Forensic Analysis · Retail / Consumer Discretionary · as of Aug 12, 2026
Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc (BBW)
A forensic read on Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc 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
5.8
Distress distance
Watch
Earnings quality
4
Forensic signals
8.0
P / E (ttm)
33.7%
ROE
$462M
Market cap
2.59%
Dividend yield
6.7%
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). 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.
Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 5.8, placing it in the Safe zone. 4 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by accruals ratio (% of noa).
What the filings flag
+14.1%
FY2024→FY2026
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +14.1% relative to their own average in FY2026 — scaled by NOA itself, not total assets (see the Forensic Screens card's differently-scaled Sloan Accrual Ratio for that read). 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 +33% against revenue +7% and inventory up +18% against +5% in cost of sales. The cash-flow cross-check is more mixed: reported earnings ran behind operating cash by 11% of net operating assets, diverging from the balance-sheet accrual read.
128d
FY2024→FY2026
Inventory days.Days inventory outstanding moved from 114 to 128 FY2024→FY2026 (against cost of goods sold; inventory +18% vs +5% in cost of sales). Inventory is building a little faster than sales — watch for markdowns. FY2024 and FY2026 aren't consecutive filed years here, so FY2026's opening balance can't be taken from FY2024 — both figures are measured on period-end balances rather than the beginning-plus-ending average, which keeps the two endpoints comparable to each other.
99% of FCF
FY2026
Shareholder returns.Returned $39M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2026 — 99% of free cash flow. Right at the limit of what free cash flow covers — little room before it's funded by debt or the balance sheet. That ratio has been CLIMBING toward the limit — 73% of free cash flow a few years back — not just sitting there. Counting the $3M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 107%.
-98%
FY2021→FY2022
Dividend — cut.The payout was CUT ~98% in FY2022 (from FY2021) and hasn't been restored since. It still returns some cash, but it is NOT the dependable, rising dividend an unbroken streak implies.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$529.8M
Revenue Growth YoY+6.7%
Revenue CAGR (3yr)+4.4%
Net Margin9.9%
Free Cash Flow$39.5M
Return on Equity33.7%
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 Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?