Is LINC a high-quality business?

AlphaMadera's AlphaQuality grade scores Lincoln Educational Services Corporation on six pillars — profitability, capital efficiency, balance-sheet strength, growth durability, cash generation, and shareholder yield. The composite letter grade reflects how LINC compares to a Buffett-style quality bar.

What is Lincoln Educational Services Corporation's AlphaQuality grade?

AlphaQuality assigns a letter grade (A through F) to LINC 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 LINC 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.

LINC - Lincoln Educational Services Corporation

Price: -- -- | CONSENSUS: Buy DETAILS | PRICE TARGET: $47.60 DETAILS

AlphaQuality

Quantitative six-pillar business-quality grade

Stable Earnings Power

AlphaQuality — archetype-weighted quantitative grade

D+ 41.8 / 100 composite

Composite Grade

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

Profitability

Weight: 20%

D- 27.4

5yr Avg ROIC 5.7% 38/100
Operating Margin Trend -1.91 pp/yr 2/100

Capital Efficiency

Weight: 15%

D+ 40.1

5yr Avg ROE 10.3% 62/100
5yr Share-Count CAGR 5.7% 0/100

Growth Quality

Weight: 15%

C+ 57.7

5yr Revenue CAGR 11.5% 84/100
5yr EPS CAGR -11.1% 0/100
Revenue-Growth Years (5) 5/5 100/100

Cash Generation

Weight: 15%

F 7.2

5yr FCF Margin -2.4% 13/100
5yr FCF/NI Conversion -0.96x 0/100

Balance Sheet

Weight: 20%

B- 67.2

Net Debt / EBITDA 3.46x 41/100
Interest Coverage (EBIT/Int) 8.81x 80/100
Altman Z-Score 4.78 99/100

Stability

Weight: 15%

C- 47.7

EPS Volatility (σ/μ) 0.71 13/100
Piotroski F-Score 5 56/100
Negative-Revenue Years (5) 0/5 100/100

1 of 1 gurus held; 1 added.

Holders: 1
Avg Δ position: +8.6%
New buys: 0
Full exits: 0

Wood increased +9%

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.