BNED vs ASO Stock Comparison

Barnes & Noble Education and Academy Sports & Outdoors Prices as of Oct 23, 2026 Peers: Industry group

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Academy Sports & Outdoors leads on 9 of the 12 questions below (Academy Sports & Outdoors 9, Barnes & Noble Education 2). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionBNEDASOLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $470.32M $3.71B ASO
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 21.2x 9.4x ASO
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 14.7x 8.4x ASO
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +5.0% +3.7% BNED
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 1.3% 6.4% ASO
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 8.9% 17.6% ASO
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 1.5x 0.3x ASO
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +44.8% +23.3% BNED
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years -57.7%/yr +6.9%/yr ASO
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 63.1% 44.2% ASO
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 58/100 64/100 ASO

Percentile Scorecard

BNEDASO

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

AxisBNEDASO
Valuation 78 #24 of 104 80 #22 of 104
Growth 90 #11 of 99 44 #56 of 99
Profitability 53 #47 of 99 71 #29 of 99
Financial Health 49 #58 of 113 62 #44 of 113
Shareholder Returns 21 #58 of 73 63 #28 of 73
Overall 58 64
  • BNED ranked among 115 companies in Retail
  • ASO ranked among 115 companies in Retail

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodBNEDASOSPY
1 month +20.7%+24.9% -1.0%
3 months +13.9%+29.5% +2.9%
6 months +24.9%+5.5% +6.4%
Year to date +47.3%+20.8% +11.4%
1 year +44.8%+23.3% +13.1%
3 years -86.6%+37.4% +79.4%
3 years, per year -48.8%+11.2% +21.5%
5 years -98.6%+39.3% +67.7%
5 years, per year -57.7%+6.9% +10.9%
10 years -98.6%— +255.2%
10 years, per year -34.7%— +13.5%

Risk

MeasureBNEDASOSPY
Volatility, 1Y 63.1%44.2% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 53.4%43.1% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 1.550.76 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.710.53 1.03
Max drawdown, 5Y -99.4%-54.6% -25.4%
From 52-week high -2.9%-2.3% -2.5%
52-week high $13.94$61.78 $779.14
52-week low $6.12$41.73 $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.

MultipleBNEDASO
P/E now vs peer median 21.0xmedian 16.7x 9.5xmedian 16.7x
P/S now vs peer median 0.3xmedian 0.5x 0.6xmedian 0.5x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 7.5xmedian 9.1x 5.5xmedian 9.1x
P/FCF now vs peer median 9.6xmedian 16.6x 11.3xmedian 16.6x
P/B now vs peer median 1.7xmedian 1.7x 1.7xmedian 1.7x
PEG now vs peer median 0.65median 0.73 -2.75median 0.73

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 monthsBNEDASO
Revenue $1.72B $6.19B
Gross profit $367.84M $2.22B
Operating income $42.45M $591.56M
Net income $22.23M $395.85M
Free cash flow $48.80M $331.42M
EPS (diluted) $0.64 $6.23
Cash & equivalents $7.81M $298.21M
Total debt $123.50M $494.16M
Shares (diluted) 34.53M 63.55M
Enterprise value $432.24M $2.46B

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
MetricBNEDASO
P/E 21.0x 9.5x
P/FCF 9.6x 11.3x
P/Operating cash flow 7.2x 6.8x
P/S 0.3x 0.6x
P/B 1.7x 1.7x
P/Tangible book 2.1x 2.3x
EV/EBITDA 7.5x 5.5x
EV/EBIT 13.8x 6.7x
EV/Revenue 0.3x 0.6x
EV/FCF 12.0x 11.9x
EV/Operating cash flow 9.0x 7.2x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.65 -2.75

