Academy Sports + Outdoors vs Sally Beauty
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The short version
- Academy Sports + Outdoors is the larger business, with $6.1B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $3.7B for Sally Beauty, about 1.6 times as much.
- Academy Sports + Outdoors grew revenue faster (2.0%, against −0.4%).
- Sally Beauty turned more of its sales into free cash flow (4.7% FCF margin, against 3.7%).
- Academy Sports + Outdoors earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (17.6%, against 16.1%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Academy Sports + Outdoors’s earnings: a P/E of 10.1x against 9.1x for Sally Beauty.
| Latest fiscal year | ASO · FY25 | SBH · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $3.8B | $1.7B |
| Revenue | $6.1B | $3.7B |
| Free cash flow | $222M | $173M |
| Net income | $377M | $196M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 2.0% | −0.4% |
| 5-year growth | 1.3% | 1.0% |
| Share count change | −6.9% | −2.9% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 34.8% | 51.6% |
| Operating margin | 8.5% | 8.9% |
| Net margin | 6.2% | 5.3% |
| FCF margin | 3.7% | 4.7% |
| Return on capital | 17.6% | 16.1% |
| Return on equity | 18.1% | 27.5% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $154M | $726M |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 0.2x | 1.7x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $234M | $54.0M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 10.1x | 9.1x |
| Piotroski F-score | 7 | 8 |
Revenue
FY16
ASO —
SBH $4.0B
FY17
ASO —
SBH $3.9B
FY18
ASO $4.8B
SBH $3.9B
FY19
ASO $4.8B
SBH $3.9B
FY20
ASO $5.7B
SBH $3.5B
FY21
ASO $6.8B
SBH $3.9B
FY22
ASO $6.4B
SBH $3.8B
FY23
ASO $6.2B
SBH $3.7B
FY24
ASO $5.9B
SBH $3.7B
FY25
ASO $6.1B
SBH $3.7B
ASO
SBH
Operating margin
FY16
ASO —
SBH 12.6%
FY17
ASO —
SBH 12.2%
FY18
ASO 2.7%
SBH 10.9%
FY19
ASO 3.7%
SBH 11.8%
FY20
ASO 7.4%
SBH 7.4%
FY21
ASO 13.4%
SBH 10.8%
FY22
ASO 13.2%
SBH 8.9%
FY23
ASO 11.0%
SBH 8.7%
FY24
ASO 9.1%
SBH 7.6%
FY25
ASO 8.5%
SBH 8.9%
ASO
SBH
Free cash flow
FY16
ASO —
SBH $203M
FY17
ASO —
SBH $254M
FY18
ASO $90.6M
SBH $286M
FY19
ASO $201M
SBH $213M
FY20
ASO $970M
SBH $316M
FY21
ASO $597M
SBH $308M
FY22
ASO $444M
SBH $57.3M
FY23
ASO $328M
SBH $159M
FY24
ASO $328M
SBH $145M
FY25
ASO $222M
SBH $173M
ASO
SBH
Return on capital
FY16
ASO —
SBH 22.4%
FY17
ASO —
SBH 20.5%
FY18
ASO —
SBH 23.0%
FY19
ASO —
SBH 23.5%
FY20
ASO —
SBH 13.1%
FY21
ASO 44.5%
SBH 23.9%
FY22
ASO 36.6%
SBH 19.7%
FY23
ASO 26.7%
SBH 17.2%
FY24
ASO 19.5%
SBH 14.1%
FY25
ASO 17.6%
SBH 16.1%
ASO
SBH
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.