CBL CBL & ASSOCIATES PROPERTIES INC

NYSE Real Estate Investment Trusts DE CIK: 0000910612
AI RATING
STRONG_SELL
82% Confidence

Investment Thesis

CBL faces critical financial distress with interest coverage of only 0.9x, meaning operating income cannot cover interest expenses—an unsustainable position requiring asset sales or additional borrowing. The company carries extreme leverage (5.22x debt-to-equity) and displays a suspicious disconnect between revenue growth (+3461% YoY) and earnings growth (+1.6% YoY), indicating accounting changes rather than organic fundamentals improvement.

Strengths

  • + Strong operating margins of 69.0% demonstrate pricing power and operational efficiency in core operations
  • + Positive free cash flow of $52.9M with 36.3% FCF margin provides near-term liquidity
  • + Excellent net profit margins of 31.8% on reported earnings

Risks

  • ! Critical interest coverage ratio of 0.9x indicates inability to service debt from operations—fundamental solvency risk
  • ! Extreme leverage with 5.22x debt-to-equity ratio ($2.1B long-term debt vs $398M equity) creates acute default risk
  • ! Massive revenue increase (+3461% YoY) disconnected from earnings growth (+1.6% YoY) suggests non-organic changes, acquisition, or consolidation changes rather than sustainable business growth

Key Metrics to Watch

Financial Metrics

Revenue
146.0M
Net Income
46.5M
EPS (Diluted)
$1.48
Free Cash Flow
52.9M
Total Assets
2.6B
Cash
122.7M

Profitability Ratios

Gross Margin N/A
Operating Margin 69.0%
Net Margin 31.8%
ROE 11.7%
ROA 1.8%
FCF Margin 36.3%

Balance Sheet & Liquidity

Current Ratio
N/A
Quick Ratio
N/A
Debt/Equity
5.22x
Debt/Assets
85.4%
Interest Coverage
0.85x
Long-term Debt
2.1B
Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI based on publicly available SEC EDGAR filings. It does not include stock price data and should not be considered financial advice. All fundamental data is sourced from SEC public domain filings. Always conduct your own research before making investment decisions.
Data Source: SEC EDGAR | Analysis Date: 2026-05-09T08:03:49.190707 | Data as of: 2026-03-31 | Powered by Claude AI