Deep Value: cash covers more than 100% of the stock price

This company holds roughly $72M in cash and investments — more than its entire stock-market value, based on its latest quarterly filing. You're paying very little for the actual business. Sometimes that's a genuine bargain or a takeover target, sometimes it's cheap for a reason. Not a buy signal on its own — always ask why it's this cheap.

AEye

LIDR

Auto - Parts · Consumer Cyclical

Exchange

NASDAQ

Winston Score

Winston is worried

Weak fundamentals across most pillars.

Data as of Aug 23, 2026 · filings through Jun 30, 2026

How the score breaks down

Quality

Weak

Growth

Mixed

Cash Flow

Weak

Stability

Good

Valuation

Data not available

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Winston Score History

The full picture

AEye makes lidar sensors — devices that use laser pulses to help machines "see" the world around them. Its main customers are automakers, trucking companies, and industrial equipment makers that need sensors to power self-driving or driver-assistance systems. The company is part of the broader autonomous vehicle technology industry, competing against a crowded field of lidar startups and larger sensor manufacturers.

AEye earns revenue by selling its lidar hardware and licensing its underlying software and sensor technology to partners. It operates primarily in the United States but targets global automotive markets. The company is very small, with a market cap around $100 million, and its deeply negative margins show it is spending far more than it earns — a common but risky position for early-stage hardware companies. The biggest risk AEye faces is running out of cash before the autonomous vehicle market grows large enough to support meaningful commercial orders.

Growth Profile

For growth stock investors

When traditional metrics don't capture the full picture, these are the signals growth stock investors use instead.

Revenue Growth

+818.2% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Revenue accelerating

EPS Growth

+54.2% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

EPS growth accelerating

Insider Activity

4.4%ownership

→ Flat

Insider ownership roughly steady over the past year

Cash Runway

~13 months

$72M cash & investments

Quarterly Free Cash Flow

↓ Burn rate worsening

Adequate runway but may need to raise capital within 2 years

Revenue accelerating

AEye grew revenue 818% year-over-year and the growth rate is speeding up. That's the kind of momentum growth investors look for — the question is whether margins can follow.

The Winston Score above measures business quality today. Growth stocks often score lower because they invest in the future rather than maximising current profits. These metrics show what matters most for evaluating that future.

Score breakdown

Every number that matters to educated investors.

Each metric is explained in plain language so you know exactly what you're looking at. Start your free trial now.

Quality

Profit per sale

Gross Margin

-79.7%

Thin — -79.7% gross margin

Profit after running costs

Operating Margin

-5324.3%

Losing money on operations — -5324.3%

Return on the money invested

ROCE

-52.1%

Weak — -52.1% return on capital

Negative ROIC means the business is losing money on every dollar invested in it.

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Growth

Sales growth

Sales YoY

+90.7%

Fast-growing sales (+90.7% YoY)

Profit growth

EPS YoY

N/A

—

Data not available

How steady the profit is

EPS Consistency

4/8 quarters

Earnings inconsistent quarter-to-quarter

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Cash Flow

Profit that turns into cash

Cash Conversion

N/A

—

Data not available

Spare cash per sale

FCF Margin

-8581.6%

Burning cash (-8581.6%)

Free cash flow is negative. They are burning cash, not generating it.

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Stability

What it owes vs what it owns

Debt / Equity

0.01

Conservative — low debt load (0.01)

Covers its interest

Interest Cover

N/A

Data not available

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Valuation

Price vs profit

P/E Ratio (TTM)

N/M

no trend

Negative earnings — P/E not meaningful

Cheaper or dearer next year

P/E vs Forward

N/A

not available

Data not available

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Dividends

Not applicable for this business.

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