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Altman Z-Score calculator
Edward Altman's 1968 bankruptcy-risk formula, still the standard quick distress screen: five weighted ratios — liquidity, retained profitability, operating efficiency, leverage, and asset turnover — rolled into one score. Look up a ticker or enter the seven inputs manually below.
Fill in all seven fields (or look up a ticker) to see the Z-Score.
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How to read the result
A Z-Score above 2.99puts a company in the safe zone under Altman's original model; below 1.81 puts it in distress. The band in between is a grey zone — not a red flag on its own, but worth checking against the cash flow statement and debt maturity schedule before assuming the balance sheet is fine.
It says nothing about valuation — a financially healthy company can still be a bad investment at the wrong price, and a genuinely cheap one can still fail. Edge Thirteen runs this alongside the Graham number and an actual read of every 10-K before calling anything a value pick. See the full method.
Questions
- What is the Altman Z-Score?
- The Altman Z-Score is a formula economist Edward Altman published in 1968 to predict the probability a public company will go bankrupt within two years. It combines five weighted financial ratios — liquidity, cumulative profitability, operating efficiency, leverage, and asset turnover — into a single number.
- How do I read the result?
- Above 2.99 is the "safe" zone — low bankruptcy risk based on the historical model. 1.81 to 2.99 is the "grey zone" — some financial stress, worth a closer look. Below 1.81 is the "distress" zone, where the original model found a high likelihood of bankruptcy within two years.
- Where do I find these seven numbers?
- All seven come straight off a company's 10-K: working capital and total assets from the balance sheet's current-assets and current-liabilities lines, retained earnings from the equity section, EBIT (operating income) and revenue from the income statement, total liabilities from the balance sheet, and market cap from share price × shares outstanding. Type a ticker above to pull them automatically from SEC EDGAR.
- Does a low Z-Score mean a stock is uninvestable?
- No — it's one quantitative screen, not a verdict. It was built and validated on manufacturers, so it fits capital-intensive, asset-heavy businesses better than asset-light software or financial companies. Edge Thirteen treats a weak Z-Score as a reason to read the 10-K more carefully, not an automatic disqualifier — and a strong one is no substitute for actually reading it.
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