Forensic Analysis · Apparel & Specialty Retail · as of Nov 9, 2026
Gap Inc (GAP)
A forensic read on Gap 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 & dependable
Forensic grade
Safe
Financial health
3.3
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
2
Forensic signals
23.1%
ROE
1.9%
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.
Gap Inc earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 3.3, placing it in the Safe zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by accruals ratio (% of NOA).
What the filings flag
+10.1%
FY2025→FY2026
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +10.1% 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. A cash-flow measure on the same base disagrees: reported earnings ran behind operating cash by 19% of net operating assets, against an accruals ratio of 10.1%. 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.Accruals ratio: the year-over-year change in net operating assets, relative to their own average.NOA (net operating assets): the money tied up in running the business, operating assets minus operating liabilities.
12.4%
FY2026
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 12.4% in the latest fiscal year and rising across FY2024–FY2026 from 8.3%. After-tax operating profit was $504M in FY2024 and $804M in FY2026, with operating income at 3.8% of revenue in FY2024, 7.4% in FY2025 and 7.3% in FY2026. The capital base behind it went from $6.1B in FY2024 to $6.5B in FY2026 (+7%), while the revenue it carried went from $14.9B to $15.4B.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$15.37B
Revenue Growth YoY+1.9%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+1.6%
Net Margin5.3%
Free Cash Flow$823.0M
Return on Equity23.1%
Debt / Equity0.39x
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 Gap Inc's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?