Academy Sports + Outdoors vs Five Below
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The short version
- Academy Sports + Outdoors is the larger business, with $6.1B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $4.8B for Five Below.
- Five Below grew revenue faster (22.9%, against 2.0%).
- Five Below kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (9.6% operating margin, against 8.5%).
- Five Below turned more of its sales into free cash flow (8.6% FCF margin, against 3.7%).
- Five Below earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (26.9%, against 17.6%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Five Below’s earnings: a P/E of 20.0x against 10.1x for Academy Sports + Outdoors.
| Latest fiscal year | ASO · FY25 | FIVE · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $3.8B | $12.4B |
| Revenue | $6.1B | $4.8B |
| Free cash flow | $222M | $412M |
| Net income | $377M | $359M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 2.0% | 22.9% |
| 5-year growth | 1.3% | 19.4% |
| Share count change | −6.9% | 0.5% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 34.8% | 36.0% |
| Operating margin | 8.5% | 9.6% |
| Net margin | 6.2% | 7.5% |
| FCF margin | 3.7% | 8.6% |
| Return on capital | 17.6% | 26.9% |
| Return on equity | 18.1% | 17.9% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $154M | −$932M |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 0.2x | −1.4x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $234M | $0.0M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 10.1x | 20.0x |
| Piotroski F-score | 7 | 7 |
Revenue
FY16
ASO —
FIVE $1.0B
FY17
ASO —
FIVE $1.3B
FY18
ASO $4.8B
FIVE $1.6B
FY19
ASO $4.8B
FIVE $1.8B
FY20
ASO $5.7B
FIVE $2.0B
FY21
ASO $6.8B
FIVE $2.8B
FY22
ASO $6.4B
FIVE $3.1B
FY23
ASO $6.2B
FIVE $3.6B
FY24
ASO $5.9B
FIVE $3.9B
FY25
ASO $6.1B
FIVE $4.8B
ASO
FIVE
Operating margin
FY16
ASO —
FIVE 11.4%
FY17
ASO —
FIVE 12.3%
FY18
ASO 2.7%
FIVE 12.0%
FY19
ASO 3.7%
FIVE 11.8%
FY20
ASO 7.4%
FIVE 7.9%
FY21
ASO 13.4%
FIVE 13.3%
FY22
ASO 13.2%
FIVE 11.2%
FY23
ASO 11.0%
FIVE 10.8%
FY24
ASO 9.1%
FIVE 8.4%
FY25
ASO 8.5%
FIVE 9.6%
ASO
FIVE
Free cash flow
FY16
ASO —
FIVE $61.8M
FY17
ASO —
FIVE $99.6M
FY18
ASO $90.6M
FIVE $70.4M
FY19
ASO $201M
FIVE −$25.3M
FY20
ASO $970M
FIVE $166M
FY21
ASO $597M
FIVE $39.8M
FY22
ASO $444M
FIVE $63.0M
FY23
ASO $328M
FIVE $165M
FY24
ASO $328M
FIVE $107M
FY25
ASO $222M
FIVE $412M
ASO
FIVE
Return on capital
FY16
ASO —
FIVE 44.4%
FY17
ASO —
FIVE 51.9%
FY18
ASO —
FIVE 59.4%
FY19
ASO —
FIVE 44.3%
FY20
ASO —
FIVE 25.7%
FY21
ASO 44.5%
FIVE 46.2%
FY22
ASO 36.6%
FIVE 29.8%
FY23
ASO 26.7%
FIVE 27.7%
FY24
ASO 19.5%
FIVE 20.2%
FY25
ASO 17.6%
FIVE 26.9%
ASO
FIVE
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.