BARNES & NOBLE EDUCATION, INC.
BNED · Consumer Discretionary · $409M mkt cap · FY2026 filings · Shallow moat ·
Doesn't clear the bar
The five investor questions
2022–2026 (latest 5 aligned FYs; v3 window cap 5): revenue $1.5B to $1.6B, increasing; diluted EPS -1.33 to 0.49, increasing. Latest-filed diluted EPS remains usable for Business Trend, but an integer share-count change lacks enough evidence to confirm a comparable EPS basis; valuation growth therefore stays at 0%.
Median gross margin 23.7% over 10y, stable.
Median ROIC -9.1%, above the 12% hurdle in 0% of years.
Net cash position — no leverage risk.
Owner earnings changed +3.7%/yr over up to the ten most recent annual observations.
Price vs. value if growth stopped today
A cautious baseline, not a price target: what the shares may support if normalized owner earnings simply hold steady.
- Not reported
- Unavailable — insufficient owner-earnings data
- Unavailable — insufficient growth-model data
- $11.88
- No price data
This zero-growth estimate assumes trailing owner earnings persist — unreliable for declining businesses. Flag status unavailable — four adjacent recent FY revenue observations are required.
Among the current top-score group, the median current price is 239% above the zero-growth estimate across 48 of the current top 50 companies by Moat Score with both values.
Score records captured Jul 26, 2026.
Exactly which 50 companies?
FTNT, META, MEDP, IBEX, MSFT, GOOGL, LULU, ANF, IDXX, TXRH, FHI, QLYS, FFIV, ADBE, LLY, MANH, VEEV, GRMN, SSD, MNST, DOCS, MCO, CPRT, NTAP, LRCX, NVDA, CORT, SFM, MPTI, ULTA, SN, RMD, ROL, PAYC, IRMD, INTU, DECK, MORN, LGCY, DAL, GWW, ISRG, MPWR, CTAS, LOPE, MRK, CMG, FAST, BKNG, ORLY
Missing a usable price or zero-growth estimate: ANF, BKNG.
Model details under moat-index@3.0.0: zero-growth multiple 11.1×, capped-growth comparison at no more than 18×; 9% discount rate; high-end growth 0% (capped at 4%) using min(5y revenue CAGR, 5y diluted-EPS CAGR), clamped to 0%–4%; maintenance capex uses min(capex, D&A); abstain when D&A is unavailable. This is a disclosed model range, not intrinsic value as fact.
Fundamentals
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Visual explainers
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Moat Score history
Breaks in the line mark methodology or normalizer upgrades — readings across versions aren’t compared, so a level shift there isn’t a change in the business.
Tier changesSame-methodology and same-normalizer crossings of the Wide / Narrow / Shallow bars
- Normalizer upgraded unstamped (version unknown)tomoat-xbrl-normalizer@1.1.0 — readings across versions aren’t comparedJul 26, 2026
- Methodology upgraded moat-index@2.0.0tomoat-index@3.0.0 — readings across versions aren’t comparedJul 23, 2026
- Methodology upgraded moat-index@1.2.0tomoat-index@2.0.0 — readings across versions aren’t comparedJul 20, 2026
Scores are logged append-only and never overwritten — this record cannot be reconstructed retroactively, which is exactly why it’s worth keeping.
Insider activity
Form 4 reports mix P/S market or private transactions with compensation-plan mechanics. Activity casually described as “insider selling” can include compensation mechanics; awards, tax withholding, and option exercises are shown by their exact filed class here, never collapsed into “Bought” or “Sold.”
These are disclosed filing facts and arithmetic aggregates, not a signal or verdict.
The insider-filing service is temporarily unavailable, so no partial or guessed answer is shown for BNED.
Consumer Discretionary context
#252 of 487 scored Consumer Discretionary companies, ranked by Moat Score.
Nearest peers by Moat Score
- #250MNRO Monro, Inc.44.5 out of 100, Shallow moatShallow moat
- #251FFLO Free Flow USA Inc.44.5 out of 100, Shallow moatShallow moat
- #253BRWC BIRDIE WIN CORPORATION44.5 out of 100, Shallow moatShallow moat
- #254GHC GRAHAM HOLDINGS CO44.4 out of 100, Shallow moatShallow moat
Compare BNED with its nearest peers →All Consumer Discretionary companies on the Index →
Common questions about BNED
- Does BARNES & NOBLE EDUCATION, INC. have an economic moat?
- Based on its FY2026 SEC filings, the Moat Index scores BARNES & NOBLE EDUCATION, INC. (BNED) 44.5 out of 100 — a Shallow moat. The five questions behind that score begin at 20% each; if exactly one genuinely lacks data, the other four weights are renormalized and disclosed. revenue and EPS trend 57, pricing power 34, returns on capital 0, balance-sheet safety 100, capital allocation 31.
- How has BNED's Moat Score changed over time?
- The record logs 15 readings since Jul 17, 2026; the latest reads 44.5 out of 100 (shallow moat). No tier changes on record yet. (Methodology or normalizer upgrades on Jul 20, 2026, Jul 23, 2026, Jul 26, 2026 re-based the score; readings across versions aren't compared.) The history is append-only — readings are only ever added, never rewritten.