American Eagle Outfitters vs Burlington Stores
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The short version
- Burlington Stores is the larger business, with $11.6B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $5.5B for American Eagle Outfitters, about 2.1 times as much.
- Burlington Stores grew revenue faster (8.8%, against 4.1%).
- American Eagle Outfitters turned more of its sales into free cash flow (3.5% FCF margin, against 1.5%).
- Burlington Stores earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (28.1%, against 11.5%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Burlington Stores’s earnings: a P/E of 22.2x against 9.1x for American Eagle Outfitters.
| Latest fiscal year | AEO · FY25 | BURL · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $3.0B | $15.8B |
| Revenue | $5.5B | $11.6B |
| Free cash flow | $195M | $172M |
| Net income | $192M | $610M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 4.1% | 8.8% |
| 5-year growth | 8.1% | 15.0% |
| Share count change | −10.3% | −0.7% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 36.5% | 43.9% |
| Operating margin | 4.1% | — |
| Net margin | 3.5% | 5.3% |
| FCF margin | 3.5% | 1.5% |
| Return on capital | 11.5% | 28.1% |
| Return on equity | 11.1% | 38.4% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | −$197M | $818M |
| Net debt / EBITDA | −0.4x | 0.6x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $142M | $278M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 9.1x | 22.2x |
| Piotroski F-score | 4 | 7 |
Revenue
FY16
AEO $3.6B
BURL $5.6B
FY17
AEO $3.8B
BURL $6.1B
FY18
AEO $4.0B
BURL $6.7B
FY19
AEO $4.3B
BURL $7.3B
FY20
AEO $3.8B
BURL $5.8B
FY21
AEO $5.0B
BURL $9.3B
FY22
AEO $5.0B
BURL $8.7B
FY23
AEO $5.3B
BURL $9.7B
FY24
AEO $5.3B
BURL $10.6B
FY25
AEO $5.5B
BURL $11.6B
AEO
BURL
Operating margin
FY16
AEO 9.2%
BURL —
FY17
AEO 8.0%
BURL —
FY18
AEO 8.4%
BURL —
FY19
AEO 5.4%
BURL —
FY20
AEO −7.2%
BURL —
FY21
AEO 11.8%
BURL —
FY22
AEO 5.0%
BURL —
FY23
AEO 4.2%
BURL —
FY24
AEO 8.0%
BURL —
FY25
AEO 4.1%
BURL —
AEO
BURL
Free cash flow
FY16
AEO $204M
BURL $428M
FY17
AEO $225M
BURL $339M
FY18
AEO $268M
BURL $344M
FY19
AEO $205M
BURL $563M
FY20
AEO $74.5M
BURL −$54.1M
FY21
AEO $69.8M
BURL $481M
FY22
AEO $146M
BURL $149M
FY23
AEO $406M
BURL $376M
FY24
AEO $254M
BURL −$17.0M
FY25
AEO $195M
BURL $172M
AEO
BURL
Return on capital
FY16
AEO 26.0%
BURL 22.9%
FY17
AEO 26.0%
BURL 41.3%
FY18
AEO 30.2%
BURL 40.2%
FY19
AEO 21.5%
BURL 43.1%
FY20
AEO −30.8%
BURL −26.3%
FY21
AEO 46.9%
BURL 36.7%
FY22
AEO 12.6%
BURL 20.0%
FY23
AEO 11.6%
BURL 27.0%
FY24
AEO 23.3%
BURL 30.9%
FY25
AEO 11.5%
BURL 28.1%
AEO
BURL
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.