BBW (Build-A-Bear Workshop) Altman Z-Score: 3.97 (As of Jun. 27, 2026) — Near Median


BBW Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc BBW
70 GF Score
Price $31.34
GF Value $39.18
Valuation Modestly Undervalued
! 3 Warning Signs
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What is Build-A-Bear Workshop Altman Z-Score?

Build-A-Bear Workshop BBW -2.06% 70 Altman Z-Score is 3.97 as of Jun. 27, 2026, which is 3% above its 10-year median of 3.85. GuruFocus rates BBW with a GF Score™ of 70/100 and a GF Value™ of $39.18 (Modestly Undervalued). The stock has 3 warning signs investors should review. Among 1,117 Retail - Cyclical companies, Build-A-Bear Workshop ranks better than 69.74% on this metric.

The Altman Z-Score is a model designed to predict the likelihood of a company going bankrupt within the next two years. Created by American finance professor Edward Altman in 1968, the model is specifically designed for publicly traded manufacturing companies with assets greater than $1 million.

Good Sign:

Altman Z-score of 3.97 is strong.

Build-A-Bear Workshop has a Altman Z-Score of 3.97, indicating it is in Safe Zones. This implies the Altman Z-Score is strong.

The zones of discrimination were as such:

When Altman Z-Score <= 1.8, it is in Distress Zones.
When Altman Z-Score >= 3, it is in Safe Zones.
When Altman Z-Score is between 1.8 and 3, it is in Grey Zones.

The historical rank and industry rank for Build-A-Bear Workshop's Altman Z-Score or its related term are showing as below:

BBW' s Altman Z-Score Range Over the Past 10 Years
Min: 0.62   Med: 3.85   Max: 5.58
Current: 3.97

During the past 13 years, Build-A-Bear Workshop's highest Altman Z-Score was 5.58. The lowest was 0.62. And the median was 3.85.


Build-A-Bear Workshop  (NYSE:BBW) Altman Z-Score Explanation

X1: The Working Capital/Total Assets (WC/TA) ratio is a measure of the net liquid assets of the firm relative to the total capitalization. Working capital is defined as the difference between current assets and current liabilities. Ordinarily, a firm experiencing consistent operating losses will have shrinking current assets in relation to total assets. Altman found this one proved to be the most valuable liquidity ratio comparing with the current ratio and the quick ratio. This is however the least significant of the five factors.

X2: Retained Earnings/Total Assets: the RE/TA ratio measures the leverage of a firm. Retained earnings is the account which reports the total amount of reinvested earnings and/or losses of a firm over its entire life. Those firms with high RE, relative to TA, have financed their assets through retention of profits and have not utilized as much debt.

X3, Earnings Before Interest and Taxes/Total Assets (EBIT/TA): This ratio is a measure of the true productivity of the firm's assets, independent of any tax or leverage factors. Since a firm's ultimate existence is based on the earning power of its assets, this ratio appears to be particularly appropriate for studies dealing with corporate failure. This ratio continually outperforms other profitability measures, including cash flow.

X4, Market Value of Equity/Book Value of Total Liabilities (MVE/TL): The measure shows how much the firm's assets can decline in value (measured by market value of equity plus debt) before the liabilities exceed the assets and the firm becomes insolvent.

X5, Revenue/Total Assets (S/TA): The capital-turnover ratio is a standard financial ratio illustrating the sales generating ability of the firm's assets.

Read more about Altman Z-Score and the original research.


Be Aware

Altman Z-Score does not apply to financial companies.


Build-A-Bear Workshop Altman Z-Score Related Terms


Build-A-Bear Workshop Altman Z-Score Historical Data

* Premium members only.

The historical data trend for Build-A-Bear Workshop's Altman Z-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.

Build-A-Bear Workshop Altman Z-Score Chart

Build-A-Bear Workshop Annual Data
Trend Dec16 Dec17 Jan19 Jan20 Jan21 Jan22 Jan23 Jan24 Jan25 Jan26
Altman Z-Score
Get a 7-Day Free Trial Premium Member Only Premium Member Only 3.48 4.25 4.51 5.33 5.18

Build-A-Bear Workshop Quarterly Data
Jul21 Oct21 Jan22 Apr22 Jul22 Oct22 Jan23 Apr23 Jul23 Oct23 Jan24 Apr24 Jul24 Oct24 Jan25 Apr25 Jul25 Oct25 Jan26 Apr26
Altman Z-Score Get a 7-Day Free Trial Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only Premium Member Only 4.84 5.58 5.39 5.18 4.20

BBW vs BNED, EVGO, FLWS: Altman Z-Score Comparison

For the Specialty Retail subindustry, Build-A-Bear Workshop's Altman Z-Score, along with its competitors' market caps and Altman Z-Score data, can be viewed below:

* Competitive companies are chosen from companies within the same industry, with headquarter located in same country, with closest market capitalization; x-axis shows the market cap, and y-axis shows the term value; the bigger the dot, the larger the market cap. Note that "N/A" values will not show up in the chart.


