LINC (Lincoln Educational Services) Beneish M-Score: -2.99 (As of Jun. 24, 2026)


LINC Lincoln Educational Services Corp LINC
63 GF Score
Price $47.81
GF Value $18.81
Valuation Significantly Overvalued
! 8 Warning Signs
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What is Lincoln Educational Services Beneish M-Score?

Lincoln Educational Services LINC +1.49% 63 Beneish M-Score is -2.99 as of Jun. 24, 2026. GuruFocus rates LINC with a GF Score™ of 63/100 and a GF Value™ of $18.81 (Significantly Overvalued). The stock has 8 warning signs investors should review. Among 243 Education companies, Lincoln Educational Services ranks better than 76.95% on this metric.

The zones of discrimination for M-Score is as such:

An M-Score of equal or less than -1.78 suggests that the company is unlikely to be a manipulator.
An M-Score of greater than -1.78 signals that the company is likely to be a manipulator.

Good Sign:

Beneish M-Score -2.99 no higher than -1.78, which implies that the company is unlikely to be a manipulator.

The historical rank and industry rank for Lincoln Educational Services's Beneish M-Score or its related term are showing as below:

LINC' s Beneish M-Score Range Over the Past 10 Years
Min: -2.99   Med: -2.45   Max: -1.26
Current: -2.99

During the past 13 years, the highest Beneish M-Score of Lincoln Educational Services was -1.26. The lowest was -2.99. And the median was -2.45.


Lincoln Educational Services Beneish M-Score Historical Data

* Premium members only.

The historical data trend for Lincoln Educational Services's Beneish M-Score can be seen below:

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.

Lincoln Educational Services Beneish M-Score Chart

Lincoln Educational Services Annual Data
Trend Dec16 Dec17 Dec18 Dec19 Dec20 Dec21 Dec22 Dec23 Dec24 Dec25
Beneish M-Score
Get a 7-Day Free Trial Premium Member Only Premium Member Only -2.87 -1.86 -2.95 -2.62 -2.89

Lincoln Educational Services Quarterly Data
Jun21 Sep21 Dec21 Mar22 Jun22 Sep22 Dec22 Mar23 Jun23 Sep23 Dec23 Mar24 Jun24 Sep24 Dec24 Mar25 Jun25 Sep25 Dec25 Mar26
Beneish M-Score Get a 7-Day Free Trial Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only -2.70 -2.63 -2.85 -2.89 -2.99

LINC vs DAO, COUR, AFYA: Beneish M-Score Comparison

For the Education & Training Services subindustry, Lincoln Educational Services's Beneish M-Score, along with its competitors' market caps and Beneish M-Score data, can be viewed below:

* Competitive companies are chosen from companies within the same industry, with headquarter located in same country, with closest market capitalization; x-axis shows the market cap, and y-axis shows the term value; the bigger the dot, the larger the market cap. Note that "N/A" values will not show up in the chart.


Lincoln Educational Services Beneish M-Score vs Education Industry

For the Education industry and Consumer Defensive sector, Lincoln Educational Services's Beneish M-Score distribution charts can be found below:

* The bar in red indicates where Lincoln Educational Services's Beneish M-Score falls into.


LINC
63GF Score
Lincoln Educational Services Corp LINC
Beneish M-Score is just one metric. See GF Score™, valuation, warning signs, and more.
View Full Analysis

Lincoln Educational Services Beneish M-Score Calculation

The M-score was created by Professor Messod Beneish. Instead of measuring the bankruptcy risk (Altman Z-Score) or business trend (Piotroski F-Score), M-score can be used to detect the risk of earnings manipulation. This is the original research paper on M-score.

The M-Score Variables:

The M-score of Lincoln Educational Services for today is based on a combination of the following eight different indices:

M=-4.84+0.92 * DSRI+0.528 * GMI+0.404 * AQI+0.892 * SGI+0.115 * DEPI
=-4.84+0.92 * 0.8883+0.528 * 0.9791+0.404 * 0.8702+0.892 * 1.1992+0.115 * 0.6669
-0.172 * SGAI+4.679 * TATA-0.327 * LVGI
-0.172 * 0.9838+4.679 * -0.102779-0.327 * 1.0127
=-2.99

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.

