Filing Flows › Companies › Medline › Analysis traps
Medline (MDLN): analysis traps
Where its figures could mislead a reader, and what to check before taking them at face value · Data: Q3 2026, to Sep 26, 2026, filed Nov 4, 2026; rules v1.1
Medline (MDLN): 0 rules of 10 triggered on the filings to Sep 26, 2026. 1 to review; 5 with insufficient data; 2 not applicable. Each is a question to verify, with the normal explanation that would produce the same figures.
Check these first
A precise DCF value = the true value To review · confidence high
The DCF's point value is 3.76 a share (price 39.76); 63% of it is the terminal value, a number about years no one has seen. Moving operating margin by ±3 pts alone takes it from -4.12 to 11.63; across every method the research ran the range is -82 to 783. The value is a range; the decimals are not information.
Innocent reading: A stable, mature business with a narrow range of outcomes, where the point value is a fair summary.
Every rule
A01 FCF growth = the business improved Not triggered confidence high
Free cash flow did not rise ($1.4B → $1.3B): the trap does not arise.
The figures and how they are read
| Fiscal year before | FY2024 |
| Fiscal year | FY2025 |
| Operating cash flow, year before | $1.8B |
| Operating cash flow | $1.7B |
| Capex, year before | $354M |
| Capex | $447M |
| Free cash flow, year before | $1.4B |
| Free cash flow | $1.3B |
| Change in FCF | −$118M |
| Change in capex | $93M |
| Working capital: change in its cash contribution | −$108M |
FCF = operating cash flow − cash capex; ΔFCF = ΔOCF − ΔCapEx; the working-capital part is the change in the cash-bridge items (receivables, inventory, payables, accruals), with the sign of the cash flow statement
Source: FY2025 (cash flow statement, fiscal year) · FY2024 (cash flow statement, fiscal year before)
A07 Stock compensation added back = no economic cost Insufficient data
fewer than two fiscal years of stock compensation and share counts on file
B02 Receivables growing = future cash is certain Insufficient data
fewer than five quarters with receivables and revenue on file (a year-over-year comparison needs five)
B08 Adjusted profit = economic profit Insufficient data
no reconciliation table read from the releases yet and fewer than three quarters with both an adjusted and a GAAP EPS
C02 Low net debt = no refinancing risk Not triggered confidence medium
$76M comes due within a year, 72.4× covered by cash and investments of $3.6B plus $1.9B of free cash flow.
The figures and how they are read
| Cash and investments | $3.6B |
| Debt | $12.6B |
| Net debt | $9.0B |
| Due within a year | $76M |
| Read from | the debt maturity table |
| Free cash flow, twelve months | $1.9B |
| Cash plus free cash flow | $5.5B |
| Coverage of what is due | 72.4 |
| Due in the second year | $76M |
| Balance sheet date | 2026-09-26 |
due within a year from the maturity table (else the current portion of debt), against cash and investments plus free cash flow over the last twelve months (zero if negative); no credit lines assumed
Source: FY2025 (debt maturities, cash and investments)
D03 EPS growth = profit growth Insufficient data
no quarter with EPS, net income and diluted shares for both this year and last
E02 Low P/E at a cyclical peak = undervalued Insufficient data
1 fiscal years of net income on file; a cycle needs five
E07 A precise DCF value = the true value To review confidence high
The DCF's point value is 3.76 a share (price 39.76); 63% of it is the terminal value, a number about years no one has seen. Moving operating margin by ±3 pts alone takes it from -4.12 to 11.63; across every method the research ran the range is -82 to 783. The value is a range; the decimals are not information.
The figures and how they are read
| dcf value | 3.76 |
| price | 39.76 |
| terminal value share | +63.1% |
| swing by input | Operating margin / ±3 pts / -4.12 / 11.63; Revenue growth (each year) / ±5 pts / 1.15 / 6.86; WACC / ±1 pt / 1.77 / 6.49; Capex (share of revenue) / ±1 pt / 2.72 / 4.79 |
| range all methods | -82.07; 783.24 |
the DCF's point value against the share of it that is the terminal value and the value at each input moved by one step (growth ±5 pts, WACC ±1 pt, margin ±3 pts …); the range across every method the research ran
Source: 2026-11-08 (valuation research)
What would explain it innocently
- A stable, mature business with a narrow range of outcomes, where the point value is a fair summary
- The inputs that matter most are themselves well known (a regulated return, a long contract)
What to look for in the filing
- Which input you believe differs from the research's and why
- What the price implies for growth (the reverse DCF on the fair-value page)
What would show the trap does not apply
- The DCF's value is robust to the terminal growth and discount rate (the range's low end is still above the price)
- The company's cash flows over the next three years track the DCF's early years
Look again: next filing.
J06 A bank's low P/E and high profit = safe Not applicable
not a bank
J08 A REIT's low net income = the dividend is unsafe Not applicable
not a REIT
What the statuses mean
Triggered: the filings show the pattern; read the normal explanations and the missing evidence before concluding anything. To review: one quarter or a weak signal; a reader's judgement, not a pattern. Not triggered: the pattern is absent on these figures. Insufficient data: the filings read so far do not hold what the rule needs; this is not a clean bill. Not applicable: the rule is not meant for this kind of company (a bank's working capital, a loss-making quarter's EPS growth). Out of date: the latest filing is more than fifteen months old.
Severity is what the pattern could mean for cash, value or solvency; confidence is how reliable the inputs and the reading are. The two are kept apart.
Record a view
A reader's judgement, grounds, what would change it and the next review; kept in the browser (needs JavaScript).
Every rule and the companies it triggers on → Medline: cash flow →
Each rule reads the company's own filings by a fixed formula and says what would explain the same figures innocently. A triggered rule is a question to verify, not a finding of manipulation, and not a view on the stock. Missing data is shown as missing, never as clear. Not investment advice.