Build-A-Bear Workshop Altman Z-Score vs Retail - Cyclical Industry

For the Retail - Cyclical industry and Consumer Cyclical sector, Build-A-Bear Workshop's Altman Z-Score distribution charts can be found below:

* The bar in red indicates where Build-A-Bear Workshop's Altman Z-Score falls into.


BBW
70GF Score
Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc BBW
Altman Z-Score is just one metric. See GF Score™, valuation, warning signs, and more.
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Build-A-Bear Workshop Altman Z-Score Calculation

Altman Z-Score model is an accurate forecaster of failure up to two years prior to distress. It can be considered the assessment of the distress of industrial corporations.

Build-A-Bear Workshop's Altman Z-Score for today is calculated with this formula:

Z=1.2*X1+1.4*X2+3.3*X3+0.6*X4+1.0*X5
=1.2*0.1447+1.4*0.3104+3.3*0.2019+0.6*2.0143+1.0*1.4875
=3.97

* 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. GuruFocus does not calculate Altman Z-Score when X4 or X5 value is 0.

Trailing Twelve Months (TTM) ended in Apr. 2026:
Total Assets was $354.1 Mil.
Total Current Assets was $147.8 Mil.
Total Current Liabilities was $96.6 Mil.
Retained Earnings was $109.9 Mil.
Pre-Tax Income was 23.88 + 21.549 + 10.729 + 15.318 = $71.5 Mil.
Interest Expense was 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 = $0.0 Mil.
Revenue was 125.27 + 154.511 + 122.679 + 124.247 = $526.7 Mil.
Market Cap (Today) was $392.9 Mil.
Total Liabilities was $195.1 Mil.

* Note that for stock reported semi-annually or annually, GuruFocus uses latest annual data as the TTM data.

X1=Working Capital/Total Assets
=(Total Current Assets - Total Current Liabilities)/Total Assets
=(147.832 - 96.604)/354.085
=0.1447

X2=Retained Earnings/Total Assets
=109.913/354.085
=0.3104

X3=Earnings Before Interest and Taxes/Total Assets
=(Pre-Tax Income - Interest Expense)/Total Assets
=(71.476 - 0)/354.085
=0.2019

X4=Market Value Equity/Book Value of Total Liabilities
=Market Cap/Total Liabilities
=392.923/195.066
=2.0143

X5=Revenue/Total Assets
=526.707/354.085
=1.4875

The zones of discrimination were as such:

Distress Zones - 1.81 < Grey Zones < 2.99 - Safe Zones

Build-A-Bear Workshop has a Altman Z-Score of 3.97 indicating it is in Safe Zones.

Study by Altman found that companies that are in Distress Zone have more than 80% of chances of bankruptcy in two years.

