Forensic Analysis · Apparel & Specialty Retail · as of Nov 11, 2026
Designer Brands Inc. (DBI)
A forensic read on Designer 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
Distress
Financial health
0.8
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
2
Forensic signals
-3.0%
ROE
-3.9%
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.
Designer Brands Inc. earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 0.8, placing it in the Distress zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
2.3%
FY2026
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 2.3% in the latest fiscal year, against 3.7% in FY2024, having run between 2.0% and 3.7% across FY2024–FY2026 with no direction held. After-tax operating profit was $53M in FY2024 and $31M in FY2026, with operating income at 2.4% of revenue in FY2024, 1.2% in FY2025 and 1.7% in FY2026. The capital base behind it went from $1.4B in FY2024 to $1.3B in FY2026 (-5%), while the revenue it carried went from $3.1B to $2.9B. FY2026's operating profit carried a $4M asset write-down and a $4M restructuring charge that alone took about 0.4 points off that year's return, so about 0.4 of the 1.4-point fall across FY2024–FY2026 is that charge landing in the latest year rather than the capital earning less. FY2025's operating profit carried a $18M asset write-down and a $4M restructuring charge that alone took about 1.3 points off that year's return; FY2025 sits between the two ends of FY2024–FY2026, so the charge shapes the path between them without moving the change across it. A non-cash write-down lowers the reported return in the year it lands.
130d
FY2025→FY2026
Inventory days.Days inventory outstanding moved from 124 to 130 FY2025→FY2026 (against cost of goods sold; inventory -6% vs -5% in cost of sales). Inventory ended the year no higher than it began, but days on hand lengthened on the year's average balance — watch for markdowns.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$2.89B
Revenue Growth YoY-3.9%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)-3.0%
Net Margin-0.3%
Free Cash Flow$78.3M
Return on Equity-3.0%
Debt / Equity1.54x
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 Designer Brands Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?