AEO vs ROST vs BOOT Stock Comparison

American Eagle Outfitters, Ross Stores and Boot Barn Holdings Prices as of Oct 26, 2026 Peers: Industry group
ROST Ross Stores, Inc.
$234.11 -0.9% 1M +49.4% 1Y
Market cap
$73.10B
P/E
27.5x
Revenue (TTM)
$24.51B
Div. yield
0.01%
Apparel Retail Consumer Discretionary
8 wins

Head to Head

12 decided of 12

Ross Stores leads on 8 of the 12 questions below (Ross Stores 8, American Eagle Outfitters 4). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionAEOROSTBOOTLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $3.25B $73.10B $3.39B ROST
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 9.6x 27.5x — AEO
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 8.9x 29.0x 13.3x AEO
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +9.2% +14.0% — ROST
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 5.9% 10.8% — ROST
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 19.0% 33.9% — ROST
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA -0.1x -0.8x — ROST
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.03% 0.01% 0.00% AEO
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +13.5% +49.4% -42.0% ROST
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years -4.8%/yr +16.2%/yr +2.6%/yr ROST
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 52.4% 26.1% 47.5% ROST
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 76/100 64/100 — AEO

Percentile Scorecard

AEOROSTBOOT

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisAEOROSTBOOT
Valuation 85 #16 of 104 10 #94 of 104 –
Growth 79 #22 of 99 81 #20 of 99 –
Profitability 76 #25 of 99 91 #10 of 99 –
Financial Health 80 #23 of 113 87 #16 of 113 82 #21 of 113
Shareholder Returns 63 #28 of 73 51 #36 of 73 –
Overall 76 64 –
  • AEO ranked among 115 companies in Retail
  • ROST ranked among 115 companies in Retail
  • BOOT ranked among 115 companies in Retail

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodAEOROSTBOOTSPY
1 month +13.4%-0.9%-7.3% -0.8%
3 months +5.9%-3.8%-26.4% +3.5%
6 months +5.1%+3.5%-32.9% +7.0%
Year to date -28.7%+30.0%-35.3% +12.2%
1 year +13.5%+49.4%-42.0% +13.0%
3 years +8.2%+107.6%+64.4% +86.3%
3 years, per year +2.7%+27.6%+18.0% +23.1%
5 years -21.8%+111.6%+13.9% +68.6%
5 years, per year -4.8%+16.2%+2.6% +11.0%
10 years +10.2%+268.7%+938.4% +258.0%
10 years, per year +1.0%+13.9%+26.4% +13.6%

Risk

MeasureAEOROSTBOOTSPY
Volatility, 1Y 52.4%26.1%47.5% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 55.9%24.4%47.3% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 1.180.521.14 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.261.89-0.88 1.02
Max drawdown, 5Y -67.7%-41.3%-60.6% -25.4%
From 52-week high -33.3%-8.3%-45.1% -1.8%
52-week high $28.19$255.23$207.98 $779.14
52-week low $14.52$158.07$112.83 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleAEOROSTBOOT
P/E now vs peer median 9.3xmedian 16.7x 28.0xmedian 16.7x —median 16.7x
P/S now vs peer median 0.5xmedian 0.5x 3.1xmedian 0.5x —median 0.5x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 4.6xmedian 9.0x 18.3xmedian 9.0x —median 9.0x
P/FCF now vs peer median 9.2xmedian 16.5x 26.8xmedian 16.5x —median 16.5x
P/B now vs peer median 1.8xmedian 1.7x 11.1xmedian 1.7x 2.6xmedian 1.7x
PEG now vs peer median 0.39median 0.72 1.36median 0.72 —median 0.72

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsAEOROSTBOOT
Revenue $5.75B $24.51B –
Gross profit $2.33B $7.27B –
Operating income $447.95M $3.37B –
Net income $330.75M $2.66B –
Free cash flow $343.50M $2.79B –
EPS (diluted) $1.98 $8.32 –
Cash & equivalents $147.95M $4.29B $141.04M
Total debt $55.00M $1.02B –
Shares (diluted) 170.18M 319.45M 30.73M
Enterprise value $2.64B $56.03B $2.89B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricAEOROSTBOOT
P/E 9.3x 28.0x –
P/FCF 9.2x 26.8x –
P/Operating cash flow 5.3x 20.4x –
P/S 0.5x 3.1x –
P/B 1.8x 11.1x 2.6x
P/Tangible book 1.8x 11.1x 2.8x
EV/EBITDA 4.6x 18.3x –
EV/EBIT 6.8x 21.2x –
EV/Revenue 0.5x 2.9x –
EV/FCF 8.9x 25.6x –
EV/Operating cash flow 5.1x 19.6x –
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.39 1.36 –

