Forensic Analysis · Apparel & Specialty Retail · as of Nov 11, 2026
Lands' End, Inc. (LE)
A forensic read on Lands' End, 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
Grey Zone
Financial health
1.7
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
2
Forensic signals
2.3%
ROE
-2.0%
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.
Lands' End, Inc. earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 1.7, placing it in the Grey zone. 2 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
6.0%
FY2026
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 6.0% in the latest fiscal year and rising across FY2024–FY2026 from -11.4%. After-tax operating profit was ($61M) in FY2024 and $31M in FY2026, with operating income at -5.3% of revenue in FY2024, 3.7% in FY2025 and 3.3% in FY2026. The capital base behind it went from $539M in FY2024 to $529M in FY2026 (-2%), while the revenue it carried went from $1.5B to $1.3B. FY2024's operating profit carried a $107M goodwill write-off and a $7M restructuring charge that took about 16.7 points off that year's return, and FY2026's carried a $14M restructuring charge that took about 1.9 points off the latest; so, net of each other, the two charges add about 14.8 points to the +17.4-point change across FY2024–FY2026. FY2025's operating profit carried a $6M restructuring charge that alone took about 0.7 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.
$107M
FY2024
Goodwill impairments.Took $107M of goodwill writedowns across 1 year (FY2024 ($107M)). Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$1.34B
Revenue Growth YoY-2.0%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)-4.8%
Net Margin0.4%
Free Cash Flow$20.4M
Return on Equity2.3%
Debt / Equity0.93x
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 Lands' End, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?