AMSC · Technology(motors & generators) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2026-03-31
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American Superconductor Corp reported revenue of $299.2 million in fiscal 2026, after growing 22.4% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin widened from -66.4% in 2018 to 3.8%. Of the $4.8 million its operations generated over 10 years, 2111.8% went to acquisitions and 400.4% back into the business; the share count rose 131.5%. On the accounting screens, it passes 5 of 8 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of 0.90 is in the distress zone and its Beneish M-score is above the -1.78 line; 3 of the six cross-checks between its statements fire.
Revenue, fiscal 2026299.2M+22.4% a year over 9 years
Operating margin3.8%gross margin 30.5%
Return on invested capital—-17.3% on average over 4 years
Free cash flow after stock pay2.4M0.8% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA—net debt —
Piotroski F-score5/8tests of improvement passed
Is it growing?
Revenue and the operating income it turns into. Growth that does not reach operating income is growth bought with margin.
RevenueOperating income
-100M0100M200M300M
2018Revenue 48.4MOperating income -32.2M
2018
2019Revenue 56.2MOperating income 34.0M
2020Revenue 63.8MOperating income -23.1M
2021Revenue 87.1MOperating income -23.2M
2022Revenue 108.4MOperating income -21.1M
2023Revenue 106.0MOperating income -33.0M
2024Revenue 145.6MOperating income -11.4M
2025Revenue 222.8MOperating income -1.1M
2026Revenue 299.2MOperating income 11.4M
2018201820192020202120222023202420252026
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
+41.3%
+28.0%
+22.4%
Shares
+16.4%
+349.7%
+9.8%
Falling shares are buybacks: each remaining share owns more of the company.
Does it earn more than its capital costs?
Margins say how much of each sale is kept; return on invested capital says how much the business earns on the money it needs to operate. Growth only creates value when that return is above the cost of the capital.
Needs a cost of capital, which comes from the valuation below.
Return on equity
24.1%
Return on assets
18.1%
Asset turnover
0.40×
Research & development
5.3% of revenue
Overheads (SG&A)
19.3% of revenue
Is the profit cash, and where does the cash go?
Net income is an accounting opinion; free cash flow is what was left in the bank after investing. Stock-based pay does not leave the bank — shareholders pay it through dilution — so it is shown taken off as well.
Net incomeFree cash flowAfter stock-based pay
-50M050M100M150M
2018Net income -32.8MFree cash flow -27.4MAfter stock-based pay -30.1M
2018
2019Net income 26.8MFree cash flow 41.8MAfter stock-based pay 38.7M
2020Net income -17.1MFree cash flow -20.1MAfter stock-based pay -22.0M
2021Net income -22.7MFree cash flow -10.4MAfter stock-based pay -13.9M
2022Net income -19.2MFree cash flow -19.9MAfter stock-based pay -24.6M
2023Net income -35.0MFree cash flow -23.7MAfter stock-based pay -28.4M
2024Net income -11.1MFree cash flow 1.2MAfter stock-based pay -3.4M
2025Net income 6.0MFree cash flow 25.9MAfter stock-based pay 18.1M
2026Net income 133.8MFree cash flow 18.3MAfter stock-based pay 2.4M
2018201820192020202120222023202420252026
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2018–2026
4.8M generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 400%19.3M
Acquisitions 2112%101.7M
Dividends 0%0
Share buybacks 3%126,000
More than it generated: funded with cash or new debt -2415%-116.3M
Over the same years it paid 48.8M in stock. The share count rose 131.5%. The buybacks did not even cover what was handed out in stock.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
-$1,000-$750-$500-$250$0$250
2018Earnings per share $-1.73Free cash flow per share $-1.44
2018
2019Earnings per share $1.29Free cash flow per share $2.01
2020Earnings per share $-0.81Free cash flow per share $-0.96
2021Earnings per share $-949.70Free cash flow per share $-437.41
2022Earnings per share $-0.71Free cash flow per share $-0.73
2023Earnings per share $-1.26Free cash flow per share $-0.85
2024Earnings per share $-0.37Free cash flow per share $0.04
2025Earnings per share $0.16Free cash flow per share $0.69
2026Earnings per share $3.05Free cash flow per share $0.42
2018201820192020202120222023202420252026
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
020M40M60M
2018Diluted shares 19.0M
2018
2019Diluted shares 20.7M
2020Diluted shares 21.1M
2021Diluted shares 23,879
2022Diluted shares 27.2M
2023Diluted shares 27.8M
2024Diluted shares 29.8M
2025Diluted shares 37.7M
2026Diluted shares 43.9M
2018201820192020202120222023202420252026
Debt and liquidity
Debt is not bad in itself; debt the business cannot service in a bad year is. Net debt is debt minus cash, and below zero the company holds more cash than it owes.