This Year (Mar26) TTM:Last Year (Mar25) TTM:
Total Receivables was $50.4 Mil.
Revenue was 143.957 + 142.872 + 141.389 + 116.474 = $544.7 Mil.
Gross Profit was 85.565 + 88.966 + 84.106 + 69.683 = $328.3 Mil.
Total Current Assets was $76.4 Mil.
Total Assets was $486.7 Mil.
Property, Plant and Equipment(Net PPE) was $355.2 Mil.
Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization(DDA) was $23.0 Mil.
Selling, General, & Admin. Expense(SGA) was $295.2 Mil.
Total Current Liabilities was $92.3 Mil.
Long-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation was $195.6 Mil.
Net Income was 4.356 + 12.7 + 3.799 + 1.554 = $22.4 Mil.
Non Operating Income was -0.006 + -0.06 + -0.01 + 0.256 = $0.2 Mil.
Cash Flow from Operations was 4.566 + 43.508 + 23.882 + 0.299 = $72.3 Mil.
Total Receivables was $47.3 Mil.
Revenue was 117.506 + 119.373 + 114.41 + 102.914 = $454.2 Mil.
Gross Profit was 70.097 + 74.253 + 66.355 + 57.353 = $268.1 Mil.
Total Current Assets was $86.4 Mil.
Total Assets was $427.4 Mil.
Property, Plant and Equipment(Net PPE) was $285.4 Mil.
Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization(DDA) was $12.1 Mil.
Selling, General, & Admin. Expense(SGA) was $250.2 Mil.
Total Current Liabilities was $83.1 Mil.
Long-Term Debt & Capital Lease Obligation was $166.6 Mil.




1. DSRI = Days Sales in Receivables Index

Measured as the ratio of Revenue in Total Receivables in year t to year t-1.

A large increase in DSR could be indicative of revenue inflation.

DSRI=(Receivables_t / Revenue_t) / (Receivables_t-1 / Revenue_t-1)
=(50.362 / 544.692) / (47.278 / 454.203)
=0.09246 / 0.10409
=0.8883

2. GMI = Gross Margin Index

Measured as the ratio of gross margin in year t-1 to gross margin in year t.

Gross margin has deteriorated when this index is above 1. A firm with poorer prospects is more likely to manipulate earnings.

GMI=GrossMargin_t-1 / GrossMargin_t
=(GrossProfit_t-1 / Revenue_t-1) / (GrossProfit_t / Revenue_t)
=(268.058 / 454.203) / (328.32 / 544.692)
=0.590172 / 0.602763
=0.9791

3. AQI = Asset Quality Index

AQI is the ratio of asset quality in year t to year t-1.

Asset quality is measured as the ratio of non-current assets other than Property, Plant and Equipment to Total Assets.

AQI=(1 - (CurrentAssets_t + PPE_t) / TotalAssets_t) / (1 - (CurrentAssets_t-1 + PPE_t-1) / TotalAssets_t-1)
=(1 - (76.403 + 355.218) / 486.734) / (1 - (86.378 + 285.435) / 427.432)
=0.11323 / 0.130124
=0.8702

4. SGI = Sales Growth Index

Ratio of Revenue in year t to sales in year t-1.

Sales growth is not itself a measure of manipulation. However, growth companies are likely to find themselves under pressure to manipulate in order to keep up appearances.

SGI=Sales_t / Sales_t-1
=Revenue_t / Revenue_t-1
=544.692 / 454.203
=1.1992

5. DEPI = Depreciation Index

Measured as the ratio of the rate of Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization in year t-1 to the corresponding rate in year t.

DEPI greater than 1 indicates that assets are being depreciated at a slower rate. This suggests that the firm might be revising useful asset life assumptions upwards, or adopting a new method that is income friendly.

DEPI=(Depreciation_t-1 / (Depreciaton_t-1 + PPE_t-1)) / (Depreciation_t / (Depreciaton_t + PPE_t))
=(12.08 / (12.08 + 285.435)) / (23.03 / (23.03 + 355.218))
=0.040603 / 0.060886
=0.6669

Note: If the Depreciation, Depletion and Amortization data is not available, we assume that the depreciation rate is constant and set the Depreciation Index to 1.

6. SGAI = Sales, General and Administrative expenses Index

The ratio of Selling, General, & Admin. Expense(SGA) to Sales in year t relative to year t-1.

SGA expenses index > 1 means that the company is becoming less efficient in generate sales.

SGAI=(SGA_t / Sales_t) / (SGA_t-1 /Sales_t-1)
=(295.195 / 544.692) / (250.214 / 454.203)
=0.541948 / 0.550886
=0.9838

7. LVGI = Leverage Index

The ratio of total debt to Total Assets in year t relative to yeat t-1.

An LVGI > 1 indicates an increase in leverage

LVGI=((LTD_t + CurrentLiabilities_t) / TotalAssets_t) / ((LTD_t-1 + CurrentLiabilities_t-1) / TotalAssets_t-1)
=((195.607 + 92.299) / 486.734) / ((166.55 + 83.102) / 427.432)
=0.591506 / 0.584074
=1.0127

8. TATA = Total Accruals to Total Assets

Total accruals calculated as the change in working capital accounts other than cash less depreciation.

