Forensic Analysis · Retail / Consumer Discretionary · as of Nov 11, 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

4.1

Distress distance

Forensic signals

33.7%

ROE

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 (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.

Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 4.1, placing it in the Safe zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by inventory days.

What the filings flag

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%

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Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Nov 11, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.

See a wrong number? Report an error with the filing it should match.