Net debt
-100M-75M-50M-25M0
2018
2018
2019
2020
2021Net debt -67.8M
2022Net debt -40.4M
2023Net debt -23.3M
2024Net debt -90.5M
2025Net debt -79.5M
2026
2018201820192020202120222023202420252026
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
—
Interest coverage
— operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
2.39 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
244 days collects in 85d, stock 182d, pays in 23d
Three classic screens of the accounts
Each asks a different question of the same statements — is it improving, does it look like a company heading for distress, do the accounts resemble ones that were manipulated. None is a verdict; each shows what moves it.
Piotroski F-score
Is the business improving? Nine yes-or-no tests, this year against last.
5of 8 tests passed
✓ProfitableReturn on assets above zeropassed
✓Cash from operationsOperating cash flow above zeropassed
✓Profitability improvedReturn on assets higher than a year beforepassed
✕Profit backed by cashOperating cash flow above net income (low accruals)failed
–Less long-term debtLong-term debt as a share of assets fell — not reportedno data
✓More liquidCurrent ratio higher than a year beforepassed
✕No new sharesShare count did not growfailed
✓Better gross marginGross margin higher than a year beforepassed
✕Sells more per assetAsset turnover higher than a year beforefailed
Where it misleads: it measures change, not level. An excellent business that stood still for a year scores low; a poor one recovering from a disaster scores high.
Altman Z''-score
Does the balance sheet look like those of companies that went bankrupt?
0.90distress zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets 0.26 × 6.56+1.71
Retained earnings ÷ assets -1.25 × 3.26-4.09
Operating income ÷ assets 0.02 × 6.72+0.10
Equity ÷ liabilities 3.02 × 1.05+3.17
Where it misleads: buybacks. A company that returns so much cash that its equity turns small or negative sinks the last two ratios without being anywhere near bankruptcy. Banks and insurers do not fit the model at all.
Beneish M-score
Do the accounts resemble those of companies that manipulated their earnings?
-0.78above the -1.78 line
-1.78
Receivables vs sales 1.12+1.03
Gross margin slipping 0.91+0.48
Soft assets 2.04+0.82
Sales growth 1.34+1.20
Slower depreciation 1.66+0.19
Overheads vs sales 1.00-0.17
Profit not in cash 0.15+0.70
Leverage rising 0.58-0.19
Where it misleads: fast growth and acquisitions. Sales growth carries a heavy weight, so a company growing 50% a year scores like a suspect without having done anything. It is a screen from a 1999 study, not an accusation.
Where the statements disagree
Cross-checks between the income statement, the balance sheet and the cash flow for the latest year, each with the benign reading and the worrying one.
Receivables are growing 50% against revenue growing 34%.
Benign
A shift towards larger customers on longer terms, or sales concentrated at the end of the period.
Worrying
Sales are being made on looser credit, or revenue has been booked that may never be collected.
Reported profit comfortably exceeds the cash generated (134M against 23M).
Benign
Growth consuming working capital, or the seasonality of the year-end.
Worrying
Profit held up by accounting entries that do not turn into money.
Capital spending (5M) is well below depreciation (7M).
Benign
Mature assets, or a business that has become less capital-intensive.
Worrying
Under-investing: today's profit is being held up by consuming tomorrow's capacity.
What is it worth, under which assumptions?
A company is worth the cash it will generate, brought back to today. This model projects revenue with growth that fades over the years, applies a free cash flow margin, and discounts the result at the cost of capital. Every assumption says where it came from, and all of them can be changed.
With a free cash flow margin at or below zero in year ten, the business never generates cash for its owners and a DCF says nothing useful. Set a positive margin for year ten to see what it would take.
What it has filed lately
The last twelve months at the SEC, most important first: annual and quarterly reports, events, large holders and insiders.
Every Form 4 filed in the last twelve months, read line by line: 6 filings by 4 people. Open-market purchases and sales are counted apart from awards, option exercises and shares withheld for taxes.
Bought on the open market—none in the period
Sold on the open market$1.6M9 sale(s) by 3 insider(s)
Under pre-arranged plans89%of the sales followed a 10b5-1 plan set months earlier
A Form 4 says what happened, when, how many shares and at what price. It does not say why: a sale can be diversification, a tax bill or a plan fixed months earlier, and an award is pay, not a purchase. Nothing here is a reason to buy or sell anything.
Which large funds report holding it
From the Form 13F of the 28 institutions followed on this site, as of the end of their last reported quarter. A 13F is filed up to 45 days later and shows only long positions in US-listed shares.
Accounts from the company's own SEC filings; lines some companies do not report are shown as a dash rather than estimated. The risk-free rate is the 10-year US Treasury yield. A DCF is a way of making assumptions explicit, not a forecast: it states what the company would be worth if the assumptions held. The scores are screens that point where to look, not verdicts. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell.