Is NRC a high-quality business?

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

What is National Research Corporation's AlphaQuality grade?

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

NRC - National Research Corporation

Price: -- --

AlphaQuality

Quantitative six-pillar business-quality grade

Stable Earnings Power

AlphaQuality — archetype-weighted quantitative grade

B- 64.6 / 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%

B 70.0

5yr Avg ROIC 26.9% 100/100
Operating Margin Trend -4.12 pp/yr 0/100

Capital Efficiency

Weight: 15%

A+ 98.5

5yr Avg ROE 195.3% 100/100
5yr Share-Count CAGR -3.3% 96/100

Growth Quality

Weight: 15%

F 15.3

5yr Revenue CAGR -1.8% 16/100
5yr EPS CAGR -22.7% 0/100
Revenue-Growth Years (5) 2/5 40/100

Cash Generation

Weight: 15%

A 89.8

5yr FCF Margin 17.0% 85/100
5yr FCF/NI Conversion 0.95x 95/100

Balance Sheet

Weight: 20%

B- 66.5

Net Debt / EBITDA 2.48x 60/100
Interest Coverage (EBIT/Int) 4.75x 62/100
Altman Z-Score 3.15 82/100

Stability

Weight: 15%

C- 44.8

EPS Volatility (σ/μ) 0.42 40/100
Piotroski F-Score 5 56/100
Negative-Revenue Years (5) 3/5 40/100

2 of 2 gurus held; 1 new buy; 1 trimmed.

Holders: 2 +1
Avg Δ position: -4.1%
New buys: 1
Full exits: 0

Laffont new
Cooperman decreased -4%

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.