Is AXL a high-quality business?

AlphaMadera's AlphaQuality grade scores American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc. on six pillars — profitability, capital efficiency, balance-sheet strength, growth durability, cash generation, and shareholder yield. The composite letter grade reflects how AXL compares to a Buffett-style quality bar.

What is American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc.'s AlphaQuality grade?

AlphaQuality assigns a letter grade (A through F) to AXL based on a six-pillar quantitative model. The live page shows the composite grade plus each pillar's individual score with the underlying metrics.

What makes AXL a quality stock?

AlphaQuality looks at return on capital, free-cash-flow margins, debt-to-equity, revenue stability, dividend and buyback policy, and operating-margin trend. Stocks scoring well across all six pillars earn higher grades — the methodology favors compounders over cyclicals.

AXL - American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings, Inc.

Price: -- -- | CONSENSUS: Hold DETAILS | PRICE TARGET: $10.63 DETAILS

AlphaQuality

Quantitative six-pillar business-quality grade

Stable Earnings Power

AlphaQuality — archetype-weighted quantitative grade

F 30.0 / 100 pillar composite

Composite Grade

Composite of six pillars weighted for stable earnings power businesses. Purely quantitative — no stock price or analyst input.

⚠ 2 of the last 5 fiscal years showed negative net income — AlphaQuality will not grade above F for persistent unprofitability in a stable earnings power business.

Grade overrides the 30.0 pillar composite because hard gates always win. Use the pillar breakdown below to see where the underlying numbers sit.

Profitability

Weight: 20%

B- 65.6

5yr Avg ROIC 15.1% 80/100
Operating Margin Trend -0.57 pp/yr 31/100

Capital Efficiency

Weight: 15%

D 33.3

5yr Avg ROE 1.6% 18/100
5yr Share-Count CAGR 0.2% 62/100

Growth Quality

Weight: 15%

B 71.7

5yr Revenue CAGR 3.1% 46/100
5yr EPS CAGR 79.7% 100/100
Revenue-Growth Years (5) 4/5 80/100

Cash Generation

Weight: 15%

C 54.6

5yr FCF Margin 4.2% 46/100
5yr FCF/NI Conversion 23.59x 65/100

Balance Sheet

Weight: 20%

C- 50.1

Net Debt / EBITDA -5.11x 100/100
Interest Coverage (EBIT/Int) 0.56x 7/100
Altman Z-Score 0.76 11/100

Stability

Weight: 15%

D- 31.6

EPS Volatility (σ/μ) 0.91 3/100
Piotroski F-Score 3 33/100
Negative-Revenue Years (5) 1/5 80/100

1 of 3 gurus held; 1 trimmed; 2 full exits.

Holders: 1 -2
Avg Δ position: -54.6%
New buys: 0
Full exits: 2

Greenblatt sold -100%
Laffont sold -100%
Cooperman decreased -55%

How this is calculated

AlphaQuality grades six pillars from 0-100 and weights each by archetype:

Profitability (20%) — 5yr Avg ROIC, Operating Margin Trend
Capital Efficiency (15%) — 5yr Avg ROE, 5yr Share-Count CAGR
Growth Quality (15%) — 5yr Revenue CAGR, 5yr EPS CAGR, Revenue-Growth Years (5)
Cash Generation (15%) — 5yr FCF Margin, 5yr FCF/NI Conversion
Balance Sheet (20%) — Net Debt / EBITDA, Interest Coverage (EBIT/Int), Altman Z-Score
Stability (15%) — EPS Volatility (σ/μ), Piotroski F-Score, Negative-Revenue Years (5)

We deliberately ignore stock price, analyst targets, and consensus ratings so the grade is suitable for backtesting forward returns. A minimum of 5 fiscal years of audited statements is required; distressed and highly leveraged infrastructure businesses are declared ungradable rather than forced into a numeric score.