John Wiley & Sons (WLY)

Short-term

Turnover ratios

The activity ratios of John Wiley & Sons over the analyzed period demonstrate several key trends and insights:

Inventory Turnover: The company's inventory turnover ratio exhibits a consistent upward trajectory from July 2020 through April 2025. Starting at 13.16 in July 2020, it steadily increases, reaching a peak of approximately 23.13 in April 2024 before showing a slight decline to 19.29 by October 2024. This trend indicates enhanced efficiency in managing inventory, resulting in faster inventory turnover and potentially improved inventory management practices. The consistent increase suggests better alignment of inventory levels with sales and reduced holding periods.

Receivables Turnover: The receivables turnover ratio shows fluctuations with an overall upward trend. Starting at 6.51 in July 2020, the ratio remains relatively stable until mid-2022, after which a notable surge occurs, reaching 13.32 in October 2023. This sharp increase indicates a significant improvement in collection efficiency, suggesting that the company has become more effective at collecting receivables over this period. Prior to this surge, ratios hovered between approximately 6.2 and 7.9, indicating moderate collection periods; post-surge, the ratio reflects more prompt cash inflows from customers.

Payables Turnover: The payables turnover ratio exhibits variability but generally demonstrates an increasing trend from July 2020 to early 2023, peaking at 21.78 in January 2023. This indicates a shorter period to settle payables, reflecting either tighter credit terms extended by suppliers or more prompt payments by Wiley. After reaching this peak, the ratio declines again to 7.29 by April 2025, indicating a lengthening of the payables period, which could be a strategic decision to optimize cash flow.

Working Capital Turnover: Data for working capital turnover are unavailable across the period, preventing an assessment of this ratio’s trend or implications.

Overall Assessment: The company’s inventory management has become more efficient, with increased inventory turnover ratios reflecting faster inventory turnover. Simultaneously, receivables collection has improved markedly after mid-2022, highlighting enhanced credit and collection policies. The payables turnover initially suggests quicker settling with suppliers but later indicates a strategic extension of payable periods to better manage liquidity. These varying trends collectively point toward an active management of working capital components aimed at optimizing operational efficiency and cash flow.

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Average number of days

The activity ratios of John Wiley & Sons, as evidenced by the provided data up to October 2025, reveal trends and patterns indicative of operational efficiency and liquidity management over recent periods.

Days of Inventory on Hand (DOH):
The company has maintained a relatively stable inventory period, with a slight decreasing trend observed from approximately 27.74 days as of July 31, 2020, to a low of around 15.78 days in April 2024. Following this, the DOH increased modestly to approximately 19.65 days by January 2025. This decline in days of inventory suggests an enhanced inventory turnover, reflecting improved inventory management and possibly a shift toward leaner stock levels or more efficient supply chain processes. The subsequent increase may indicate adjustments in inventory strategy or external factors influencing stock levels.

Days of Sales Outstanding (DSO):
The DSO metric exhibits significant variability across the observed periods. Starting at approximately 56 days in July 2020, the DSO decreased notably to around 27.4 days in October 2023, approaching near normal or industry-standard collection periods. This reduction indicates a substantial improvement in accounts receivable collection efficiency, reducing the time cash is tied up in outstanding invoices. Notably, in the latest period (April 2025), DSO increased to approximately 49.7 days, implying a deterioration in receivables collection or potential changes in credit policy or customer payment behavior.

Number of Days of Payables:
The company’s payables period has experienced fluctuations over the years. It generally ranged from about 16.76 days in January 2023 to a peak of around 55.91 days in April 2021. Recently, the payables days settled around the high twenties to early thirties, with a notable peak of approximately 50 days in April 2025. Shorter periods, such as 16.76 days in January 2023, indicate prompt payments to suppliers possibly to maintain good supplier relationships, whereas longer durations suggest periods of extended credit use, potentially to optimize cash flow. The recent upward trend indicates a tendency toward lengthening payable periods, which could be part of cash management strategies amid changing operational conditions.

Overall Observations:
The trend of decreasing inventory days coupled with an initial reduction and subsequent increase in DSO suggests a period of operational optimization followed by adjustments potentially due to external or strategic factors. The volatility in payables periods indicates dynamic management of accounts payable, balancing supplier terms against liquidity needs. These activity ratios collectively point towards an ongoing process of operational efficiency, effective receivables management, and strategic payment practices aimed at optimizing working capital.

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Long-term

The analysis of John Wiley & Sons’ long-term activity ratios reveals notable trends in the company's asset utilization efficiency over the period examined.

The fixed asset turnover ratio, which measures how effectively the company generates sales from its fixed assets, shows a pattern of initial dormancy with missing data points until January 31, 2021, when it stood at 4.59. Following this, the ratio exhibits a significant upward trajectory, reaching 9.66 on April 30, 2021, indicating improved utilization of fixed assets in generating sales. The ratio remains relatively stable during 2021, fluctuating marginally around 5.05 to 5.19 through July and October 2021. The upward trend resumes in early 2022, with ratios of 5.31 (January), 5.43 (April), and then a noticeable increase to 8.06 (July 2022) and 8.26 (October 2022). This suggests a period of heightened efficiency in leveraging fixed assets to support sales. However, a slight decline occurs afterward, with values of 8.21 (January 2023) and 5.97 (April 2023), before stabilizing around 6.48 (July 2023) and 6.50 (October 2023). The absence of data beyond January 2024 prevents further trend analysis.

Regarding total asset turnover, the ratios exhibit an overall upward progression, indicating increasing efficiency in utilizing total assets to generate sales. Starting from 0.60 (July 2020) and slightly rising to 0.62 (October 2020), the ratio dips slightly to 0.55 in January 2021 but quickly recovers and stabilizes around 0.56 to 0.66 through 2022. A more pronounced upward trend begins in late 2022, reaching 0.68 (July 2023), 0.71 (October 2023), and maintaining similar levels into early 2024. The ratios then see a slight decline, hovering around 0.66 to 0.62 through April 2025, reflecting minor fluctuations but an overall trend of increased asset efficiency over the analyzed period.

In aggregate, the data indicates that John Wiley & Sons experienced meaningful improvements in its long-term asset utilization efficiency from early 2021 onwards, particularly in fixed asset turnover during 2022, which coincided with a period of operational enhancement. The steady increase in total asset turnover further supports the conclusion that the company's management effectively optimized asset deployment to support revenue generation. These trends underscore a trajectory of strengthening asset efficiency, albeit with some cyclical fluctuations during the observed timeline.