GAP vs ROST vs AEO Stock Comparison

Gap, Ross Stores and American Eagle Outfitters Prices as of Oct 26, 2026 Peers: Industry group
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GAP Gap Inc
$22.25 +1.9% 1M -5.2% 1Y
Market cap
$7.72B
P/E
6.2x
Revenue (TTM)
$15.33B
Div. yield
–
Apparel Retail Consumer Discretionary
2 wins
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, Gap 2, American Eagle Outfitters 2). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionGAPROSTAEOLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $7.72B $73.10B $3.25B ROST
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 6.2x 27.5x 9.6x GAP
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 9.1x 29.0x 8.9x AEO
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +1.1% +14.0% +9.2% ROST
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 8.1% 10.8% 5.9% ROST
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 23.3% 33.9% 19.0% ROST
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA -0.5x -0.8x -0.1x ROST
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.01% 0.03% AEO
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -5.2% +49.4% +13.5% ROST
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +0.4%/yr +16.2%/yr -4.8%/yr ROST
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 46.6% 26.1% 52.4% ROST
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 81/100 64/100 76/100 GAP

Percentile Scorecard

GAPROSTAEO

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

AxisGAPROSTAEO
Valuation 91 #10 of 104 10 #94 of 104 85 #16 of 104
Growth 75 #26 of 99 81 #20 of 99 79 #22 of 99
Profitability 80 #21 of 99 91 #10 of 99 76 #25 of 99
Financial Health 70 #35 of 113 87 #16 of 113 80 #23 of 113
Shareholder Returns 90 #8 of 73 51 #36 of 73 63 #28 of 73
Overall 81 64 76
  • GAP ranked among 115 companies in Retail
  • ROST ranked among 115 companies in Retail
  • AEO ranked among 115 companies in Retail

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodGAPROSTAEOSPY
1 month +1.9%-0.9%+13.4% -0.8%
3 months +13.2%-3.8%+5.9% +3.5%
6 months -11.5%+3.5%+5.1% +7.0%
Year to date -13.1%+30.0%-28.7% +12.2%
1 year -5.2%+49.4%+13.5% +13.0%
3 years +74.2%+107.6%+8.2% +86.3%
3 years, per year +20.3%+27.6%+2.7% +23.1%
5 years +2.3%+111.6%-21.8% +68.6%
5 years, per year +0.4%+16.2%-4.8% +11.0%
10 years -17.6%+268.7%+10.2% +258.0%
10 years, per year -1.9%+13.9%+1.0% +13.6%

Risk

MeasureGAPROSTAEOSPY
Volatility, 1Y 46.6%26.1%52.4% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 48.9%24.4%55.9% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 1.070.521.18 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -0.111.890.26 1.02
Max drawdown, 5Y -70.9%-41.3%-67.7% -25.4%
From 52-week high -23.6%-8.3%-33.3% -1.8%
52-week high $29.13$255.23$28.19 $779.14
52-week low $18.34$158.07$14.52 $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.

MultipleGAPROSTAEO
P/E now vs peer median 6.3xmedian 16.7x 28.0xmedian 16.7x 9.3xmedian 16.7x
P/S now vs peer median 0.5xmedian 0.5x 3.1xmedian 0.5x 0.5xmedian 0.5x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 3.1xmedian 9.0x 18.3xmedian 9.0x 4.6xmedian 9.0x
P/FCF now vs peer median 8.2xmedian 16.5x 26.8xmedian 16.5x 9.2xmedian 16.5x
P/B now vs peer median 2.0xmedian 1.7x 11.1xmedian 1.7x 1.8xmedian 1.7x
PEG now vs peer median 0.05median 0.72 1.36median 0.72 0.39median 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 monthsGAPROSTAEO
Revenue $15.33B $24.51B $5.75B
Gross profit $6.63B $7.27B $2.33B
Operating income $1.68B $3.37B $447.95M
Net income $1.25B $2.66B $330.75M
Free cash flow $957.00M $2.79B $343.50M
EPS (diluted) $3.44 $8.32 $1.98
Cash & equivalents $2.10B $4.29B $147.95M
Total debt $1.49B $1.02B $55.00M
Shares (diluted) 362.00M 319.45M 170.18M
Enterprise value -$2.84B $56.03B $2.64B

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
MetricGAPROSTAEO
P/E 6.3x 28.0x 9.3x
P/FCF 8.2x 26.8x 9.2x
P/Operating cash flow 5.1x 20.4x 5.3x
P/S 0.5x 3.1x 0.5x
P/B 2.0x 11.1x 1.8x
P/Tangible book 2.0x 11.1x 1.8x
EV/EBITDA 3.1x 18.3x 4.6x
EV/EBIT 4.0x 21.2x 6.8x
EV/Revenue 0.4x 2.9x 0.5x
EV/FCF 7.1x 25.6x 8.9x
EV/Operating cash flow 4.4x 19.6x 5.1x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.05 1.36 0.39