Growth

14 metrics
MetricAEOROSTBOOT
Revenue growth (1Y) 9.2% 14.0% –
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 4.6% 8.5% –
Gross profit growth (1Y) 19.7% 22.5% –
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 7.9% 13.3% –
Operating income growth (1Y) 68.2% 30.6% –
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 17.1% 16.8% –
Net income growth (1Y) 71.1% 28.9% –
Net income CAGR (3Y) 17.7% 18.3% –
EPS growth (1Y) 72.4% 31.1% –
EPS CAGR (3Y) 24.1% 20.5% –
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 46.3% 48.0% –
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) -3.0% 8.6% –
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 126.5% 66.2% –
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) -7.3% 10.2% –

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricAEOROSTBOOT
Gross margin 40.5% 29.7% –
EBITDA margin 11.6% 16.0% –
Operating margin 7.8% 13.7% –
Pretax margin 7.6% 14.3% –
Net margin 5.9% 10.8% –
FCF margin 6.0% 11.4% –
Operating cash flow margin 10.4% 14.9% –
Return on equity 19.3% 40.8% –
Return on assets 7.9% 16.9% –
Return on invested capital 19.0% 33.9% –
Return on capital employed 13.4% 31.0% –
Asset turnover 1.4x 1.6x –
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.8x 1.4x –
Stock comp / revenue 0.7% 0.8% –

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricAEOROSTBOOT
Debt / assets 1.3% 6.4% –
Debt / equity 0.0x 0.2x –
Net debt / EBITDA -0.1x -0.8x –
Debt / FCF 0.2x 0.4x –
Liabilities / assets 58.8% 57.8% 46.2%
Equity / assets 41.2% 42.2% 53.8%
Interest coverage – – –
Current ratio 1.6x 1.6x 2.6x
Quick ratio 0.5x 0.9x 0.4x
Cash ratio 0.2x 0.9x 0.4x
Altman Z-score 3.46 7.78 –

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricAEOROSTBOOT
Dividend yield 2.7% 0.7% –
Net buyback yield 2.2% 1.5% –
Shareholder yield 5.0% 2.3% 0.0%
Payout ratio (earnings) 25.5% 20.6% –
Payout ratio (FCF) 24.5% 19.7% –
Dividend growth (1Y) -7.0% 7.9% –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) 28.9% 7.4% –

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusAEOROSTBOOT
Forward P/E 8.9xFY2026 29.0xFY2026 13.3xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $2.11FY2026 $8.06FY2026 $8.59FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +40.7%FY2026 +21.9%FY2026 +16.9%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after -10.9% +18.6% +12.9%
Revenue, next fiscal year $6.01BFY2026 $23.94BFY2026 $2.54BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +9.3%FY2026 +5.2%FY2026 +12.8%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +3.1% +7.5% +11.2%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersAEOROSTBOOT
Held by institutions 100.0% 93.4% 100.0%
Institutions holding 344 1,420 458
Change in shares held, QoQ +13.9% +4.7% +1.6%
Institutions buying 164 763 255
Institutions selling 135 440 149
Buyers to sellers 1.21 1.73 1.71

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

AEOROSTBOOT
AEO 1.00 0.28 0.37
ROST 0.28 1.00 0.30
BOOT 0.37 0.30 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, AEO, ROST and BOOT?

Ross Stores (ROST) is the largest by market capitalisation: American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) $3.25B, Ross Stores (ROST) $73.10B, Boot Barn Holdings (BOOT) $3.39B.

Which stock is cheaper, AEO, ROST and BOOT?

American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) 9.6x, Ross Stores (ROST) 27.5x). On next year's consensus earnings, American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) is cheapest (American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) 8.9x, Ross Stores (ROST) 29.0x, Boot Barn Holdings (BOOT) 13.3x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Ross Stores (ROST) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) +9.2%, Ross Stores (ROST) +14.0%.

Which company is more profitable?

Ross Stores (ROST) has the highest net margin (American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) 5.9%, Ross Stores (ROST) 10.8%). On return on invested capital, Ross Stores (ROST) leads (American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) 19.0%, Ross Stores (ROST) 33.9%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Ross Stores (ROST) returned the most: American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) +13.5%, Ross Stores (ROST) +49.4%, Boot Barn Holdings (BOOT) -42.0%. Over five years, Ross Stores (ROST) compounded fastest (American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) -4.8%/yr, Ross Stores (ROST) +16.2%/yr, Boot Barn Holdings (BOOT) +2.6%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) has the highest dividend yield: American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) 0.03%, Ross Stores (ROST) 0.01%, Boot Barn Holdings (BOOT) 0.00%. Boot Barn Holdings (BOOT) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Ross Stores (ROST) has been the steadiest (American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) 52.4%, Ross Stores (ROST) 26.1%, Boot Barn Holdings (BOOT) 47.5%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, AEO, ROST and BOOT?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Ross Stores (ROST) leads on 8. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.