TATA=(IncomefromContinuingOperations_t - CashFlowsfromOperations_t) / TotalAssets_t
=(NetIncome_t - NonOperatingIncome_t - CashFlowsfromOperations_t) / TotalAssets_t
=(22.409 - 0.18 - 72.255) / 486.734
=-0.102779

An M-Score of equal or less than -1.78 suggests that the company is unlikely to be a manipulator. An M-Score of greater than -1.78 signals that the company is likely to be a manipulator.

Lincoln Educational Services has a M-score of -2.99 suggests that the company is unlikely to be a manipulator.

Frequently Asked Questions Learn more about Beneish M-Score →
What does a Beneish M-Score of -2.99 mean?
Lincoln Educational Services (LINC) has a Beneish M-Score of -2.99 as of Jun. 24, 2026. The Beneish M-score measures the likelihood of earnings manipulation. View historical data on Lincoln Educational Services and its competitors. According to the industry distribution chart, Lincoln Educational Services ranks #56 out of 243 companies in the Education industry, placing it in the top 23%.
Is Lincoln Educational Services' Beneish M-Score too high?
Lincoln Educational Services' current Beneish M-Score is -2.99. Based on the distribution chart, Lincoln Educational Services ranks #56 out of 243 companies in the Education industry, which is in the top quartile — a strong position relative to peers. Overall, Lincoln Educational Services has a GF Score™ of 63/100 and is considered Significantly Overvalued, reflecting its overall financial health beyond just this single metric.
How does Lincoln Educational Services' Beneish M-Score compare to DAO and COUR?
According to the Education industry distribution chart, Lincoln Educational Services ranks #56 out of 243 companies for Beneish M-Score. This places Lincoln Educational Services in the top 23% of its industry — outperforming the majority of peers. See the competitive comparison table and distribution chart on this page for a detailed peer-by-peer breakdown.
What is a good Beneish M-Score for an Education company?
A good Beneish M-Score depends on the Education industry context. However, Beneish M-Score should not be evaluated in isolation — investors should consider it alongside profitability, growth, and financial strength metrics. Use the industry distribution chart on this page to see where any company falls relative to its peers.
What does a high Beneish M-Score mean?
A high Beneish M-Score can signal that a stock is expensive relative to its fundamentals. The Beneish M-score measures the likelihood of earnings manipulation. View historical data on Lincoln Educational Services and its competitors. Lincoln Educational Services's current Beneish M-Score is -2.99. However, context matters — high-growth companies often justify higher valuations. Always evaluate alongside other metrics like GF Score™ and GF Value™.
Is Lincoln Educational Services stock overvalued right now?
Based on GuruFocus' analysis, Lincoln Educational Services (LINC) is currently considered Significantly Overvalued. The stock's GF Value™ is $18.81, compared to a current price of $47.81 — trading 154.2% above its estimated fair value. The current Beneish M-Score is -2.99. Lincoln Educational Services' overall GF Score™ is 63/100 with 8 warning signs to review. Investors should evaluate multiple metrics — including profitability, growth, and financial strength — before making a decision.
How is Beneish M-Score calculated?
Beneish M-Score is calculated from a company's financial statements. For Lincoln Educational Services (LINC), the current Beneish M-Score is -2.99 as of Jun. 24, 2026. GuruFocus calculates this using data sourced from SEC filings and annual reports. See the calculation section and 30-year financial data on this page for the full breakdown.

Is Lincoln Educational Services (LINC) Overvalued in 2026?

Based on GuruFocus' analysis, Lincoln Educational Services stock appears to be overvalued. The current stock price of $47.81 is trading 154.2% above its estimated GF Value™ of $18.81. GuruFocus considers Lincoln Educational Services to be Significantly Overvalued.

Key valuation signals for LINC:

  • Beneish M-Score: -2.99
  • GF Value™: $18.81 vs. price of $47.81 (154.2% above fair value)
  • GF Score™: 63/100 with 8 warning signs

No single metric tells the full story. See the LINC stock analysis page for a complete view including 30-year financials, guru trades, and insider activity.


Lincoln Educational Services Business Description

Other Exchanges K1L:Germany
Address 14 Sylvan Way, Suite A, Parsippany, NJ, USA, 07054
Lincoln Educational Services Corp provides diversified career-oriented post-secondary education to high school graduates and working adults. The company offers programs in automotive technology, skilled trades, healthcare services, hospitality services, and business and information technology. Its reportable segments include: Campus Operations and Transitional. The majority of the revenue is generated from the Campus Operations segment, which includes all campuses that are continuing in operation and contribute to the company's core operations and performance.
63GF Score

Get the complete analysis for LINC

Beneish M-Score is just one metric. See GF Value™, 30-year financials, guru trades, warning signs, and more.

$47.81
Price
$18.81
GF Value