Frequently Asked Questions Learn more about Altman Z-Score →
What does a Altman Z-Score of 3.97 mean?
Build-A-Bear Workshop (BBW) has a Altman Z-Score of 3.97 as of Jun. 27, 2026. The Altman Z-score measures a company's bankruptcy risk. View historical data on Build-A-Bear Workshop and its competitors. This is near median its historical median of 3.85. Over the past decade, Build-A-Bear Workshop's Altman Z-Score has ranged from 0.62 to 5.58. According to the industry distribution chart, Build-A-Bear Workshop ranks #338 out of 1117 companies in the Retail - Cyclical industry, placing it in the top 30.3%.
Is Build-A-Bear Workshop's Altman Z-Score too high?
Build-A-Bear Workshop's current Altman Z-Score of 3.97 is near median its 10-year median of 3.85. Over the past 10 years, this metric has ranged from a low of 0.62 to a high of 5.58. The Retail - Cyclical industry median Altman Z-Score is 2.73. Build-A-Bear Workshop's value of 3.97 is 45.4% above this industry median. Based on the distribution chart, Build-A-Bear Workshop ranks #338 out of 1117 companies in the Retail - Cyclical industry, which is above the industry midpoint. Overall, Build-A-Bear Workshop has a GF Score™ of 70/100 and is considered Modestly Undervalued, reflecting its overall financial health beyond just this single metric.
How does Build-A-Bear Workshop's Altman Z-Score compare to BNED and EVGO?
According to the Retail - Cyclical industry distribution chart, Build-A-Bear Workshop ranks #338 out of 1117 companies for Altman Z-Score. This puts Build-A-Bear Workshop in the upper half of its industry. The industry median Altman Z-Score is 2.73. Build-A-Bear Workshop's value of 3.97 is 45.4% above this benchmark. Historically, Build-A-Bear Workshop's own Altman Z-Score has ranged from 0.62 to 5.58 over the past decade. While the company's 10-year median is 3.85 vs. the industry median of 2.73, Build-A-Bear Workshop has consistently been above the industry average. See the competitive comparison table and distribution chart on this page for a detailed peer-by-peer breakdown.
What is a good Altman Z-Score for a Retail - Cyclical company?
The median Altman Z-Score among Retail - Cyclical companies is 2.73, based on 1,117 companies in the industry. Companies in the top quartile (top 25%) have a Altman Z-Score significantly above this median, while those in the bottom quartile fall well below. However, Altman Z-Score should not be evaluated in isolation — investors should consider it alongside profitability, growth, and financial strength metrics. Build-A-Bear Workshop's current Altman Z-Score of 3.97 is 45.4% above the industry median. Use the industry distribution chart on this page to see where any company falls relative to its peers.
What does a high Altman Z-Score mean?
A high Altman Z-Score can signal that a stock is expensive relative to its fundamentals. The Altman Z-score measures a company's bankruptcy risk. View historical data on Build-A-Bear Workshop and its competitors. For the Retail - Cyclical industry, the median Altman Z-Score is 2.73 — values significantly above this may indicate overvaluation, while values below may suggest a bargain or underlying issues. Build-A-Bear Workshop's current Altman Z-Score is 3.97, which is near median its own 10-year median of 3.85. However, context matters — high-growth companies often justify higher valuations. Always evaluate alongside other metrics like GF Score™ and GF Value™.
Is Build-A-Bear Workshop stock overvalued right now?
Based on GuruFocus' analysis, Build-A-Bear Workshop (BBW) is currently considered Modestly Undervalued. The stock's GF Value™ is $39.18, compared to a current price of $31.34 — trading 20% below its estimated fair value. The current Altman Z-Score is 3.97, which is near median its 10-year median of 3.85 and 45.4% above the Retail - Cyclical industry median of 2.73. Build-A-Bear Workshop's overall GF Score™ is 70/100 with 3 warning signs to review. Investors should evaluate multiple metrics — including profitability, growth, and financial strength — before making a decision.
How is Altman Z-Score calculated?
Altman Z-Score is calculated from a company's financial statements. For Build-A-Bear Workshop (BBW), the current Altman Z-Score is 3.97 as of Jun. 27, 2026. GuruFocus calculates this using data sourced from SEC filings and annual reports. See the calculation section and 30-year financial data on this page for the full breakdown.

Is Build-A-Bear Workshop (BBW) Overvalued in 2026?

Based on GuruFocus' analysis, Build-A-Bear Workshop stock appears to be undervalued. The current stock price of $31.34 is trading 20% below its estimated GF Value™ of $39.18. GuruFocus considers Build-A-Bear Workshop to be Modestly Undervalued.

Key valuation signals for BBW:

  • Altman Z-Score: 3.97 (near median its 10-year median of 3.85)
  • GF Value™: $39.18 vs. price of $31.34 (20% below fair value)
  • GF Score™: 70/100 with 3 warning signs
  • Industry Position: 45.4% above the Retail - Cyclical median (#338 of 1117)

No single metric tells the full story. See the BBW stock analysis page for a complete view including 30-year financials, guru trades, and insider activity.


Build-A-Bear Workshop Business Description

Other Exchanges FPW:Germany
Address 415 South 18th Street, St. Louis, MO, USA, 63103
Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc is a U.S.-based specialty retailer of customized stuffed animals and related products. The company operates through three segments: Direct-to-consumer segment with key revenue, includes the operating activities of corporately-managed locations and other retail delivery operations in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Ireland, and two e-commerce sites, the international franchising segment includes royalties and product and fixture sales from other international operations under franchise agreements, and the commercial segment includes the transactions with other businesses, mainly comprised of licensing the intellectual properties for third-party use and wholesale activities.
70GF Score

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Altman Z-Score is just one metric. See GF Value™, 30-year financials, guru trades, warning signs, and more.

$31.34
Price
$39.18
GF Value