Forensic Analysis · Retail / Consumer Discretionary · as of Sep 25, 2026
Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. (BNED)
A forensic read on Barnes & Noble Education, 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
Distress
Financial health
-0.0
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
4
Forensic signals
16.6
P / E (ttm)
5.7%
ROE
$389M
Market cap
2.61%
Dividend yield
6.5%
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.
Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads -0.0, placing it in the Distress zone. 4 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by shareholder returns — halted.
What the filings flag
stopped
FY2025→FY2026
Shareholder returns — halted.Capital returns have STOPPED — $5,000 of buybacks + dividends in FY2025, but ~$0 in FY2026. A halt usually means the company is conserving cash.
6.7%
FY2026
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 6.7% in the latest fiscal year and rising across FY2024–FY2026 from -5.2%. After-tax operating profit was ($27M) in FY2024 and $30M in FY2026, with operating income at -2.2% of revenue in FY2024, 1.0% in FY2025 and 2.1% in FY2026. The capital base behind it came down -13% across FY2024–FY2026, from $517M to $448M, so this is a return struck on a smaller base rather than a record of money put to work. FY2024's operating profit carried a $19M restructuring charge and a $7M asset write-down that took about 4.1 points off that year's return, and FY2026's carried a $13M asset write-down that took about 2.3 points off the latest; so, net of each other, the two charges add about 1.8 points to the +11.9-point change across FY2024–FY2026.
n/m (stock split)
FY2024–FY2026
Share count (stock split).Diluted share count changed +1200% over the last 2 years to FY2026, but that includes a large one-time change around FY2025 consistent with a stock split or reverse split, not gradual buybacks or issuance — a split changes the count with NO effect on any holder's proportional ownership, so the raw +260.6%/yr figure isn't a real buyback/dilution read here.
0.4% of rev
FY2026
Stock-based comp load.Stock-based compensation ran 0.4% of revenue and 18% of free cash flow in FY2026 — about $0.18 per diluted share. No cash left the business to pay it, which is why operating cash flow adds it back. Net of repurchases the diluted count still rose about 31.6% a year, above the level at which the count is a material claim on a stake, and only one year's change is on file — enough to state what a holder gave up, not enough to say whether the rate is climbing or coming down. Stock compensation is one source of that issuance; acquisition consideration, equity raises, convertibles and other employee plans also net into the count, and these figures do not separate them.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$1.71B
Revenue Growth YoY+6.5%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+4.6%
Net Margin1.0%
Free Cash Flow$33.9M
Return on Equity5.7%
Debt / Equity0.24x
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 Barnes & Noble Education, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?