John Wiley & Sons, Inc. key statistics and ratios
In fiscal 2026, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. had return on equity of 27.7%, an operating margin of 16.5%, debt equal to 80.6% of equity and a current ratio of 0.54. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.
Financial ratios
| Fiscal year | 2010Apr 2010 | 2011Apr 2011 | 2012Apr 2012 | 2013Apr 2013 | 2014Apr 2014 | 2015Apr 2015 | 2016Apr 2016 | 2017Apr 2017 | 2018Apr 2018 | 2019Apr 2019 | 2020Apr 2020 | 2021Apr 2021 | 2022Apr 2022 | 2023Apr 2023 | 2024Apr 2024 | 2025Apr 2025 | 2026Apr 2026 | LTMJul 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross margin | — | 69.1% | 69.5% | 69.8% | 71.4% | — | — | 73.2% | 70.4% | 69.2% | 67.7% | 67.8% | 66.4% | 65.7% | 69.0% | 74.3% | 74.3% | 74.6% |
| Operating margin | 14.3% | 14.2% | 15.7% | 11.3% | 11.6% | 13.0% | 10.9% | 12.3% | 12.9% | 12.4% | −3.0% | 9.6% | 10.5% | 2.8% | 2.8% | 13.2% | 16.5% | 14.9% |
| Net margin | 8.4% | 9.9% | 11.9% | 8.2% | 9.0% | 9.7% | 8.4% | 6.6% | 10.7% | 9.3% | −4.1% | 7.6% | 7.1% | 0.9% | −10.7% | 5.0% | 13.2% | 11.9% |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 15.7% | 18.4% | 17.5% | 15.8% | 16.4% | 15.7% | 15.3% | 12.2% | 14.9% | 9.6% | 10.9% | 14.6% | 12.0% | 9.7% | 7.0% | 8.4% | 12.5% | 14.4% |
| Return on equity | 19.9% | 20.2% | 21.3% | 14.4% | 14.8% | 15.8% | 13.9% | 11.1% | 17.5% | 14.2% | −7.0% | 14.6% | 13.3% | 1.6% | −22.4% | 11.3% | 27.7% | 24.1% |
| Return on assets | 6.2% | 7.3% | 8.6% | 5.4% | 5.5% | 5.8% | 4.9% | 4.1% | 7.1% | 5.8% | −2.4% | 4.5% | 4.4% | 0.5% | −6.9% | 3.1% | 8.4% | 6.9% |
| Asset turnover | 0.74 | 0.74 | 0.72 | 0.66 | 0.60 | 0.60 | 0.58 | 0.62 | 0.66 | 0.62 | 0.60 | 0.59 | 0.61 | 0.62 | 0.64 | 0.62 | 0.63 | 0.58 |
| Current ratio | 0.72 | 0.70 | 0.90 | 0.95 | 1.08 | 0.92 | 0.86 | 0.46 | 0.55 | 0.57 | 0.66 | 0.53 | 0.57 | 0.60 | 0.52 | 0.54 | 0.54 | 0.64 |
| Debt to equity | 89.8% | 46.4% | 46.7% | 68.1% | 59.2% | 71.1% | 58.3% | 36.4% | 30.2% | 40.5% | 83.0% | 75.3% | 68.9% | 71.7% | 104.8% | 106.3% | 80.6% | 162.0% |
| Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest) | 7.5x | 14.3x | 31.0x | 15.2x | 14.9x | 13.9x | 11.3x | 12.5x | 17.4x | 13.9x | n/m | 10.1x | 11.1x | 1.5x | 1.1x | 4.2x | 6.3x | 5.3x |
| Effective tax rate | 28.3% | 25.6% | 21.8% | 22.8% | 17.9% | 21.6% | 16.6% | 40.5% | 10.2% | 21.0% | — | 15.7% | 29.3% | 47.9% | — | 41.1% | −3.0% | −7.2% |
| SG&A as % of revenue | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 54.9% | 53.1% | 53.5% | 54.5% | 52.7% | 51.8% | 51.4% | 54.1% | 56.5% | 53.4% | 53.7% |
| Capital spending as % of revenue | 2.8% | 3.1% | 3.8% | 3.3% | 3.2% | 3.8% | 5.0% | 6.1% | 6.4% | 4.3% | 4.8% | 4.0% | 4.3% | 4.0% | 4.1% | 3.7% | 3.1% | 3.0% |
| Free cash flow ÷ net income | 185.9% | 186.9% | 146.8% | 193.0% | 181.1% | 161.7% | 180.8% | 184.7% | 139.5% | 103.2% | — | 190.6% | 168.7% | >999% | — | 167.7% | 94.5% | 121.0% |
