BJ's Wholesale Club vs Dollar General
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The short version
- Dollar General is the larger business, with $42.7B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $21.5B for BJ's Wholesale Club, about 2.0 times as much.
- Dollar General grew revenue faster (5.2%, against 4.7%).
- Dollar General kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (5.2% operating margin, against 3.8%).
- Dollar General turned more of its sales into free cash flow (5.6% FCF margin, against 1.5%).
- BJ's Wholesale Club earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (23.7%, against 13.8%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of BJ's Wholesale Club’s earnings: a P/E of 23.2x against 17.3x for Dollar General.
| Latest fiscal year | BJ · FY25 | DG · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $13.5B | $29.4B |
| Revenue | $21.5B | $42.7B |
| Free cash flow | $328M | $2.4B |
| Net income | $578M | $1.5B |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 4.7% | 5.2% |
| 5-year growth | 6.8% | 4.8% |
| Share count change | −1.2% | 0.4% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 18.6% | 30.7% |
| Operating margin | 3.8% | 5.2% |
| Net margin | 2.7% | 3.5% |
| FCF margin | 1.5% | 5.6% |
| Return on capital | 23.7% | 13.8% |
| Return on equity | 28.6% | 19.0% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $523M | $3.4B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 0.5x | 1.1x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $287M | $520M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 23.2x | 17.3x |
| Piotroski F-score | 8 | 7 |
Revenue
FY16
BJ $12.4B
DG $22.0B
FY17
BJ $12.8B
DG $23.5B
FY18
BJ $13.0B
DG $25.6B
FY19
BJ $13.2B
DG $27.8B
FY20
BJ $15.4B
DG $33.7B
FY21
BJ $16.7B
DG $34.2B
FY22
BJ $19.3B
DG $37.8B
FY23
BJ $20.0B
DG $38.7B
FY24
BJ $20.5B
DG $40.6B
FY25
BJ $21.5B
DG $42.7B
BJ
DG
Operating margin
FY16
BJ 1.8%
DG 9.4%
FY17
BJ 1.7%
DG 8.6%
FY18
BJ 2.3%
DG 8.3%
FY19
BJ 2.7%
DG 8.3%
FY20
BJ 4.2%
DG 10.5%
FY21
BJ 3.7%
DG 9.4%
FY22
BJ 3.8%
DG 8.8%
FY23
BJ 4.0%
DG 6.3%
FY24
BJ 3.8%
DG 4.2%
FY25
BJ 3.8%
DG 5.2%
BJ
DG
Free cash flow
FY16
BJ $183M
DG $1.0B
FY17
BJ $72.6M
DG $1.2B
FY18
BJ $281M
DG $1.4B
FY19
BJ $158M
DG $1.5B
FY20
BJ $650M
DG $2.8B
FY21
BJ $508M
DG $1.8B
FY22
BJ $390M
DG $424M
FY23
BJ $252M
DG $692M
FY24
BJ $313M
DG $1.7B
FY25
BJ $328M
DG $2.4B
BJ
DG
Return on capital
FY16
BJ —
DG 15.8%
FY17
BJ —
DG 18.7%
FY18
BJ 17.3%
DG 18.6%
FY19
BJ 17.0%
DG 19.4%
FY20
BJ 32.2%
DG 29.5%
FY21
BJ 34.2%
DG 25.9%
FY22
BJ 33.8%
DG 23.2%
FY23
BJ 28.1%
DG 15.1%
FY24
BJ 24.9%
DG 10.3%
FY25
BJ 23.7%
DG 13.8%
BJ
DG
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.