SCOO (School Specialty) Piotroski F-Score: 0 (As of Sep. 11, 2026)

School Specialty  (OTCPK:SCOO) Piotroski F-Score Explanation

The developer of the system is Joseph D. Piotroski is relatively unknown accounting professor who shuns publicity and rarely gives interviews.

He graduated from the University of Illinois with a B.S. in accounting in 1989, received an M.B.A. from Indiana University in 1994. Five years later, in 1999, after earning a Ph.D. in accounting from the University of Michigan, he became an associate professor of accounting at the University of Chicago.

In 2000, he wrote a research paper called "Value Investing: The Use of Historical Financial Statement Information to Separate Winners from Losers" (pdf).

He wanted to see if he can develop a system (using a simple nine-point scoring system) that can increase the returns of a strategy of investing in low price to book (referred to in the paper as high book to market) value companies.

What he found was something that exceeded his most optimistic expectations.

Buying only those companies that scored highest (8 or 9) on his nine-point scale, or F-Score as he called it, over the 20 year period from 1976 to 1996 led to an average out-performance over the market of 13.4%.

Even more impressive were the results of a strategy of investing in the highest F-Score companies (8 or 9) and shorting companies with the lowest F-Score (0 or 1).

Over the same period from 1976 to 1996 (20 years) this strategy led to an average yearly return of 23%, substantially outperforming the average S&P 500 index return of 15.83% over the same period.

School Specialty Piotroski F-Score Related Terms

The historical data trend for School Specialty's Piotroski F-Score can be seen below:

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.

School Specialty Piotroski F-Score Chart

School Specialty Annual Data
	Trend	Apr10	Apr11	Apr12	Apr13	Apr14	Apr15	Dec16	Dec17	Dec18	Dec19
Piotroski F-Score		Get a 7-Day Free Trial					5.00	9.00	5.00	3.00	4.00

School Specialty Quarterly Data
	Jan15	Apr15	Jul15	Oct15	Mar16	Jun16	Sep16	Dec16	Mar17	Jun17	Sep17	Dec17	Mar18	Jun18	Sep18	Dec18	Mar19	Jun19	Sep19	Dec19
Piotroski F-Score	Get a 7-Day Free Trial															3.00	3.00	4.00	3.00	4.00

How is the Piotroski F-Score calculated?

* For Operating Data section: All numbers are indicated by the unit behind each term and all currency related amount are in USD.
* For other sections: All numbers are in millions except for per share data, ratio, and percentage. All currency related amount are indicated in the company's associated stock exchange currency.

*Note: If the latest quarterly/semi-annual/annual total assets data is 0, then we will use previous quarterly/semi-annual/annual data for all the items in the balance sheet.

Profitability

Question 1. Return on Assets (ROA)

Net income before extraordinary items for the year divided by Total Assets at the beginning of the year.

Score 1 if positive, 0 if negative.

School Specialty's current Net Income (TTM) was -49.5. ==> Negative ==> Score 0.

Question 2. Cash Flow Return on Assets (CFROA)

Net cash flow from operating activities (operating cash flow) divided by Total Assets at the beginning of the year.

Score 1 if positive, 0 if negative.

School Specialty's current Cash Flow from Operations (TTM) was 13.5. ==> Positive ==> Score 1.

Question 3. Change in Return on Assets

Compare this year's return on assets (1) to last year's return on assets.

Score 1 if it's higher, 0 if it's lower.

School Specialty's return on assets of this year was -0.1830528. School Specialty's return on assets of last year was -0.1240081. ==> Last year is higher ==> Score 0.

Question 4. Quality of Earnings (Accrual)

Compare Cash flow return on assets (2) to return on assets (1)

Score 1 if CFROA > ROA, 0 if CFROA <= ROA.

School Specialty's current Net Income (TTM) was -49.5. School Specialty's current Cash Flow from Operations (TTM) was 13.5. ==> 13.5 > -49.5 ==> CFROA > ROA ==> Score 1.

Funding

Question 5. Change in Gearing or Leverage

Compare this year's gearing (long-term debt divided by average total assets) to last year's gearing.

Score 0 if this year's gearing is higher, 1 otherwise.

School Specialty's gearing of this year was 0.0337854. School Specialty's gearing of last year was 0.31067922. ==> This year is lower or equal to last year. ==> Score 1.

Question 6. Change in Working Capital (Liquidity)

Compare this year's current ratio (current assets divided by current liabilities) to last year's current ratio.

Score 1 if this year's current ratio is higher, 0 if it's lower

School Specialty's current ratio of this year was 0.74763089. School Specialty's current ratio of last year was 1.88343185. ==> Last year's current ratio is higher ==> Score 0.

Question 7. Change in Shares in Issue

Compare the number of shares in issue this year, to the number in issue last year.

Score 0 if there is larger number of shares in issue this year, 1 otherwise.

School Specialty's number of shares in issue this year was 7.025. School Specialty's number of shares in issue last year was 7. ==> There is larger number of shares in issue this year. ==> Score 0.

Efficiency

Question 8. Change in Gross Margin

Compare this year's gross margin (Gross Profit divided by sales) to last year's.

Score 1 if this year's gross margin is higher, 0 if it's lower.

School Specialty's gross margin of this year was 0.33158913. School Specialty's gross margin of last year was 0.33931891. ==> Last year's gross margin is higher ==> Score 0.

Question 9. Change in asset turnover

Compare this year's asset turnover (total sales for the year divided by total assets at the beginning of the year) to last year's asset turnover ratio.

Score 1 if this year's asset turnover ratio is higher, 0 if it's lower

School Specialty's asset turnover of this year was 2.31299783. School Specialty's asset turnover of last year was 2.15568793. ==> This year's asset turnover is higher. ==> Score 1.

Evaluation

Good or high score = 7, 8, 9
Bad or low score = 0, 1, 2, 3

School Specialty has an F-score of 4 indicating the company's financial situation is typical for a stable company.

School Specialty Business Description