ASO · Consumer discretionary(retail-miscellaneous shopping goods stores) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2026-01-31
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Academy Sports & Outdoors, Inc. reported revenue of $6.1 billion in fiscal 2026. Of the $4.2 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 39.7% went to buybacks and 24.2% back into the business. On the accounting screens, it passes 7 of 9 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of 3.72 is in the safe zone and its Beneish M-score is above the -1.78 line; 1 of the six cross-checks between its statements fires.
Revenue, fiscal 20266.1B
Operating margin8.5%gross margin 34.8%
Return on invested capital15.0%23.2% on average over 5 years
Free cash flow after stock pay201.0M3.3% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA0.2×net debt 153.5M
Piotroski F-score7/9tests of improvement passed
Is it growing?
Revenue and the operating income it turns into. Growth that does not reach operating income is growth bought with margin.
RevenueOperating income
02.0B4.0B6.0B8.0B
2018
2019Revenue 4.8BOperating income 128.9M
2020Revenue 4.8BOperating income 179.4M
2021Revenue 5.7BOperating income 420.4M
2021
2022Revenue 6.8BOperating income 907.9M
2023Revenue 6.4BOperating income 846.5M
2024Revenue 6.2BOperating income 677.9M
2025Revenue 5.9BOperating income 538.6M
2026Revenue 6.1BOperating income 512.2M
2018201920202021202120222023202420252026
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
-1.8%
—
—
Operating income
-15.4%
—
—
Net income
-15.7%
—
—
Earnings per share
-9.6%
—
—
Free cash flow per share
-14.9%
—
—
Dividend per share
+20.2%
—
—
Shares
-6.7%
—
—
Falling shares are buybacks: each remaining share owns more of the company.
Does it earn more than its capital costs?
Margins say how much of each sale is kept; return on invested capital says how much the business earns on the money it needs to operate. Growth only creates value when that return is above the cost of the capital.
Return on invested capitalCost of capital today · 9.4%
0.0%10.0%20.0%30.0%40.0%
2018
2019
2020
2021Return on invested capital 20.2%
2021
2022Return on invested capital 32.9%
2023Return on invested capital 29.3%
2024Return on invested capital 21.7%
2025Return on invested capital 16.8%
2026Return on invested capital 15.0%
2018201920202021202120222023202420252026
Economic profit
Economic profit
0200.0M400.0M600.0M
2018
2019
2020
2021Economic profit 204.9M
2021
2022Economic profit 507.3M
2023Economic profit 442.0M
2024Economic profit 301.8M
2025Economic profit 185.4M
2026Economic profit 148.1M
2018201920202021202120222023202420252026
(return on capital − cost of capital) × capital invested: the profit left after paying for the money used. Today's cost of capital is applied to every year, since a past one cannot be rebuilt honestly.
Return on equity
17.4%
Return on assets
7.1%
Asset turnover
1.15×
Overheads (SG&A)
26.3% of revenue
Is the profit cash, and where does the cash go?
Net income is an accounting opinion; free cash flow is what was left in the bank after investing. Stock-based pay does not leave the bank — shareholders pay it through dilution — so it is shown taken off as well.
Net incomeFree cash flowAfter stock-based pay
0250.0M500.0M750.0M1.0B
2018
2019Net income 21.4MFree cash flow 90.6MAfter stock-based pay 85.9M
2020Net income 120.0MFree cash flow 200.9MAfter stock-based pay 193.0M
2021Net income 308.8MFree cash flow 970.3MAfter stock-based pay 938.7M
2021
2022Net income 671.4MFree cash flow 597.5MAfter stock-based pay 558.2M
2023Net income 628.0MFree cash flow 443.7MAfter stock-based pay 422.5M
2024Net income 519.2MFree cash flow 328.0MAfter stock-based pay 303.6M
2025Net income 418.4MFree cash flow 328.5MAfter stock-based pay 301.9M
2026Net income 376.8MFree cash flow 222.1MAfter stock-based pay 201.0M
2018201920202021202120222023202420252026
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2018–2026
4.2B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 24%1.0B
Acquisitions 0%0
Dividends 3%118.0M
Share buybacks 40%1.7B
Kept, or used to pay down debt 33%1.4B
Over the same years it paid 202.4M in stock. 1.5B of the buybacks went beyond offsetting that dilution.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
$0.00$5.00$10.00$15.00
2018
2019Earnings per share $0.29Free cash flow per share $1.20
2020Earnings per share $1.60Free cash flow per share $2.69
2021Earnings per share $3.79Free cash flow per share $11.92Dividend per share $0.00
2021
2022Earnings per share $7.12Free cash flow per share $6.34Dividend per share $0.00
2023Earnings per share $7.49Free cash flow per share $5.29Dividend per share $0.29
2024Earnings per share $6.70Free cash flow per share $4.23Dividend per share $0.35
2025Earnings per share $5.73Free cash flow per share $4.50Dividend per share $0.43
2026Earnings per share $5.54Free cash flow per share $3.26Dividend per share $0.51
2018201920202021202120222023202420252026
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
60.0M70.0M80.0M90.0M100.0M
2018
2019Diluted shares 75.2M
2020Diluted shares 74.8M
2021Diluted shares 81.4M
2021
2022Diluted shares 94.3M
2023Diluted shares 83.9M
2024Diluted shares 77.5M
2025Diluted shares 73.0M
2026Diluted shares 68.0M
2018201920202021202120222023202420252026
How strong is the balance sheet?