Growth

14 metrics
MetricGAPROSTAEO
Revenue growth (1Y) 1.1% 14.0% 9.2%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 0.5% 8.5% 4.6%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 6.4% 22.5% 19.7%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 6.6% 13.3% 7.9%
Operating income growth (1Y) 44.4% 30.6% 68.2%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 88.4% 16.8% 17.1%
Net income growth (1Y) 40.3% 28.9% 71.1%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 126.0% 18.3% 17.7%
EPS growth (1Y) 46.9% 31.1% 72.4%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 127.9% 20.5% 24.1%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 26.3% 48.0% 46.3%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 4.6% 8.6% -3.0%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 24.4% 66.2% 126.5%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 3.5% 10.2% -7.3%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricGAPROSTAEO
Gross margin 43.3% 29.7% 40.5%
EBITDA margin 14.3% 16.0% 11.6%
Operating margin 11.0% 13.7% 7.8%
Pretax margin 11.1% 14.3% 7.6%
Net margin 8.1% 10.8% 5.9%
FCF margin 6.2% 11.4% 6.0%
Operating cash flow margin 10.0% 14.9% 10.4%
Return on equity 32.8% 40.8% 19.3%
Return on assets 10.0% 16.9% 7.9%
Return on invested capital 23.3% 33.9% 19.0%
Return on capital employed 18.2% 31.0% 13.4%
Asset turnover 1.2x 1.6x 1.4x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.2x 1.4x 1.8x
Stock comp / revenue 1.1% 0.8% 0.7%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricGAPROSTAEO
Debt / assets 11.6% 6.4% 1.3%
Debt / equity 0.4x 0.2x 0.0x
Net debt / EBITDA -0.5x -0.8x -0.1x
Debt / FCF 1.6x 0.4x 0.2x
Liabilities / assets 69.3% 57.8% 58.8%
Equity / assets 30.7% 42.2% 41.2%
Interest coverage 18.1x – –
Current ratio 1.8x 1.6x 1.6x
Quick ratio 0.8x 0.9x 0.5x
Cash ratio 0.8x 0.9x 0.2x
Altman Z-score 2.82 7.78 3.46

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricGAPROSTAEO
Dividend yield 3.0% 0.7% 2.7%
Net buyback yield 7.4% 1.5% 2.2%
Shareholder yield 10.4% 2.3% 5.0%
Payout ratio (earnings) – 20.6% 25.5%
Payout ratio (FCF) – 19.7% 24.5%
Dividend growth (1Y) – 7.9% -7.0%
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – 7.4% 28.9%

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.

ConsensusGAPROSTAEO
Forward P/E 9.1xFY2026 29.0xFY2026 8.9xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $2.45FY2026 $8.06FY2026 $2.11FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +15.0%FY2026 +21.9%FY2026 +40.7%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +10.2% +18.6% -10.9%
Revenue, next fiscal year $15.86BFY2026 $23.94BFY2026 $6.01BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +3.2%FY2026 +5.2%FY2026 +9.3%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after -1.7% +7.5% +3.1%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersGAPROSTAEO
Held by institutions 60.0% 93.4% 100.0%
Institutions holding 484 1,420 344
Change in shares held, QoQ -4.1% +4.7% +13.9%
Institutions buying 240 763 164
Institutions selling 179 440 135
Buyers to sellers 1.34 1.73 1.21

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.

GAPROSTAEO
GAP 1.00 0.32 0.56
ROST 0.32 1.00 0.28
AEO 0.56 0.28 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, GAP, ROST and AEO?

Ross Stores (ROST) is the largest by market capitalisation: Gap (GAP) $7.72B, Ross Stores (ROST) $73.10B, American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) $3.25B.

Which stock is cheaper, GAP, ROST and AEO?

Gap (GAP) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Gap (GAP) 6.2x, Ross Stores (ROST) 27.5x, American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) 9.6x). On next year's consensus earnings, American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) is cheapest (Gap (GAP) 9.1x, Ross Stores (ROST) 29.0x, American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) 8.9x). 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: Gap (GAP) +1.1%, Ross Stores (ROST) +14.0%, American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) +9.2%.

Which company is more profitable?

Ross Stores (ROST) has the highest net margin (Gap (GAP) 8.1%, Ross Stores (ROST) 10.8%, American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) 5.9%). On return on invested capital, Ross Stores (ROST) leads (Gap (GAP) 23.3%, Ross Stores (ROST) 33.9%, American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) 19.0%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Ross Stores (ROST) returned the most: Gap (GAP) -5.2%, Ross Stores (ROST) +49.4%, American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) +13.5%. Over five years, Ross Stores (ROST) compounded fastest (Gap (GAP) +0.4%/yr, Ross Stores (ROST) +16.2%/yr, American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) -4.8%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

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

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Ross Stores (ROST) has been the steadiest (Gap (GAP) 46.6%, Ross Stores (ROST) 26.1%, American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) 52.4%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

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

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.