Lululemon Athletica vs Ralph Lauren

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KIRA’s take AI analyst

I put Lululemon Athletica and Ralph Lauren side by side, using each one’s latest annual report. Here is what stands out:

Lululemon Athletica is the larger business, with $11.1B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $8.1B for Ralph Lauren.
Ralph Lauren grew revenue faster (14.6%, against 4.9%).
Lululemon Athletica kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (19.9% operating margin, against 14.5%).
Ralph Lauren turned more of its sales into free cash flow (9.2% FCF margin, against 8.3%).
Lululemon Athletica earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (56.8%, against 45.4%).
Investors pay more for each dollar of Ralph Lauren’s earnings: a P/E of 24.4x against 8.5x for Lululemon Athletica.

Who comes out ahead

Of the 11 measures where higher (or lower) is clearly better, how many each company leads.

Lululemon Athletica

LULU

6/11

5-year growthOperating marginNet marginReturn on capitalNet debt / EBITDAShare count change

Ralph Lauren

5/11

Revenue growthGross marginFCF marginReturn on equityPiotroski F-score

Side by side

Best in the row

Latest fiscal year	LULU FY25	RL FY26
Size
Market cap	$11.6B	$23.7B
Revenue	$11.1B	$8.1B
Free cash flow	$922M	$746M
Net income	$1.6B	$941M
Growth
Revenue growth	4.9%	14.6%
5-year growth	20.3%	13.0%
Share count change	−3.9%	−2.7%
Profitability
Gross margin	56.6%	69.9%
Operating margin	19.9%	14.5%
Net margin	14.2%	11.6%
FCF margin	8.3%	9.2%
Return on capital	56.8%	45.4%
Return on equity	34.0%	34.7%
Balance sheet
Net debt	−$1.8B	−$593M
Net debt / EBITDA	−0.7x	−0.4x
Dividends and buybacks	$1.2B	$840M
Valuation & quality
P/E	8.5x	24.4x
Piotroski F-score	5	8

Ten years

Revenue

FY17

LULU $2.6B

RL $6.7B

FY18

LULU $3.3B

RL $6.2B

FY19

LULU $4.0B

RL $6.3B

FY20

LULU $4.4B

RL $6.2B

FY21

LULU $6.3B

RL $4.4B

FY22

LULU $8.1B

RL $6.2B

FY23

LULU $9.6B

RL $6.4B

FY24

LULU $10.6B

RL $6.6B

FY25

LULU $11.1B

RL $7.1B

FY26

LULU —

RL $8.1B

FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25 FY26

LULU RL

Operating margin

FY17

LULU 17.2%

RL −1.4%

FY18

LULU 21.5%

RL 8.1%

FY19

LULU 22.3%

RL 8.9%

FY20

LULU 18.6%

RL 5.2%

FY21

LULU 21.3%

RL −1.0%

FY22

LULU 16.4%

RL 12.8%

FY23

LULU 22.2%

RL 10.9%

FY24

LULU 23.7%

RL 11.4%

FY25

LULU 19.9%

RL 13.2%

FY26

LULU —

RL 14.5%

FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25 FY26

LULU RL

Free cash flow

FY17

LULU $331M

RL $669M

FY18

LULU $517M

RL $814M

FY19

LULU $386M

RL $586M

FY20

LULU $574M

RL $484M

FY21

LULU $995M

RL $273M

FY22

LULU $328M

RL $549M

FY23

LULU $1.6B

RL $194M

FY24

LULU $1.6B

RL $905M

FY25

LULU $922M

RL $1.0B

FY26

LULU —

RL $746M

FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25 FY26

LULU RL

Return on capital

FY17

LULU 41.6%

RL −2.5%

FY18

LULU 81.5%

RL 10.9%

FY19

LULU 89.9%

RL 19.5%

FY20

LULU 52.0%

RL 15.2%

FY21

LULU 67.5%

RL −1.8%

FY22

LULU 49.1%

RL 33.5%

FY23

LULU 76.3%

RL 24.9%

FY24

LULU 81.6%

RL 28.4%

FY25

LULU 56.8%

RL 36.5%

FY26

LULU —

RL 45.4%

FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25 FY26

LULU RL

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.