Kohl's vs Macy's
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The short version
- Macy's is the larger business, with $22.6B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $15.5B for Kohl's.
- Macy's grew revenue faster (−1.7%, against −4.3%).
- Macy's kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (4.6% operating margin, against 4.0%).
- Kohl's turned more of its sales into free cash flow (6.5% FCF margin, against 4.7%).
- Macy's earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (12.9%, against 7.2%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Kohl's’s earnings: a P/E of 10.7x against 8.8x for Macy's.
| Latest fiscal year | KSS · FY25 | M · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $2.9B | $6.6B |
| Revenue | $15.5B | $22.6B |
| Free cash flow | $1.0B | $1.1B |
| Net income | $272M | $642M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | −4.3% | −1.7% |
| 5-year growth | −0.5% | 5.5% |
| Share count change | 1.8% | −1.8% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 40.6% | 40.3% |
| Operating margin | 4.0% | 4.6% |
| Net margin | 1.8% | 2.8% |
| FCF margin | 6.5% | 4.7% |
| Return on capital | 7.2% | 12.9% |
| Return on equity | 6.9% | 13.6% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $2.8B | $1.2B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 2.1x | 0.6x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $56.0M | $447M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 10.7x | 8.8x |
| Piotroski F-score | 7 | 8 |
Revenue
FY16
KSS $19.7B
M $25.9B
FY17
KSS $20.1B
M $24.9B
FY18
KSS $20.2B
M $25.0B
FY19
KSS $20.0B
M $24.6B
FY20
KSS $16.0B
M $17.3B
FY21
KSS $19.4B
M $25.4B
FY22
KSS $18.1B
M $25.4B
FY23
KSS $17.5B
M $23.9B
FY24
KSS $16.2B
M $23.0B
FY25
KSS $15.5B
M $22.6B
KSS
M
Operating margin
FY16
KSS 6.0%
M 5.3%
FY17
KSS 7.1%
M 7.5%
FY18
KSS 6.7%
M 7.0%
FY19
KSS 5.5%
M 4.0%
FY20
KSS −1.6%
M −25.8%
FY21
KSS 8.7%
M 9.3%
FY22
KSS 1.4%
M 6.6%
FY23
KSS 4.1%
M 1.3%
FY24
KSS 2.7%
M 4.0%
FY25
KSS 4.0%
M 4.6%
KSS
M
Free cash flow
FY16
KSS $1.4B
M $1.2B
FY17
KSS $1.0B
M $1.5B
FY18
KSS $1.5B
M $1.1B
FY19
KSS $802M
M $706M
FY20
KSS $1.0B
M $311M
FY21
KSS $1.7B
M $2.4B
FY22
KSS −$544M
M $727M
FY23
KSS $591M
M $674M
FY24
KSS $182M
M $760M
FY25
KSS $1.0B
M $1.1B
KSS
M
Return on capital
FY16
KSS 10.2%
M 9.1%
FY17
KSS 15.5%
M 19.1%
FY18
KSS 15.4%
M 13.6%
FY19
KSS 11.9%
M 7.7%
FY20
KSS −3.0%
M −45.3%
FY21
KSS 19.7%
M 33.1%
FY22
KSS 2.6%
M 23.0%
FY23
KSS —
M 4.9%
FY24
KSS —
M 11.5%
FY25
KSS 7.2%
M 12.9%
KSS
M
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.