Forensic Analysis · General / Diversified · as of Nov 9, 2026
Vera Bradley, Inc. (VRA)
A forensic read on Vera Bradley, 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
Safe
Financial health
4.8
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
3
Forensic signals
-30.8%
ROE
-15.4%
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.
Vera Bradley, Inc. earns a D (Weak — demands caution) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 4.8, placing it in the Safe zone. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by return on invested capital.
What the filings flag
-13.1%
FY2026
Return on invested capital.Return on invested capital is -13.1% in the latest fiscal year and slipping across FY2024–FY2026 from 3.3%. After-tax operating profit was $8M in FY2024 and ($25M) in FY2026, with operating income at 3.0% of revenue in FY2024, -9.0% in FY2025 and -11.8% in FY2026. The capital base behind it came down -21% across FY2024–FY2026, from $245M to $193M, so this return is struck on a smaller base than it started on. FY2024's operating profit carried a $5M asset write-down that alone took about 1.5 points off that year's return, so the FY2026 return is being compared with a base year that charge had already pulled down. A non-cash write-down lowers the reported return in the year it lands.
stopped
FY2025→FY2026
Shareholder returns — halted.Capital returns have STOPPED — $22M of buybacks + dividends in FY2025, but ~$0 in FY2026. A halt usually means the company is conserving cash.
23d DSO
FY2025→FY2026
Receivables vs revenue.Days sales outstanding moved from 16 to 23 days FY2025→FY2026 (receivables +25% vs revenue -15%). Receivables are creeping up relative to sales. Across FY2024–FY2026 the day count ran 16 → 16 → 23 days, so the latest reading sits on top of a record that was flat or falling before it — one year's move, not a direction the business has been travelling in. Deferred revenue was roughly flat (-6%) over the same period, which doesn't corroborate a benign upfront-billing explanation for the receivables build. Both figures are measured on period-end balances rather than the beginning-plus-ending average, because averaging needs the balance a year before every reading — FY2025's opening balance is on file, but across the 3 fiscal years read here (FY2024–FY2026) the average yields only 2 day counts (1 step), too few to tell a climb from one year's move.DSO (days sales outstanding): the average days the company waits to collect cash after a sale.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$269.7M
Revenue Growth YoY-15.4%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)-16.2%
Net Margin-17.7%
Free Cash Flow-$13.3M
Return on Equity-30.8%
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 Vera Bradley, Inc.'s actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?