Scholastic Corp key statistics and ratios

In fiscal 2026, Scholastic Corp had return on equity of 6.7%, an operating margin of 1.0%, debt equal to 10.7% of equity and a current ratio of 1.23. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.

Financial ratios

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal years, plus the last twelve months (LTM) when newer.

Scholastic Corp: financial ratios, annual
Fiscal year	2010May 2010	2011May 2011	2012May 2012	2013May 2013	2014May 2014	2015May 2015	2016May 2016	2017May 2017	2018May 2018	2019May 2019	2020May 2020	2021May 2021	2022May 2022	2023May 2023	2024May 2024	2025May 2025	2026May 2026	LTMAug 2026
Gross margin	—	—	—	—	—	—	54.4%	53.2%	54.3%	52.8%	52.3%	51.6%	53.4%	53.8%	55.6%	55.8%	56.4%	56.5%
Operating margin	7.0%	5.5%	8.7%	1.4%	0.7%	2.0%	4.3%	5.1%	3.4%	1.5%	−6.0%	−1.7%	5.9%	6.2%	0.9%	1.0%	1.0%	1.0%
Net margin	3.0%	2.1%	4.8%	2.0%	2.8%	18.0%	2.4%	3.0%	−0.3%	0.9%	−2.9%	−0.8%	4.9%	5.1%	0.8%	−0.1%	3.6%	3.6%
Free-cash-flow margin	11.6%	9.5%	9.7%	8.7%	8.3%	8.4%	−6.8%	4.3%	1.2%	1.3%	−4.1%	1.8%	11.2%	5.1%	6.1%	4.4%	0.2%	−0.9%
Return on equity	6.8%	5.0%	13.0%	3.7%	5.0%	27.8%	3.3%	4.1%	−0.4%	1.2%	−3.6%	−0.9%	6.7%	7.3%	1.1%	−0.2%	6.7%	8.0%
Return on assets	3.5%	2.6%	6.5%	2.0%	3.0%	17.6%	2.3%	3.0%	−0.3%	0.8%	−2.2%	−0.5%	4.1%	4.5%	0.7%	−0.1%	3.1%	3.3%
Asset turnover	1.18	1.22	1.35	1.00	1.05	0.98	0.95	1.00	0.91	0.89	0.76	0.64	0.83	0.90	0.90	0.90	0.86	0.91
Current ratio	2.25	1.79	1.85	1.71	1.54	2.03	2.51	2.51	2.15	1.77	2.06	1.48	1.61	1.48	1.27	1.16	1.23	1.25
Debt to equity	30.4%	33.4%	19.2%	0.2%	14.8%	0.5%	0.5%	0.5%	0.6%	0.6%	18.5%	16.1%	0.5%	0.5%	0.6%	27.1%	10.7%	28.1%
Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest)	7.4x	6.1x	11.2x	1.3x	1.4x	8.7x	32.6x	37.2x	27.8x	11.4x	n/m	n/m	33.6x	75.9x	7.6x	0.9x	1.1x	—
Effective tax rate	47.1%	46.1%	36.3%	25.8%	—	48.2%	36.0%	40.3%	—	40.0%	—	—	9.7%	23.0%	25.3%	—	33.5%	36.0%
SG&A as % of revenue	42.0%	44.5%	41.1%	47.4%	46.6%	47.1%	46.2%	44.6%	47.0%	47.9%	51.4%	47.9%	44.0%	44.4%	50.5%	50.6%	51.0%	51.4%
Capital spending as % of revenue	2.9%	2.7%	2.5%	3.5%	1.7%	1.9%	2.1%	3.8%	7.5%	5.7%	4.2%	3.6%	2.6%	3.6%	3.7%	3.2%	3.1%	3.3%
Free cash flow ÷ net income	393.0%	452.8%	201.7%	434.1%	293.5%	46.4%	−282.7%	144.7%	—	137.2%	—	—	227.4%	100.7%	795.0%	—	4.4%	−25.4%
Dividends ÷ net income	19.4%	27.4%	12.9%	51.1%	40.1%	6.7%	50.6%	39.8%	—	135.3%	—	—	25.6%	29.7%	204.1%	—	35.3%	32.9%
Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow	9.8%	99.6%	12.7%	20.5%	18.4%	17.0%	—	36.6%	242.0%	138.3%	—	86.6%	29.4%	181.5%	190.1%	128.6%	>999%	—

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal quarters.

Scholastic Corp: financial ratios, quarterly
Quarter	2025 Q2Nov 2024	2025 Q3Feb 2025	2025 Q4May 2025	2026 Q1Aug 2025	2026 Q2Nov 2025	2026 Q3Feb 2026	2026 Q4May 2026	2027 Q1Aug 2026
Gross margin	58.0%	53.9%	59.2%	45.3%	59.1%	54.3%	60.0%	45.5%
Operating margin	13.7%	−7.1%	10.5%	−40.9%	15.0%	−8.2%	10.8%	−42.5%
Net margin	9.0%	−1.1%	3.0%	−31.5%	10.1%	19.0%	2.0%	−32.8%
Free-cash-flow margin	11.1%	−6.3%	18.6%	−40.7%	11.5%	−13.3%	15.8%	−50.1%
Current ratio	1.24	1.23	1.16	1.16	1.67	1.18	1.23	1.25
Debt to equity	25.4%	29.2%	26.4%	37.0%	29.5%	0.0%	10.0%	26.7%
SG&A as % of revenue	41.3%	55.9%	44.8%	78.5%	39.5%	58.6%	46.1%	82.2%

Returns use average equity or assets over the year. Return on equity is left blank when equity is negative or so small that the ratio says nothing (above ±200%); interest cover is left blank above 200 times. Price-based ratios such as P/E are on the valuation page.

Financial health

3 of 5 checks passed · August 31, 2026

What it owns · $1.7bn

Short-term assets $730mLonger-term assets $995m

What it owes, and who funded it · $1.2bn

Short-term liabilities $583mShareholders' equity $657m

Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $730m of assets due within a year against $583m of liabilities due within a year.
Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities Not assessable from the reported split. Not assessable.
More cash than debt $107m of cash against $175m of debt.
Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 27% of equity.
Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 0% to 27% over five years.
A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $38m of operating cash flow against $175m of debt.
Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Interest not separately reported. Not assessable.

From Scholastic Corp's latest balance sheet as filed. Checks are fixed, documented rules (methodology), counted only where the company reports the figures — a dot means the filing doesn't break the item out. Descriptions of reported data, not advice.

Moat

39 /100

Weak moat

How hard Scholastic's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.

Returns on capital 6 / 20

Cash operating profit has been a median 5.7% of total assets over 9 years.
Pricing power 18 / 20

Gross margin has been a median 53.8%, moving by 1.6 percentage points (standard deviation) across 9 years.
Durability 0 / 20

Operating margin has been a median 1.4%; its worst year was -4.0%.
Cash conversion 11 / 20

Free cash flow was positive in 9 of 10 years, at a median 3.1% of revenue.
Discipline 20 / 20

The diluted share count fell 34.1% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 0.6% of revenue.

AI disruption exposure: High. In this industry, the core product is information work that AI systems increasingly perform. The score above includes a 15-point deduction for that exposure (54 before it).

A rules-based reading of reported figures, not a forecast and not investment advice. How the score is built: methodology.

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Figures from Scholastic Corp's SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), retrieved October 26, 2026. How we read and check them: methodology and data sources. Not investment advice. Back to Scholastic Corp.