American Eagle Outfitters vs Buckle
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The short version
- American Eagle Outfitters is the larger business, with $5.5B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $1.3B for Buckle, about 4.3 times as much.
- Buckle grew revenue faster (6.6%, against 4.1%).
- Buckle kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (20.1% operating margin, against 4.1%).
- Buckle turned more of its sales into free cash flow (15.9% FCF margin, against 3.5%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Buckle’s earnings: a P/E of 10.7x against 9.1x for American Eagle Outfitters.
| Latest fiscal year | AEO · FY25 | BKE · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $3.0B | $2.4B |
| Revenue | $5.5B | $1.3B |
| Free cash flow | $195M | $206M |
| Net income | $192M | $210M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 4.1% | 6.6% |
| 5-year growth | 8.1% | 7.6% |
| Share count change | −10.3% | 0.8% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 36.5% | 49.0% |
| Operating margin | 4.1% | 20.1% |
| Net margin | 3.5% | 16.2% |
| FCF margin | 3.5% | 15.9% |
| Return on capital | 11.5% | — |
| Return on equity | 11.1% | 49.4% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | −$197M | — |
| Net debt / EBITDA | −0.4x | — |
| Dividends and buybacks | $142M | $225M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 9.1x | 10.7x |
| Piotroski F-score | 4 | — |
Revenue
FY16
AEO $3.6B
BKE $975M
FY17
AEO $3.8B
BKE $913M
FY18
AEO $4.0B
BKE $886M
FY19
AEO $4.3B
BKE $900M
FY20
AEO $3.8B
BKE $901M
FY21
AEO $5.0B
BKE $1.3B
FY22
AEO $5.0B
BKE $1.3B
FY23
AEO $5.3B
BKE $1.3B
FY24
AEO $5.3B
BKE $1.2B
FY25
AEO $5.5B
BKE $1.3B
AEO
BKE
Operating margin
FY16
AEO 9.2%
BKE 15.7%
FY17
AEO 8.0%
BKE 14.7%
FY18
AEO 8.4%
BKE 13.7%
FY19
AEO 5.4%
BKE 14.6%
FY20
AEO −7.2%
BKE 18.6%
FY21
AEO 11.8%
BKE 25.9%
FY22
AEO 5.0%
BKE 24.4%
FY23
AEO 4.2%
BKE 21.5%
FY24
AEO 8.0%
BKE 19.8%
FY25
AEO 4.1%
BKE 20.1%
AEO
BKE
Free cash flow
FY16
AEO $204M
BKE $117M
FY17
AEO $225M
BKE $106M
FY18
AEO $268M
BKE $98.7M
FY19
AEO $205M
BKE $123M
FY20
AEO $74.5M
BKE $220M
FY21
AEO $69.8M
BKE $293M
FY22
AEO $146M
BKE $212M
FY23
AEO $406M
BKE $217M
FY24
AEO $254M
BKE $200M
FY25
AEO $195M
BKE $206M
AEO
BKE
Return on capital
FY16
AEO 26.0%
BKE —
FY17
AEO 26.0%
BKE —
FY18
AEO 30.2%
BKE —
FY19
AEO 21.5%
BKE —
FY20
AEO −30.8%
BKE —
FY21
AEO 46.9%
BKE —
FY22
AEO 12.6%
BKE —
FY23
AEO 11.6%
BKE —
FY24
AEO 23.3%
BKE —
FY25
AEO 11.5%
BKE —
AEO
BKE
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.