CAL · Consumer discretionary(footwear, (no rubber)) · 10 years of annual accounts filed with the SEC · latest fiscal year ended 2026-01-31
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Caleres Inc reported revenue of $2.8 billion in fiscal 2026, after growing 46.0% a year over the previous 9 years. Its operating margin narrowed from 105.0% in 2017 to 0.2%. Of the $1.5 billion its operations generated over 10 years, 30.0% went back into the business and 24.5% to acquisitions; the share count fell 22.9%. On the accounting screens, it passes 3 of 8 Piotroski tests, its Altman Z'' of 1.24 is in the grey zone and its Beneish M-score is below the -1.78 line; 1 of the six cross-checks between its statements fires.
Revenue, fiscal 20262.8B+46.0% a year over 9 years
Operating margin0.2%gross margin 43.0%
Return on invested capital—47.2% on average over 1 years
Free cash flow after stock pay27.0M1.0% of revenue
Net debt ÷ EBITDA—net debt —
Piotroski F-score3/8tests 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
-1B01B2B3B
2017Revenue 91.4MOperating income 96.0M
2018Revenue 85.1MOperating income 127.7M
2019Revenue 85.5MOperating income 401,000
2020Revenue 2.9BOperating income 103.8M
2021Revenue 2.1BOperating income -485.7M
2022Revenue 2.8BOperating income 205.8M
2023Revenue 3.0BOperating income 214.3M
2024Revenue 2.8BOperating income 194.5M
2025Revenue 2.7BOperating income 149.9M
2026Revenue 2.8BOperating income 6.4M
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Compound growth a year
3 yrs
5 yrs
9 yrs
Revenue
-2.4%
+5.4%
+46.0%
Operating income
-69.0%
—
-26.0%
Free cash flow per share
-15.0%
-16.3%
-10.1%
Dividend per share
+0.3%
+0.1%
+0.1%
Shares
-2.8%
-2.7%
-2.8%
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 · 10.2%
-150%-100%-50%0%50%
2017
2018
2019Return on invested capital 0.1%
2020Return on invested capital 9.7%
2021Return on invested capital -140.1%
2022Return on invested capital 47.2%
2023
2024
2025
2026
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Economic profit
Economic profit
-600M-400M-200M0200M
2017
2018
2019Economic profit -84.8M
2020Economic profit -4.5M
2021Economic profit -599.9M
2022Economic profit 117.6M
2023
2024
2025
2026
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
(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
-1.1%
Return on assets
-0.3%
Asset turnover
1.40×
Overheads (SG&A)
42.0% 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
-600M-400M-200M0200M
2017Net income 65.7MFree cash flow 133.1MAfter stock-based pay 125.4M
2018Net income 87.2MFree cash flow 146.7MAfter stock-based pay 135.4M
2019Net income -5.4MFree cash flow 67.1MAfter stock-based pay 53.3M
2020Net income 62.8MFree cash flow 126.3MAfter stock-based pay 116.0M
2021Net income -439.1MFree cash flow 109.6MAfter stock-based pay 101.5M
2022Net income 137.0MFree cash flow 150.0MAfter stock-based pay 137.8M
2023Net income 181.7MFree cash flow 70.0MAfter stock-based pay 52.7M
2024Net income 171.4MFree cash flow 155.6MAfter stock-based pay 140.8M
2025Net income 107.3MFree cash flow 55.4MAfter stock-based pay 40.3M
2026Net income -6.7MFree cash flow 39.4MAfter stock-based pay 27.0M
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Where 10 years of operating cash went, 2017–2026
1.5B generated by the business. Each band is its share of that total.
Reinvested in the business 30%450.8M
Acquisitions 25%368.8M
Dividends 7%108.2M
Share buybacks 20%297.4M
Kept, or used to pay down debt 19%278.7M
Over the same years it paid 123.2M in stock. The share count fell 22.9%. 174.2M of the buybacks went beyond offsetting that dilution.
Per share
Earnings per shareFree cash flow per shareDividend per share
-$1,000$0$1,000$2,000$3,000$4,000
2017Earnings per share $1.56Free cash flow per share $3.16Dividend per share $0.29
2018Earnings per share $2,077.18Free cash flow per share $3,493.45Dividend per share $286.49
2019Earnings per share $-0.13Free cash flow per share $1.61Dividend per share $0.29
2020Earnings per share $1.58Free cash flow per share $3.17Dividend per share $0.29
2021Earnings per share $-11.80Free cash flow per share $2.94Dividend per share $0.29
2022Earnings per share $3.69Free cash flow per share $4.04Dividend per share $0.29
2023Earnings per share $5.13Free cash flow per share $1.98Dividend per share $0.29
2024Earnings per share $5.02Free cash flow per share $4.56Dividend per share $0.29
2025Earnings per share $3.20Free cash flow per share $1.65Dividend per share $0.29
2026Earnings per share $-0.21Free cash flow per share $1.21Dividend per share $0.29
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Shares outstanding
Diluted shares
020M40M60M
2017Diluted shares 42.2M
2018Diluted shares 41,980
2019Diluted shares 41.8M
2020Diluted shares 39.9M
2021Diluted shares 37.2M
2022Diluted shares 37.1M
2023Diluted shares 35.4M
2024Diluted shares 34.2M
2025Diluted shares 33.5M
2026Diluted shares 32.5M
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Debt and liquidity
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
-50M050M100M150M200M
2017
2018
2019Net debt 167.7M
2020Net debt 153.2M
2021Net debt 110.6M
2022Net debt -30.1M
2023
2024
2025
2026
2017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Net debt ÷ EBITDA
—
Interest coverage
0× operating income ÷ interest
Current ratio
1.02 current assets ÷ current liabilities
Cash conversion cycle
— collects in 19d
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.