Growth

14 metrics
MetricBNEDASO
Revenue growth (1Y) 5.0% 3.7%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 3.4% -0.1%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 5.6% 9.0%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 2.5% 1.4%
Operating income growth (1Y) 34.9% 21.3%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 38.4% -6.4%
Net income growth (1Y) 12.1% 6.7%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 30.4% -9.9%
EPS growth (1Y) 10.6% 13.7%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 32.6% -3.4%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 781.0% 15.8%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 84.2% 0.7%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 320.0% 38.5%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 49.1% -3.4%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricBNEDASO
Gross margin 21.4% 35.8%
EBITDA margin 4.5% 11.6%
Operating margin 2.5% 9.6%
Pretax margin 1.6% 8.2%
Net margin 1.3% 6.4%
FCF margin 2.8% 5.4%
Operating cash flow margin 3.8% 8.8%
Return on equity 7.8% 18.4%
Return on assets 2.8% 7.2%
Return on invested capital 8.9% 17.6%
Return on capital employed 9.7% 13.7%
Asset turnover 2.2x 1.1x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 2.9x 1.4x
Stock comp / revenue 0.3% 0.4%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricBNEDASO
Debt / assets 14.6% 9.0%
Debt / equity 0.4x 0.2x
Net debt / EBITDA 1.5x 0.3x
Debt / FCF 2.5x 1.5x
Liabilities / assets 67.1% 60.5%
Equity / assets 32.9% 39.5%
Interest coverage – –
Current ratio 1.7x 1.7x
Quick ratio 0.5x 0.3x
Cash ratio 0.0x 0.3x
Altman Z-score 1.85 2.83

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricBNEDASO
Dividend yield 1.2% 1.0%
Net buyback yield – 7.3%
Shareholder yield 1.2% 8.2%
Payout ratio (earnings) – –
Payout ratio (FCF) – –
Dividend growth (1Y) – –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – –

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.

ConsensusBNEDASO
Forward P/E 14.7xFY2026 8.4xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $0.92FY2026 $7.17FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +41.5%FY2026 +24.0%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +989.1% -6.4%
Revenue, next fiscal year $1.87BFY2026 $6.03BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +9.3%FY2026 -0.3%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +6.2% +3.4%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersBNEDASO
Held by institutions 77.2% 100.0%
Institutions holding 111 362
Change in shares held, QoQ +8.3% +1.9%
Institutions buying 63 179
Institutions selling 29 125
Buyers to sellers 2.17 1.43

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.

BNEDASO
BNED 1.00 0.13
ASO 0.13 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, BNED and ASO?

Academy Sports & Outdoors (ASO) is the largest by market capitalisation: Barnes & Noble Education (BNED) $470.32M, Academy Sports & Outdoors (ASO) $3.71B.

Which stock is cheaper, BNED and ASO?

Academy Sports & Outdoors (ASO) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Barnes & Noble Education (BNED) 21.2x, Academy Sports & Outdoors (ASO) 9.4x). On next year's consensus earnings, Academy Sports & Outdoors (ASO) is cheapest (Barnes & Noble Education (BNED) 14.7x, Academy Sports & Outdoors (ASO) 8.4x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Barnes & Noble Education (BNED) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Barnes & Noble Education (BNED) +5.0%, Academy Sports & Outdoors (ASO) +3.7%.

Which company is more profitable?

Academy Sports & Outdoors (ASO) has the highest net margin (Barnes & Noble Education (BNED) 1.3%, Academy Sports & Outdoors (ASO) 6.4%). On return on invested capital, Academy Sports & Outdoors (ASO) leads (Barnes & Noble Education (BNED) 8.9%, Academy Sports & Outdoors (ASO) 17.6%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Barnes & Noble Education (BNED) returned the most: Barnes & Noble Education (BNED) +44.8%, Academy Sports & Outdoors (ASO) +23.3%. Over five years, Academy Sports & Outdoors (ASO) compounded fastest (Barnes & Noble Education (BNED) -57.7%/yr, Academy Sports & Outdoors (ASO) +6.9%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Academy Sports & Outdoors (ASO) has been the steadiest (Barnes & Noble Education (BNED) 63.1%, Academy Sports & Outdoors (ASO) 44.2%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Do BNED and ASO move together?

Their daily returns over the past year have a correlation of 0.13, a weak relationship. Holding both diversifies more than two closely linked stocks would.

Which is the better stock, BNED and ASO?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Academy Sports & Outdoors (ASO) leads on 9. 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.