| Dividends ÷ net income | 23.0% | 22.6% | 22.7% | 39.8% | 36.7% | 38.7% | 47.9% | 63.0% | 38.3% | 45.0% | — | 51.9% | 52.1% | 448.5% | — | 90.4% | 33.6% | 37.1% |
| Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow | 12.4% | 20.8% | 43.3% | 47.1% | 42.1% | 45.6% | 53.1% | 58.1% | 42.2% | 78.2% | 61.7% | 32.8% | 42.8% | 57.3% | 92.7% | 96.7% | 83.3% | 73.1% |
| Quarter | 2025 Q2Oct 2024 | 2025 Q3Jan 2025 | 2025 Q4Apr 2025 | 2026 Q1Jul 2025 | 2026 Q2Oct 2025 | 2026 Q3Jan 2026 | 2026 Q4Apr 2026 | 2027 Q1Jul 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross margin | 74.9% | 74.2% | 74.9% | 72.5% | 75.2% | 73.7% | 75.4% | 73.9% |
| Operating margin | 15.0% | 12.8% | 17.3% | 7.8% | 17.3% | 15.3% | 24.6% | 0.8% |
| Net margin | 9.5% | −5.7% | 15.4% | 2.9% | 10.6% | 7.2% | 30.2% | −3.0% |
| Free-cash-flow margin | −4.6% | 32.9% | 29.6% | −24.4% | −1.1% | 40.7% | 32.2% | −17.2% |
| Current ratio | 0.66 | 0.55 | 0.54 | 0.65 | 0.71 | 0.59 | 0.54 | 0.64 |
| Debt to equity | 127.2% | 129.5% | 106.3% | 113.0% | 117.8% | 107.7% | 80.6% | 162.0% |
| SG&A as % of revenue | 56.0% | 56.8% | 51.9% | 60.6% | 53.4% | 53.4% | 47.2% | 61.7% |
Financial health
- Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $438m of assets due within a year against $689m of liabilities due within a year.
- Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities $438m short-term assets against $1.6bn of longer-dated liabilities.
- More cash than debt $106m of cash against $1.3bn of debt.
- Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 162% of equity.
- Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 81% to 162% over five years.
- A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $290m of operating cash flow against $1.3bn of debt.
- Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of $249m against $47m of interest.
Moat
Moderate moat
How hard John Wiley & Sons'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 11 / 20
Cash operating profit has been a median 9.4% of total assets over 8 years.
- Pricing power 19 / 20
Gross margin has been a median 69.4%, moving by 3.0 percentage points (standard deviation) across 10 years.
- Durability 2 / 20
Operating margin has been a median 10.0%; its worst year was -1.6%.
- Cash conversion 16 / 20
Free cash flow was positive in 10 of 10 years, at a median 11.9% of revenue.
- Discipline 19 / 20
The diluted share count fell 7.3% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 1.2% 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 (67 before it).
Compare with peers
- Scholastic Corp statistics
- USA Today Co., Inc. statistics
- NEW York Times Co statistics
- LEE Enterprises, Inc statistics
- News Corp (Class A) statistics
Head to head: SCHL vs WLYTDAY vs WLYNYT vs WLYLEE vs WLY
More: Publishing stocks compared, Communication Services sector, rankings of US companies