yr
FY2022–FY2025
Share count.Diluted share count changed +3% over the last 3 years to FY2025 (+0.9%/yr). Roughly flat — the count is neither shrinking nor growing meaningfully. Per-share value isn't being meaningfully helped or hurt by the count.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$390.3M
Revenue Growth YoY+7.7%
Revenue CAGR (3yr)+6.7%
Net Margin-19.4%
Free Cash Flow-$22.9M
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 Tucows Inc /Pa/:
🔒The written investment read — what the numbers mean, in plain English
🔒Ask anything about TCX'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