Barnes & Noble Education Inc Common Stock (BNED)

FairStock Score: 38/100 — MIXED

Key Financials

AI Analysis

AI-generated, general educational analysis — not personal investment advice.

I look for durable franchises at sensible prices. Barnes & Noble Education runs campus bookstores and course-material programs, but this is no fat-margin franchise; it has little obvious moat. Revenue growth is only 0.85%, and FairStock calculates ROCE at 2.95% and ROE at 8.31%, so the business earns modest returns on capital. The turnaround is real: in fiscal 2026, the year ended 2026-05-02, filed figures show revenue of $1.6B, net income of $16.9M, and diluted EPS of $0.49. That followed a fiscal 2025 net loss of $65.8M and a fiscal 2024 net loss of $75.7M. Seasonality is severe: fiscal Q2 2026, the quarter ended 2025-11-01, earned $25.0M, and fiscal Q3 2026 earned $6.7M, but fiscal Q1 2027, the quarter ended 2026-08-01, still lost $12.9M on $276.9M of revenue. The balance sheet is not comforting; debt-to-equity is 0.98, Altman Z is -0.12, and Piotroski is 0/9. Free cash flow of $48.8M and an 11.5% FCF yield are the main supports. At the 2026-10-13 close of $12.28, FairStock calculates P/E 18.61, P/B 1.53, PEG 0.63, and a Graham Number of $10.92, leaving a negative 12.45% margin of safety. Lynch's TURNAROUND label fits, but a low-ROCE, levered retailer needs proof the profit is durable. The price looks fair to full, not obviously cheap.

In plain English: Barnes & Noble Education runs bookstores and sells textbooks and course materials for colleges and K-12 schools. It made a small profit in its latest reported year after losing money in the two years before, but sales are barely growing and it still loses money in its weakest quarter. At the 2026-10-13 close of $12.28, the stock looks about fair to a bit expensive compared with the company's earnings and assets.

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Data as of 2026-10-13 close · note generated 2026-10-15 · model deepseek-flash

Sources (SEC EDGAR): fiscal Q1 2027 10-Q (period ended 2026-08-01) · fiscal Q3 2026 10-Q (period ended 2026-01-31) · fiscal Q2 2026 10-Q (period ended 2025-11-01) · fiscal Q1 2026 10-Q (period ended 2025-08-02) · FY2026 10-K (period ended 2026-05-02) · FY2025 10-K (period ended 2025-05-03) · FY2024 10-K (period ended 2024-04-27)

Fundamentals from company filings and market-data providers; prices are end-of-day, not real-time. AI-generated analysis is general and educational — not personal investment advice. Scoring methodology · Score test · Disclaimer