Debt is not bad in itself; debt the business cannot service in a bad year is. Net debt is debt minus cash, and below zero the company holds more cash than it owes.
Net debt
0500.0M1.0B1.5B
2018
2019
2020Net debt 1.3B
2021Net debt 407.9M
2021
2022Net debt 200.6M
2023Net debt 250.3M
2024Net debt 139.6M
2025Net debt 196.8M
2026Net debt 153.5M
2018201920202021202120222023202420252026
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
0.2×
Interest coverage
14× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
1.89 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
82 days collects in 2d, stock 139d, pays in 59d
Three classic screens of the accounts
Each asks a different question of the same statements — is it improving, does it look like a company heading for distress, do the accounts resemble ones that were manipulated. None is a verdict; each shows what moves it.
Piotroski F-score
Is the business improving? Nine yes-or-no tests, this year against last.
7of 9 tests passed
✓ProfitableReturn on assets above zeropassed
✓Cash from operationsOperating cash flow above zeropassed
✕Profitability improvedReturn on assets higher than a year beforefailed
✓Profit backed by cashOperating cash flow above net income (low accruals)passed
✓Less long-term debtLong-term debt as a share of assets fellpassed
✓More liquidCurrent ratio higher than a year beforepassed
✓No new sharesShare count did not growpassed
✓Better gross marginGross margin higher than a year beforepassed
✕Sells more per assetAsset turnover higher than a year beforefailed
Where it misleads: it measures change, not level. An excellent business that stood still for a year scores low; a poor one recovering from a disaster scores high.
Altman Z''-score
Does the balance sheet look like those of companies that went bankrupt?
3.72safe zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets 0.17 × 6.56+1.15
Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.36 × 3.26+1.18
Operating income ÷ assets 0.10 × 6.72+0.65
Equity ÷ liabilities 0.70 × 1.05+0.73
Where it misleads: buybacks. A company that returns so much cash that its equity turns small or negative sinks the last two ratios without being anywhere near bankruptcy. Banks and insurers do not fit the model at all.
Beneish M-score
Do the accounts resemble those of companies that manipulated their earnings?
-1.59above the -1.78 line
-1.78
Receivables vs sales 2.03+1.87
Gross margin slipping 0.97+0.51
Soft assets 0.95+0.39
Sales growth 1.02+0.91
Slower depreciation 1.06+0.12
Overheads vs sales 1.06-0.18
Profit not in cash -0.01-0.05
Leverage rising 0.97-0.32
Where it misleads: fast growth and acquisitions. Sales growth carries a heavy weight, so a company growing 50% a year scores like a suspect without having done anything. It is a screen from a 1999 study, not an accusation.
Where the statements disagree
Cross-checks between the income statement, the balance sheet and the cash flow for the latest year, each with the benign reading and the worrying one.
Receivables are growing 107% against revenue growing 2%.
Benign
A shift towards larger customers on longer terms, or sales concentrated at the end of the period.
Worrying
Sales are being made on looser credit, or revenue has been booked that may never be collected.
What is it worth, under which assumptions?
A company is worth the cash it will generate, brought back to today. This model projects revenue with growth that fades over the years, applies a free cash flow margin, and discounts the result at the cost of capital. Every assumption says where it came from, and all of them can be changed.
Value per share, with these assumptions$39.51discounted at 9.4% a year · 50% of it from after year 10
Type a share price on the left to ask the reverse questions: what growth, what margin or what discount rate that price implies.
