Forensic Analysis · Retail / Consumer Discretionary · as of Aug 9, 2026
Williams Sonoma Inc (WSM)
A forensic read on Williams Sonoma 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
12.9
Distress distance
Clean
Earnings quality
3
Forensic signals
26.7
P / E (ttm)
52.3%
ROE
$29.6B
Market cap
1.58%
Dividend yield
1.2%
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.
Williams Sonoma Inc earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 12.9, 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
+13.4%
FY2025→FY2026
Accruals ratio (% of NOA).Net operating assets grew +13.4% 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 inventory up +10% against +2% in cost of sales. The cash-flow cross-check is more mixed: reported earnings ran behind operating cash by 23% of net operating assets, diverging from the balance-sheet accrual read.
121d
FY2025→FY2026
Inventory days.Days inventory outstanding moved from 114 to 121 FY2025→FY2026 (against cost of goods sold; inventory +10% vs +2% in cost of sales). Inventory is building a little faster than sales — watch for markdowns.
111% of FCF
FY2026
Shareholder returns.Returned $1.2B to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2026 — 111% of free cash flow, but 89% of operating cash flow. Returns run ahead of free cash flow because the business is also funding heavy growth capex (usually debt-financed); the payout itself is covered by operating cash — sustainable as long as that spending is genuine expansion, not upkeep. Counting the $107M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 121%.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$7.81B
Revenue Growth YoY+1.2%
Revenue CAGR (3yr)-3.4%
Net Margin13.9%
Free Cash Flow$1.06B
Return on Equity52.3%
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 Williams Sonoma Inc's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?