3of 8 tests passed
✕ProfitableReturn on assets above zerofailed
✓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 fell — not reportedno data
✕More liquidCurrent ratio higher than a year beforefailed
✓No new sharesShare count did not growpassed
✕Better gross marginGross margin higher than a year beforefailed
✕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?
1.24grey zone
1.12.6
Working capital ÷ assets 0.01 × 6.56+0.06
Retained earnings ÷ assets 0.21 × 3.26+0.70
Operating income ÷ assets 0.00 × 6.72+0.02
Equity ÷ liabilities 0.44 × 1.05+0.46
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?
-2.82below the -1.78 line
-1.78
Receivables vs sales 0.93+0.86
Gross margin slipping 1.04+0.55
Soft assets 0.98+0.40
Sales growth 1.01+0.90
Slower depreciation 0.97+0.11
Overheads vs sales 1.07-0.18
Profit not in cash -0.06-0.26
Leverage rising 1.08-0.35
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.
The effective tax rate is -19.2%.
Benign
A favourable geographic mix, or legitimate tax credits.
Worrying
Not sustainable; projecting it forward inflates the valuation.
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$31.60discounted at 10.2% a year · 49% 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
—
Enterprise value ÷ EBITDA
18.8×
Enterprise value ÷ revenue
0.4×
Free cash flow yield
2.6%
From cash flows to a value per share
10 years of cash flow, today519.7M
Everything after, today508.0M
The whole business1.0B
Minus net debt-0
What belongs to shareholders1.0B
Divided among 32.5M shares: <strong>$31.60</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
050M100M150M
2017Reported 125.4M
2018Reported 135.4M
2019Reported 53.3M
2020Reported 116.0M
2021Reported 101.5M
2022Reported 137.8M
2023Reported 52.7M
2024Reported 140.8M
2025Reported 40.3M
2026Reported 27.0M
2027Projected 72.5M
2028Projected 76.3M
2029Projected 79.9M
2030Projected 83.5M
2031Projected 87.0M
2032Projected 90.4M
2033Projected 93.5M
2034Projected 96.5M
2035Projected 99.2M
2036Projected 101.7M
2017201920212023202520272029203120332035
Year by year
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
2033
2034
2035
2036
Revenue
2.9B
3.1B
3.2B
3.4B
3.5B
3.6B
3.8B
3.9B
4.0B
4.1B
Growth
5.5%
5.2%
4.8%
4.5%
4.2%
3.8%
3.5%
3.2%
2.8%
2.5%
Cash margin
2.5%
2.5%
2.5%
2.5%
2.5%
2.5%
2.5%
2.5%
2.5%
2.5%
Free cash flow
72.5M
76.3M
79.9M
83.5M
87.0M
90.4M
93.5M
96.5M
99.2M
101.7M
Worth today
65.8M
62.7M
59.7M
56.6M
53.4M
50.3M
47.3M
44.2M
41.3M
38.4M
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%
9.2%
33
34
36
39
41
9.7%
31
32
34
36
38
10.2%
29
30
32
33
35
10.7%
27
28
30
31
33
11.2%
26
27
28
29
31
Year-one growth and the final margin
margin ↓ · growth →
1.5%
3.5%
5.5%
7.5%
9.5%
2.0%
23
25
27
29
31
2.2%
25
27
29
32
34
2.5%
27
29
32
34
37
2.7%
29
31
34
37
40
3.0%
31
33
36
39
43
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$7.77
Median$31.62
90th percentile$59.65
$0.00$50.00
Half of the simulations land between <b>$18.98</b> and <b>$45.45</b>; one in ten below $7.77, one in ten above $59.65.
Does the long run make sense?
16.7×The terminal value prices the business in year 10 at 16.7 times that year's EBITDA.
Free growthIn year 10 free cash flow is at or above after-tax operating profit, yet the model grows 2.5% forever. Growth needs reinvestment; this assumes it comes for free, which flatters the terminal value.
49%of the value comes from after year 10. The more of it, the more the answer depends on the part nobody can see.
What lenders charge, after the tax saving on interest: 6.74% × (1 − 0.0%) = <strong>6.74%</strong>.
Weighted by how much of each the company uses (book value (no price given)): <strong>10.24%</strong>, the rate every future cash flow is discounted at.
What it has filed lately
The last twelve months at the SEC, most important first: annual and quarterly reports, events, large holders and insiders.
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.