What the value implies, in the usual multiples
At this model's value
Price ÷ earnings
7.1×
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA
4.5×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue
0.5×
Free cash flow yield
7.5%
From cash flows to a value per share
10 years of cash flow, today1.4B
Everything after, today1.4B
The whole business2.8B
Minus net debt-153.5M
What belongs to shareholders2.7B
Divided among 68.0M shares: <strong>$39.51</strong> each.
The projection next to its history
Reported free cash flow after stock pay, then the model's. A projection that looks nothing like the past needs a reason.
ReportedProjected
0250.0M500.0M750.0M1.0B
2018
2019Reported 85.9M
2020Reported 193.0M
2021Reported 938.7M
2021
2022Reported 558.2M
2023Reported 422.5M
2024Reported 303.6M
2025Reported 301.9M
2026Reported 201.0M
2027Projected 232.7M
2028Projected 227.1M
2029Projected 223.1M
2030Projected 220.5M
2031Projected 219.2M
2032Projected 219.4M
2033Projected 220.8M
2034Projected 223.7M
2035Projected 227.9M
2036Projected 233.6M
2018202020212023202520272029203120332035
Year by year
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
2036
Revenue
5.9B
5.7B
5.6B
5.6B
5.5B
5.5B
5.6B
5.6B
5.8B
5.9B
Growth
-3.0%
-2.4%
-1.8%
-1.2%
-0.6%
0.1%
0.7%
1.3%
1.9%
2.5%
Cash margin
4.0%
4.0%
4.0%
4.0%
4.0%
4.0%
4.0%
4.0%
4.0%
4.0%
Free cash flow
232.7M
227.1M
223.1M
220.5M
219.2M
219.4M
220.8M
223.7M
227.9M
233.6M
Worth today
212.7M
189.9M
170.5M
154.1M
140.1M
128.1M
117.9M
109.2M
101.7M
95.3M
If the least-known inputs move
Value per share as two inputs change at a time. Neighbouring cells that differ a lot are the conclusion: the value depends on numbers nobody knows to a point.
The discount rate and growth forever
discount ↓ · forever →
1.5%
2.0%
2.5%
3.0%
3.5%
8.4%
41
43
46
50
54
8.9%
38
40
43
46
49
9.4%
35
37
40
42
45
9.9%
33
35
37
39
41
10.4%
31
33
34
36
38
Year-one growth and the final margin
margin ↓ · growth →
-7.0%
-5.0%
-3.0%
-1.0%
1.0%
3.2%
28
31
33
36
40
3.6%
30
33
36
40
43
4.0%
33
36
40
43
47
4.4%
36
39
43
47
51
4.8%
38
42
46
50
55
All the inputs moving at once
5,000 valuations, each with growth, final margin, discount rate and growth forever drawn at random around the values on the left (spreads of 3.0%, 2.0%, 1.0% and 0.5%). Not a probability — the spreads are assumptions too — but an honest picture of how wide the answer is.
10th percentile$19.34
Median$39.56
90th percentile$65.51
$25.00$50.00$75.00
Half of the simulations land between <b>$28.34</b> and <b>$51.93</b>; one in ten below $19.34, one in ten above $65.51.
Does the long run make sense?
5.6×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 5.6 times that year's EBITDA.
6%To grow 2.5% forever while reinvesting 40% of its after-tax operating profit, the business must earn 6% on the new capital — it has earned 23% on average over the last five years.
50%of the value comes from after year 10. The more of it, the more the answer depends on the part nobody can see.
Every Form 4 filed in the last twelve months, read line by line: 6 filings by 5 people. Open-market purchases and sales are counted apart from awards, option exercises and shares withheld for taxes.
Bought on the open market—none in the period
Sold on the open market$5.6M7 sale(s) by 3 insider(s)
Under pre-arranged plans0%of the sales followed a 10b5-1 plan set months earlier
A Form 4 says what happened, when, how many shares and at what price. It does not say why: a sale can be diversification, a tax bill or a plan fixed months earlier, and an award is pay, not a purchase. Nothing here is a reason to buy or sell anything.
Which large funds report holding it
From the Form 13F of the 28 institutions followed on this site, as of the end of their last reported quarter. A 13F is filed up to 45 days later and shows only long positions in US-listed shares.
Accounts from the company's own SEC filings; lines some companies do not report are shown as a dash rather than estimated. The risk-free rate is the 10-year US Treasury yield. A DCF is a way of making assumptions explicit, not a forecast: it states what the company would be worth if the assumptions held. The scores are screens that point where to look, not verdicts. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell.