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Shift4 Payments earnings quality score
How much of the reported profit is backed by cash, and how many markers of managed earnings the filings show
Score42 / 100 · grade D · rank 950 of 1027
Shift4 Payments (FOUR) scores 42 of 100 for earnings quality, grade D: rank 950 of 1027 companies and 250 of 287 in industrials. It loses the most points on Montier C-score 3 of 4 checks failed, adjusted earnings far above GAAP (more than ten times apart), discretionary accruals of -4.9% of assets (modified Jones), larger than most. It earns full or near-full marks for profit steadier than cash flow (smoothness 0.59).
What earned and lost points
| Component | What the filings show | Points | Of |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accruals | accruals of -7.1% of assets, lower than 72% of companies (profit backed by cash) | 24 | 33 |
| Montier C-score | Montier C-score 3 of 4 checks failed | 6 | 25 |
| Discretionary accruals | discretionary accruals of -4.9% of assets (modified Jones), larger than most | 6 | 17 |
| Non-GAAP gap | adjusted earnings far above GAAP (more than ten times apart) | 0 | 17 |
| Earnings smoothness | profit steadier than cash flow (smoothness 0.59) | 6 | 8 |
How the score is built
Eight published measures, each scored against the whole universe or on its own scale and weighted: accruals 20, discretionary accruals 10, Beneish M 15, Dechow F 15, Montier C 15, Piotroski F 10, the non-GAAP gap 10, smoothness 5. A measure that cannot be computed (Beneish for a bank, say) drops out and the rest is rescaled, so every company is scored on what applies to it.
Every company ranked → The full quality workbench, live → Shift4 Payments: cash flow →
Computed from the companies’ own XBRL filings (latest fiscal year) by published formulas; a statistical screen, not an audit or an accusation. A low score means the reported profit shows more of the markers of managed or low-quality earnings than its peers. Not investment advice.