Forensic Analysis · General / Diversified · as of Oct 19, 2026
American Outdoor Brands, Inc. (AOUT)
A forensic read on American Outdoor Brands, Inc. built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
D · Weak — demands caution
Forensic grade
Safe
Financial health
5.2
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
3
Forensic signals
-5.6%
ROE
-14.3%
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 (red flags, 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.
American Outdoor Brands, Inc. earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 5.2, placing it in the Safe zone. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
-4.1%
FY2026
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is -4.1% in the latest fiscal year, against -5.4% in FY2024, having run between -5.4% and -0.1% across FY2024–FY2026 with no direction held. After-tax operating profit was ($10M) in FY2024 and ($7M) in FY2026, with operating income at -6.2% of revenue in FY2024, -0.1% in FY2025 and -4.7% in FY2026. The capital base behind it went from $182M in FY2024 to $175M in FY2026 (-3%), while the revenue it carried went from $201M to $191M. FY2026's operating profit carried a $3M asset write-down that alone took about 1.5 points off that year's return, so the latest return is depressed by that charge.
341d
FY2025→FY2026
Inventory days.Days inventory outstanding moved from 294 to 341 FY2025→FY2026 (against cost of goods sold; inventory -12% vs -14% in cost of sales). Inventory is building a little faster than sales — watch for markdowns.
120% of FCF
FY2026
Shareholder returns.Returned $5M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2026 — 120% of free cash flow, but 81% of operating cash flow. Returns run ahead of free cash flow, with the gap funded by debt or cash reserves rather than the cash the business itself throws off; the payout itself is still covered by operating cash. Counting the $3M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 192%.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$190.5M
Revenue Growth YoY-14.3%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)-2.7%
Net Margin-4.8%
Free Cash Flow$4.3M
Return on Equity-5.6%
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 American Outdoor Brands, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?