Barnes & Noble Education, Inc
BNED Consumer Cyclical Specialty Retail
Barnes & Noble Education, Inc’s revenue for fiscal 2026 (year ended April 2026) was $1.7 billion, up 6.50% from fiscal 2025. In the quarter to July 2026, revenue was flat, EPS grew 31.5%, free cash flow grew 20.9% and total debt fell 27.4%, each against the same quarter a year earlier. Revenue growth for five consecutive years.
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Barnes & Noble Education, Inc (BNED) Altman Z-score
Barnes & Noble Education, Inc's Altman Z-score for fiscal 2026 is 1.95, in the grey zone (1.81–2.99).
Altman Z-score, annual
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Annual newest first
| Period | Altman Z-score | Change (points) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | 1.95 | 0.50 |
| FY2025 | 1.44 | 0.74 |
| FY2024 | 0.70 | (0.18) |
| FY2023 | 0.88 | 0.08 |
| FY2022 | 0.81 | 0.09 |
| FY2021 | 0.72 | (0.67) |
| FY2020 | 1.39 | (0.78) |
| FY2019 | 2.17 | 0.59 |
| FY2018 | 1.58 | (0.60) |
| FY2017 | 2.18 | (0.48) |
How fiscal 2026’s score is made up
| Component | This year | Year before | Result | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Working capital / total assets | 0.27 | — | 0.33 | |
| Retained earnings / total assets | (0.94) | — | −1.32 | |
| EBIT / total assets | 0.05 | — | 0.16 | |
| Market value of equity / total liabilities | 0.76 | — | 0.46 | |
| Sales / total assets | 2.32 | — | 2.32 | |
| Altman Z-score | Grey zone | 1.95 | ||
| Z″ Variant for non-manufacturing and asset-light companies (drops the sales/assets term, uses book equity) | Distress zone | −0.26 | ||
Z and Z″ put Barnes & Noble Education, Inc in different zones: grey zone by Z, distress zone by Z″.
How the Altman Z-score works
Z = 1.2 × working capital ÷ total assets + 1.4 × retained earnings ÷ total assets + 3.3 × EBIT ÷ total assets + 0.6 × market value of equity ÷ total liabilities + 1.0 × revenue ÷ total assets (Altman, 1968). The market value of equity is the close on the last trading day of the fiscal year times weighted basic shares.
Z″ = 6.56 × working capital ÷ total assets + 3.26 × retained earnings ÷ total assets + 6.72 × EBIT ÷ total assets + 1.05 × book equity ÷ total liabilities (Altman, Hartzell and Peck, 1995), the variant for non-manufacturing and asset-light companies.
| Zone | Z | Z″ |
|---|---|---|
| Safe zone | above 2.99 | above 2.60 |
| Grey zone | 1.81–2.99 | 1.10–2.60 |
| Distress zone | below 1.81 | below 1.10 |
Not worked out for banks, insurers and REITs, whose balance sheets the model does not describe, nor when a figure is missing or there is no share price in the week to the fiscal year end.
Altman Z-score against peers
| Company | Altman Z-score |
|---|---|
| WINA Winmark Corporation compare | 18.0× |
| BBW Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. compare | 5.2× |
| BWMX Betterware de Mexico SAPI de C compare | 3.1× |
| ARKO ARKO Corp. compare | 2.5× |
| BNED Barnes & Noble Education, Inc | 1.9× |
| FLWS 1-800 FLOWERS.COM, Inc. compare | 1.8× |
| WOOF Petco Health and Wellness Company, Inc. compare | 1.0× |
| EVGO EVgo Inc. compare | 0.3× |
| CHPT ChargePoint Holdings, Inc. compare | −3.9× |
What Altman Z-score is
The Altman Z-Score weighs working capital, retained earnings, operating profit, market value and sales against assets and debts to gauge the risk of distress.
1.2 × working capital ÷ total assets + 1.4 × retained earnings ÷ total assets + 3.3 × EBIT ÷ total assets + 0.6 × market value of equity ÷ total liabilities + 1.0 × revenue ÷ total assets