Forensic Analysis · Retail / Consumer Discretionary · as of Aug 9, 2026
Urban Outfitters Inc (URBN)
A forensic read on Urban Outfitters Inc built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
A · High-quality compounder
Forensic grade
Safe
Financial health
6.5
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
3
Forensic signals
13.9
P / E (ttm)
16.5%
ROE
$6.6B
Market cap
11.1%
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). 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.
Urban Outfitters Inc earns an A (High-quality compounder) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 6.5, placing it in the Safe zone. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by accruals ratio (% of noa).
What the filings flag
+11.5%
FY2025→FY2026
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +11.5% relative to their own average in FY2026 — scaled by NOA itself, not total assets (see the Forensic Screens card's differently-scaled Sloan Accrual Ratio for that read). Accruals are building faster than is comfortable — part of profit is sitting in the balance sheet rather than turning to cash. The build is led by receivables up +29% against revenue +11% and inventory up +13% against +9% in cost of sales. This is the third straight fiscal year of building accruals — a multi-year streak is a materially stronger tell than a single year's move. The cash-flow cross-check is more mixed: reported earnings ran in line with operating cash by 5% of net operating assets, diverging from the balance-sheet accrual read.
13.4%
FY2026
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is 13.4% in the latest fiscal year and rising from 6% — a modest positive spread over its ~9% cost of capital — growth adds value, though not dramatically.
$14M
FY2020–FY2020
Goodwill impairments.Took $14M of goodwill writedowns across 1 year (FY2020 ($14M)) — about 8% of net income over the span. Writedowns mean past acquisitions underperformed what was paid for them.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$6.17B
Revenue Growth YoY+11.1%
Revenue CAGR (3yr)+8.7%
Net Margin7.5%
Free Cash Flow$315.0M
Return on Equity16.5%
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 Urban Outfitters Inc's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?