Brown-Forman (BF.B)
Consumer Staples · $12.3B market cap · SEC CIK 0000014693
fundamentals score out of 100
Next reports on Dec 2, 2026, with analysts expecting $0.47 in earnings per share.
The case for BF.B
- Generated $893M of free cash flow in FY2025, 23% of revenue.
- Free cash flow of 7.3% of its market value a year: a lot of cash for the price.
- Reasonably priced at 17.0× earnings.
- Return on equity of 18%.
- Gross margin of 61% absorbs cost shocks.
- Moves less than the market (beta 0.20).
The case against
- Revenue was flat on the year (-0.8%).
- Earnings per share fell 13.1%.
- Long-term debt of $2.1B against $383M of cash.
What the score is made of
Each factor is half a curve over reported figures and half a rank among the other Consumer Staples companies (momentum is judged against fixed thresholds only), and the five are blended by weight. It describes the last filing and the current price. It is not a forecast.
| Valuewhat you pay for the earnings, sales, assets and cash | 70 |
|---|---|
| Growthhow fast revenue and earnings are moving, this year and over five | 32 |
| Profitabilityhow much of the revenue becomes profit, and how much of that is cash | 78 |
| Momentumhow the price has behaved lately | 42 |
| Stabilityhow violently it moves, what it owes and what it pays you | 65 |
- Each factor except momentum is half fixed thresholds, half rank among the 36 Consumer Staples companies.
Key numbers
| Price / earnings | 17.0× |
|---|---|
| Price / book | 3.34× |
| Price / sales | 3.1× |
| Revenue growth (YoY) | -0.8% |
| EPS growth (YoY) | -13.1% |
| Gross margin | 61% |
| Operating margin | 25% |
| Net margin | 18% |
| Return on equity | 18% |
| Debt / equity | 0.61× |
| Current ratio | 3.26 |
| Dividend yield | 1.46% |
| Beta | 0.20 |
| 52-week range | $22.61 – $31.92 |
| Position in that range | 42% of the way up |
| 3-month return | -1.8% |
| 1-year return | -4.8% |
Five years of financials, as filed
Pulled from Brown-Forman's XBRL filings on SEC EDGAR. Italic rows are derived from the rows above.
| FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $3.9B | $4.0B | $4.2B | $4.2B | $3.9B |
| Gross profit | $2.4B | $2.3B | $2.5B | $2.5B | $2.4B |
| Operating income | $1.0B | $1.1B | $1.4B | $1.1B | $1.2B |
| Net income | $715M | $869M | $1.0B | $783M | $838M |
| Operating cash flow | $1.0B | $598M | $647M | $640M | $936M |
| Capital expenditure | $107M | $167M | $228M | $183M | $138M |
| Total assets | $8.3B | $8.1B | $8.2B | $7.8B | $6.2B |
| Total liabilities | $4.2B | $4.2B | $5.0B | $4.7B | $3.7B |
| Shareholder equity | $4.1B | $3.8B | $3.2B | $3.0B | $2.5B |
| Cash | $383M | $599M | $589M | $428M | $812M |
| Long-term debt | $2.1B | $2.4B | $2.7B | $2.0B | $2.1B |
| Free cash flow | $893M | $431M | $419M | $457M | $798M |
| Gross margin | 60.5% | 58.9% | 60.5% | 59.0% | 60.8% |
| Operating margin | 25.5% | 27.8% | 33.8% | 26.7% | 30.6% |
| Net margin | 18.2% | 21.9% | 24.5% | 18.5% | 21.3% |
| Diluted shares | 467M | 473M | 477M | 480M | 481M |
Share count is essentially flat over 4 years.
What Brown-Forman says it does
Overview Brown-Forman Corporation (the "Company," "Brown-Forman," "we," "us," or "our" below) was incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware in 1933, successor to a business founded in 1870 as a partnership and later incorporated under the laws of the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1901. We primarily manufacture, distill, bottle, import, export, market, and sell a wide variety of beverage alcohol products under recognized brands. We employ approximately 4,900 people (excluding individuals who work on a part-time or temporary basis) on six continents, including approximately 1,900 people in the United States (approximately 7% of whom are represented by a union) and 700 people in Louisville, Kentucky, USA, home of our world headquarters. According to International Wine & Spirit Research (IWSR), we are the largest American-owned premium-plus spirits company. We are a "controlled company" under New York Stock Exchange rules because…
Risk factors BF.B lists in its 10-K
- Financial Statements and Supplementary Data
- Management’s Responsibility for Financial Statements
- Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting
- Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013)
- Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
- Opinion on the Financial Statements
- Valuation of Gin Mare and Diplomático Other Intangible Assets
- How We Addressed the Matter in Our Audit
- Opinion on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
- Definition and Limitations of Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
- Brown-Forman Corporation and Subsidiaries
- Consolidated Statements of Operations
- Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income
- Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows