Brown-Forman Corp (BF.B) stock analysis
Brown-Forman Corp (BF.B) clears 4 of this site's 8 mechanical value filters, 6 of 8 Buffett-style checks and 3 of 5 Lynch-style checks. At $30.18 it trades 13.3% below this site's neutral DCF value (a margin of safety of +13.3%). Its earnings quality rates Strong and it returns +5.8% to shareholders net of dilution. Figures are as of October 23, 2026, from SEC filings and market data refreshed weekly; this is educational analysis, not investment advice.
Data as of October 23, 2026. Refreshed weekly from SEC filings and market data.
What does Brown-Forman do?
Brown-Forman makes and sells whiskey, tequila, vodka and other spirits worldwide, led by Jack Daniel's. The Brown family controls the company; the B shares are the non-voting class.
Brands and businesses it owns
- Jack Daniel's
- Woodford Reserve
- Old Forester
- Herradura
- el Jimador
- Gin Mare
What stands out about Brown-Forman?
- The share price implies 4.5% yearly growth. At $30.18, BF.B's free cash flow of $2.04 per share would have to grow 4.5% a year, fading to 2.5% by year 10, for this site's DCF (10% discount rate) to match the price. This site's baseline starts at 8%, so the price asks for less growth than the baseline. Change the assumptions.
- Misses 2 of the 8 value filters. It fails Market Cap > $25B ($13.7B) and PEG Ratio < 1.5 (11.93); the other 4 pass and 2 were not evaluated. See every filter.
- The margin of safety is falling. It went from +23% on Oct 7 to +13% on Oct 23 across 5 weekly readings. See the trend.
- Close to its 52-week high. At $30.18, BF.B is within 2.3% of its high of $30.88, 32.4% above its low of $22.80. See the range.
- Strongest against peers: free-cash-flow yield. At 6.8% (peer median 4.9%) it ranks 2nd of 6 among beverages stocks this site tracks. See the ranking.
How has Brown-Forman's share price moved?
The interactive price chart needs JavaScript.
Is Brown-Forman undervalued? The value diligence check
Every value-investing signal this site computes for this stock, gathered in one place: the same real numbers from the tools below, not a new score.
- Margin of safety (DCF) +13.3%
- P/E vs. its own history 19.0x · near the cheap end Real range: 16.8x–39.9x over 5 years (net income per diluted share from each fiscal year's 10-K, paired with the real closing price at that fiscal year-end).
- Wall St. analyst rating Hold · 2.65/5 23 analysts this month: 0 strong buy, 1 buy, 15 hold, 5 sell, 2 strong sell (Finnhub).
- Earnings quality (is the profit real?) Strong · 1 watch Beneish M-score −2.66 · accruals −3.6% of assets · 86% of profit arrived as cash · stock comp 0.8% of revenue · share count −1.1% a year. From the latest 10-K (year to Apr 2026) - see the Earnings Quality Screener for how each check is scored.
- Shareholder yield (cash back to owners) +5.8% net Latest fiscal year (2026): dividends 3.1% + buybacks 2.9% − stock comp 0.2%, as a share of today's market cap. Over 14 years its split-adjusted share count fell 14%. See Shareholder Yield Leaders.
- Capital needed to grow (See's test) $23.79 per $1 of new profit · Capital-hungry · but only 18% return on capital Operating profit $1.1B → $1.2B, capital needed $3.9B → $6.5B, 2017–2026 (3-year averages); return on capital now 18% before tax. Buffett's See's Candies needed $0.42 per $1 of new profit, FlightSafety $3.20, a typical grower about $5. See Capital-Light Compounders.
- PEG (growth at a reasonable price) 11.9 · Well above fair P/E 19.0× ÷ 1.6% a year of growth behind it. 432nd lowest of 447 stocks with a usable PEG. Lynch's fair value is a PEG of 1; a very high PEG usually means almost no growth, a very low one a profit spike. See PEG Ratio Ranking.
- Compounder lenses (4) 2 of 4 · misses capital-light, price Capital-light growth: not cleared (profit grew 1.1×, under 2×); Profit is real: cleared; Cash to owners: cleared; Fair price (PEG): not cleared (PEG 11.9, over 1.5). See Compounders at a Fair Price, which also lets you move the PEG bar.
- Value trap check Clear
- Munger's Inversion Check 0 flags
- Standing vs. sector peers 3 of 7 measures above the median Compared with the 5 other beverages stocks this site tracks: 2 in the top third, 2 in the bottom third.
- Dividend payout sustainability 0/6 · clean
How does Brown-Forman compare with its peers?
3 of 7 measures sit above the median of the 5 other beverages stocks tracked here, 2 in the top third and 2 in the bottom third.
- P/E ratiolower is cheaper · peer median 23.6× 19.0× –3rd of 6
- Free-cash-flow yieldhigher is cheaper · peer median 4.9% 6.8% ✓2nd of 6
- Return on equityhigher is better · peer median 24% 18% ✕5th of 6
- Net marginhigher is better · peer median 19.7% 18.4% –4th of 6
- Revenue growthhigher is better, year on year · peer median 6.4% −0.8% ✕5th of 6
- Debt / equitylower is safer · peer median 1.13 0.61 ✓2nd of 6
- Dividend yieldamong dividend payers · peer median 3.11% 3.11% –3rd of 5
Peers are the stocks this site tracks in the same sector group, not every listed competitor. The bar runs from the weakest peer (left) to the strongest (right); the tick is the middle. Measures that don't apply to a sector (cash-flow yield for banks, debt for financials) are left out.
What would Buffett & Lynch say?
Buffett's checklist is built around durable, profitable businesses bought at sensible prices, and BF.B doesn't clear enough of it yet. In its favor: BF.B is currently earning a strong return on shareholders' equity, and has kept that profitability up over five years, not just this year, converts sales into profit at healthy margins, earns many times its interest expense, so debt service isn't a worry, is trading below what a conservative discounted-cash-flow estimate says it's worth - his own "price is what you pay, value is what you get" test, not a fixed multiple ceiling, and trades at a reasonable multiple of owner earnings, his own term for the real cash a business could pay out. Where it comes up short: BF.B carries more debt relative to equity than he typically tolerates, and hasn't grown earnings per share fast enough over five years to impress him.
- ROE (TTM) > 11% ✓
- ROE (5yr avg) > 11% ✓
- Debt/Equity < 0.5 ✕
- Pretax margin > 15% ✓
- EPS growth (5yr) > 7% ✕
- Interest coverage > 5x ✓
- Trading below intrinsic value (DCF) ✓
- Price vs. owner earnings < 25x ✓
- Bonus: returning capital via buybacks FY2026
Lynch looked for growth stories that weren't overpriced for that growth, and BF.B falls short of his bar. In its favor: BF.B pays a real dividend, the actual reason he bought slow growers at all, is cheap enough for a business with limited growth ahead of it, and converts earnings into real cash at a reasonable price. Where it comes up short: BF.B isn't even growing at the modest pace he'd expect from a slow grower, and carries more debt than he liked to see, even allowing for the extra room a large, stable business gets.
- Dividend yield > 2.5% ✓
- EPS growth 0%-10% ✕
- Debt/Equity < 0.6 ✕
- P/E < 20 ✓
- Price/FCF < 25 ✓
Quantitative approximations of each investor's documented approach, not endorsed by either investor or their estates - commentary, not this site's actual ranking criteria. Buffett never published a numeric checklist: only 2 of his 8 checks here trace to his own documented concepts ("owner earnings," from his 1986 shareholder letter, and "price is what you pay, value is what you get," his case against fixed P/E/P/B ceilings) - the other 6 (ROE, debt, margins, growth, interest coverage) use commonly-cited thresholds that are not numbers he himself published. The 8 hard filters below (plus the Munger check and Graham margin of safety) are this site's real, mechanical screen and are computed completely independently of the checklists above.
Berkshire Hathaway's own filing
Which of the 8 value filters does Brown-Forman pass?
- Market Cap > $25B $13.7B
- Trailing P/E < 25 18.99
- PEG Ratio < 1.5 11.93
- Price/Book < 8 3.45
- Price/Sales < 7 3.50
- EPS Growth YoY > -5% +6.6%
- vs 50-day MA (±12%) Not evaluated †
- vs 200-day MA (±12%) Not evaluated †
What is Brown-Forman's margin of safety?
+23% on 2026-10-07 → +13% on 2026-10-23 (5 weekly readings).
Where is Brown-Forman in its 52-week range?
What is the short interest in Brown-Forman?
What could go wrong with Brown-Forman? Munger's inversion check
"Invert, always invert." Instead of reasons to buy, these are reasons to hesitate, not a verdict, and not everything worth knowing about a business.
- Margin of safety, even in the bull case +49%
- Passes most of the 6 fundamental filters 4/6 passed
- Price run-up backed by value, not just momentum +32% off 52wk low
- Debt/equity stable since 2017 1.42 → 0.60
Doesn't cover circle of competence, management quality, or accounting concerns: those need judgment, not data.
How much have Brown-Forman shareholders gained per year?
Earnings growth per share plus dividend.
An earnings-based proxy, not a stock-price total return - it doesn't capture multiple expansion/contraction or reinvested dividends. EPS from BF.B's own 10-K filings; dividend yield is the current trailing yield on today's price, from the same weekly fetch as the rest of this site.
What do Brown-Forman's 10-year financials show?
From BF.B's own 10-K filings (SEC EDGAR): up to the last 10 fiscal years. Press any year's bars for the exact figures.
Frequently asked questions about Brown-Forman
What kind of company is Brown-Forman?
Brown-Forman makes and sells whiskey, tequila, vodka and other spirits worldwide, led by Jack Daniel's. The Brown family controls the company; the B shares are the non-voting class. Brands and businesses it owns include Jack Daniel's, Woodford Reserve, Old Forester, Herradura, el Jimador and Gin Mare. This site groups it with Beverages stocks.
Is Brown-Forman trading above or below its DCF value?
At $30.18, BF.B trades 13.3% below this site's neutral DCF value of $34.81 per share, a margin of safety of +13.3%. That DCF projects free cash flow for 10 years, with growth starting at 8% and fading to 2.5%, discounted at 10%; it is one set of assumptions, not a forecast. Test your own in the Intrinsic Value Calculator.
How many of this site's 8 value filters does Brown-Forman pass?
BF.B passes 4 of 8. It passes Trailing P/E < 25 (18.99), Price/Book < 8 (3.45), Price/Sales < 7 (3.50) and EPS Growth YoY > -5% (+6.6%). It misses Market Cap > $25B ($13.7B) and PEG Ratio < 1.5 (11.93). vs 50-day MA (±12%) and vs 200-day MA (±12%) were not evaluated, because the moving-average checks only run on stocks that clear the fundamentals first. The 8-filter list shows every stock that passes all of them.
What growth is Brown-Forman's share price pricing in?
At $30.18, BF.B's free cash flow of $2.04 per share would have to grow 4.5% a year, fading to 2.5% by year 10, for this site's DCF (10% discount rate) to match the price. This site's baseline starts at 8%, so the price asks for less growth than the baseline. Change the assumptions.
Are Brown-Forman's reported earnings reliable?
This site's earnings-quality check rates BF.B Strong · 1 watch. Beneish M-score −2.66 · accruals −3.6% of assets · 86% of profit arrived as cash · stock comp 0.8% of revenue · share count −1.1% a year. From the latest 10-K (year to Apr 2026). Concerns: cash conversion (on watch). The five checks are the Beneish M-score (manipulation risk), accruals, cash conversion, stock-based compensation and share dilution; the Earnings Quality Screener shows how each is graded.
Where is Brown-Forman trading compared with its 52-week range?
At $30.18, BF.B trades 31.8% above its 52-week low of $22.80 and 2.3% below its 52-week high of $30.88.
Where do these numbers come from?
- Financial statements: Brown-Forman's 10-K annual report for the year ended Apr 30, 2026, filed Jun 12, 2026 (filing index). Every earlier year in the 10-year financials comes from the company's older 10-K filings, all listed on SEC EDGAR.
- Prices and market data: quotes, P/E and analyst ratings from Finnhub; daily price history and the 52-week range from Twelve Data, both refreshed weekly.
- How to check a figure: click any number in the card above to see its exact source, and read the Editorial Standards for every rule behind the checks.
About this Brown-Forman Corp analysis
This page shows every value-investing check the site runs on Brown-Forman Corp (BF.B) in one place: the 8 mechanical filters, the Buffett and Lynch checklists, a margin of safety from a disclosed DCF, earnings quality, shareholder yield and how it ranks against its sector peers. The numbers come from SEC filings and public market data, refreshed weekly, and the same rules apply to every stock on the stock list. See Editorial Standards for the sources and the rules, or run your own filters in the stock screener.