Forensic Analysis · Automotive / Vehicle Manufacturing · as of Aug 19, 2026
Xos, Inc. (XOS)
A forensic read on Xos, 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
Distress
Financial health
-12.5
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
4
Forensic signals
-108.7%
ROE
-17.8%
Revenue growth
The financial-health reading above compares this company's equity at BOOK value, not at what the market currently pays for it — 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.
Xos, Inc. earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads -12.5, 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
-110.6%
FY2025
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is -110.6% in the latest fiscal year and slipping from -80% — well below its ~9% cost of capital, and it has been across FY2021–FY2025, so reinvested dollars have not been earning their keep.
+17.2%/yr
FY2022–FY2025
Share-count dilution.Diluted share count changed +61% over the last 3 years to FY2025 (+17.2%/yr). The count is growing: more stock was issued than repurchased over this window, so aggregate results grew faster than their per-share equivalents. Note: the share count shows a large one-time jump around FY2022, consistent with a reverse split or bankruptcy reorg rather than gradual buybacks, so the earlier shrinkage doesn't reflect real repurchase discipline. That's ~17.2% 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 ~38%.
16% of rev
FY2025
Stock-based comp load.Stock-based compensation ran 16% of revenue and 138% of free cash flow in FY2025 — about $0.79 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 18.0% a year and that rate is not falling, so total profit has to grow by that much annually before any of it reaches a share. 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.
stopped
FY2020→FY2021
Shareholder returns — halted.Capital returns have STOPPED — $3,000 of buybacks + dividends in FY2020, but ~$0 in FY2021. A halt usually means the company is conserving cash.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$46.0M
Revenue Growth YoY-17.8%
Net Margin-55.1%
Free Cash Flow$5.4M
Return on Equity-108.7%
Debt / Equity0.04x
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 Xos, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?