Forensic Analysis · Retail / Consumer Discretionary · as of Sep 26, 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.
B · Sound
Forensic grade
Safe
Financial health
5.0
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
3
Forensic signals
5.8
P / E (ttm)
33.7%
ROE
$320M
Market cap
3.81%
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, going concern, valuation). 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 B (Sound) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 5.0, placing it in the Safe zone. 3 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 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 +33% against revenue +7% and PP&E up +19% against revenue +7%. A cash-flow measure on the same base disagrees: reported earnings ran behind operating cash by 11% of net operating assets, against an accruals ratio of 14.1%. 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.
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 actually been EASING, not tightening further — down from ~152% of free cash flow two years back. Counting the $3M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 107%.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$529.8M
Revenue Growth YoY+6.7%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+6.8%
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?