Forensic Analysis · Apparel & Specialty Retail · as of Nov 9, 2026
Abercrombie & Fitch Co /De/ (ANF)
A forensic read on Abercrombie & Fitch Co /De/ built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
C · Mixed — selective
Forensic grade
Safe
Financial health
6.4
Distress distance
2
Forensic signals
37.0%
ROE
6.4%
Revenue growth
This free snapshot doesn't read filing or proxy text, so the auditor-quality and governance checks that can lower a grade were not evaluated (auditor quality, say on pay, board independence, going concern). Those checks only ever lower a grade, so the full analysis can land below the grade above but never above it — treat it as the most favourable reading, not the settled one.
Abercrombie & Fitch Co /De/ earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 6.4, placing it in the Safe zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by accruals ratio (% of NOA).
What the filings flag
+13.3%
FY2025→FY2026
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +13.3% relative to their own average in FY2026 — scaled by NOA itself, not by total assets, which is what the Forensic Screens card's own accrual row divides by. Accruals are building faster than is comfortable — part of profit is sitting in the balance sheet rather than turning to cash. The build is led by receivables up +39% against revenue +6%. A cash-flow measure on the same base disagrees: reported earnings ran behind operating cash by 18% of net operating assets, against an accruals ratio of 13.3%. The two are computed differently: the accruals ratio is the change in net operating assets over average net operating assets, while the cash-flow figure is net income less operating cash flow over that same average. Read them as two results, not one.Accruals ratio: the year-over-year change in net operating assets, relative to their own average.NOA (net operating assets): the money tied up in running the business, operating assets minus operating liabilities.
119% of FCF
FY2026
Shareholder returns.Returned $451M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2026 — 119% of free cash flow, but 73% of operating cash flow. Returns run ahead of free cash flow because the business is also funding heavy growth capex (usually debt-financed); the payout itself is covered by operating cash — sustainable as long as that spending is genuine expansion, not upkeep. Counting the $39M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 130%.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$5.27B
Revenue Growth YoY+6.4%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+10.9%
Net Margin9.6%
Free Cash Flow$378.4M
Return on Equity37.0%
Debt / Equity0.00x
The forensic grade and screens above are free — no account needed. Want the AI investment read on top — the 0–100 rating, thesis, bull-vs-bear, red flags and the 12-month scenario, written from Abercrombie & Fitch Co /De/'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?