FutureFuel Corp. — financial distress indicators
Financial-health summary
FutureFuel Corp.'s reported numbers place it in the 'Watch' financial-health band (distress score 37/100). The main indicators are cash runway under 12 months, revenue collapse and operating-margin collapse. In its favour: high insider/promoter ownership (41%) aligns management with survival.
Stress by dimension
Share price — last 12 months
Indicators behind the score
Each red flag shows the evidence from the company’s own filings and the financial or legal principle behind it. Points add to the 0–100 score.
At the current free-cash-flow burn, cash covers ~9 months.
Going-concern standard: management must assess ability to continue for 12 months (ASC 205-40). Runway below that horizon forces dilution, asset sales or default.
Revenue changed -61% year over year.
A >30% sales drop typically breaches leverage covenants and starves fixed-cost coverage.
Operating margin fell from 7% to -55% in two years.
Sharp margin compression signals loss of pricing power or cost control.
Revenue declined every year for three years.
Structural, not cyclical, decline.
Revenue vs net income
Cash generation
Debt vs cash vs equity
✅ Mitigating factors
- High insider/promoter ownership (41%) aligns management with survival.
📰 Recent news scan
- A robotics CEO will present at 4 p.m. in New York; investors can book one-on-one meetings. - Stock TitanGoogle News · 2026-10-08
- Why (FF) Price Action Is Critical for Tactical Trading - Stock Traders DailyGoogle News · 2026-10-08
- FF EAI Robotics Ecosystem Inc. (AIXC) Stock Price, News, Quote & History - Yahoo! Finance CanadaGoogle News · 2026-10-06
- FutureFuel (NYSE:FF) Stock Price Crosses Above Two Hundred Day Moving Average - Should You Sell? - MarketBeatGoogle News · 2026-10-06
- Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc. (FFAI) Stock Price, News, Quote & History - Yahoo! Finance CanadaGoogle News · 2026-10-06
- FutureFuel Reports $78.7 Million Revenue And $11.4 Million Net Income | FF Stock News - Quiver QuantitativeGoogle News · 2026-08-10
⚖️ U.S. legal pathway — Title 11, U.S. Code
Which chapter would apply?
- Chapter 11 — reorganisation. Management usually stays in control as debtor-in-possession; the automatic stay (§362) halts collection; a plan must meet the best-interests test (§1129(a)(7)) and the absolute priority rule (§1129(b)) — creditors are paid before shareholders, who are frequently wiped out.
- Chapter 7 — liquidation. A trustee sells assets and distributes proceeds by statutory priority (§§507, 726).
- Subchapter V (“Chapter 5”) is a fast track for small-business debtors under a statutory debt cap, but SEC-reporting companies are excluded (§101(51D)) — so it rarely applies to listed companies.
What typically triggers a filing
- Payment default or covenant breach lenders will not waive; a debt maturity that cannot be refinanced.
- Auditor going-concern doubt (ASC 205-40 / PCAOB AS 2415) — often itself a default trigger in loan agreements.
- Creditors can force a case with an involuntary petition (§303) if debts are not paid as they come due.
- Delisting after sustained sub-$1 prices or equity deficits cuts off equity funding.
Transactions shortly before filing can be clawed back (preferences — 90 days, §547; fraudulent transfers — 2 years, §548).
Frequently asked questions
What do FutureFuel Corp.'s financial-health indicators show?
As of 2026-10-08, FutureFuel Corp.'s public financial data places it in the 'Watch' band with a distress score of 37/100, driven by cash runway under 12 months, revenue collapse and operating-margin collapse. This is a statistical screen of reported numbers — it does not mean the company is insolvent, has defaulted or will enter insolvency proceedings.
What is FutureFuel Corp.'s financial distress score?
37/100 ('Watch').
What works in FutureFuel Corp.'s favour?
High insider/promoter ownership (41%) aligns management with survival.
How are shareholders treated if a company enters insolvency?
In a Chapter 11 reorganisation the absolute priority rule pays secured lenders, then unsecured creditors, before shareholders — so existing shares are usually cancelled or heavily diluted. In Chapter 7 the company is liquidated and shareholders rarely recover anything.
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Methodology
Score = capped sum of rule-based red flags across seven dimensions (liquidity, solvency, profitability, cash flow, sales trend, market signal, news). Ohlson O-score (1980) gives an accounting-based 1-year failure probability; Merton distance-to-default (Bharath & Shumway 2008) gives a market-implied probability. Financial institutions use a capital-based rule set. Recalculated every trading day from the latest filings, prices and news.