LOW vs BURL Stock Comparison

Lowes Companies and Burlington Stores Prices as of Oct 23, 2026 Peers: Industry group
LOW Lowes Companies Inc
$198.69 +3.8% 1M -18.5% 1Y
Market cap
$110.87B
P/E
16.7x
Revenue (TTM)
$90.43B
Div. yield
0.02%
Home Improvement Retail Consumer Discretionary
7 wins
BURL Burlington Stores, Inc.
$247.52 -3.8% 1M -7.7% 1Y
Market cap
$15.14B
P/E
21.2x
Revenue (TTM)
$12.22B
Div. yield
–
Apparel Retail Consumer Discretionary
4 wins

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Lowes Companies leads on 7 of the 12 questions below (Lowes Companies 7, Burlington Stores 4). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionLOWBURLLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $110.87B $15.14B LOW
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 16.7x 21.2x LOW
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 15.6x 21.9x LOW
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +8.2% +10.9% BURL
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 7.3% 5.8% LOW
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 26.5% -115.4% LOW
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 2.7x -0.2x BURL
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.02% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -18.5% -7.7% BURL
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years -2.8%/yr -2.3%/yr BURL
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 28.3% 40.4% LOW
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 47/100 44/100 LOW

Percentile Scorecard

LOWBURL

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

AxisLOWBURL
Valuation 49 #54 of 104 18 #85 of 104
Growth 40 #60 of 99 86 #15 of 99
Profitability 87 #14 of 99 41 #59 of 99
Financial Health 24 #86 of 113 30 #79 of 113
Shareholder Returns 38 #46 of 73 43 #42 of 73
Overall 47 44
  • LOW ranked among 115 companies in Retail
  • BURL ranked among 115 companies in Retail

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodLOWBURLSPY
1 month +3.8%-3.8% -1.0%
3 months -4.3%-29.3% +2.9%
6 months -18.7%-25.4% +6.4%
Year to date -17.6%-14.3% +11.4%
1 year -18.5%-7.7% +13.1%
3 years +6.7%+106.0% +79.4%
3 years, per year +2.2%+27.3% +21.5%
5 years -13.1%-11.1% +67.7%
5 years, per year -2.8%-2.3% +10.9%
10 years +181.2%+227.3% +255.2%
10 years, per year +10.9%+12.6% +13.5%

Risk

MeasureLOWBURLSPY
Volatility, 1Y 28.3%40.4% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 27.1%43.4% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.600.76 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -0.65-0.19 1.03
Max drawdown, 5Y -37.6%-63.3% -25.4%
From 52-week high -30.9%-33.5% -2.5%
52-week high $287.39$372.18 $779.14
52-week low $179.47$232.24 $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.

MultipleLOWBURL
P/E now vs peer median 16.7xmedian 16.7x 21.8xmedian 16.7x
P/S now vs peer median 1.2xmedian 0.5x 1.3xmedian 0.5x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 11.4xmedian 9.1x -3.1xmedian 9.1x
P/FCF now vs peer median 15.9xmedian 16.6x 37.7xmedian 16.6x
P/B now vs peer median -15.0xmedian 1.7x 7.8xmedian 1.7x
PEG now vs peer median 3.55median 0.73 0.55median 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 monthsLOWBURL
Revenue $90.43B $12.22B
Gross profit $29.92B $5.45B
Operating income $10.29B -$5.83B
Net income $6.64B $714.18M
Free cash flow $7.00B $412.54M
EPS (diluted) $11.86 $11.18
Cash & equivalents $3.17B $703.69M
Total debt $150.16B $7.95B
Shares (diluted) 560.00M 63.90M
Enterprise value $103.83B $11.87B

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
MetricLOWBURL
P/E 16.7x 21.8x
P/FCF 15.9x 37.7x
P/Operating cash flow 12.0x 11.0x
P/S 1.2x 1.3x
P/B -15.0x 7.8x
P/Tangible book -8.5x 8.8x
EV/EBITDA 11.4x -3.1x
EV/EBIT 14.1x -2.9x
EV/Revenue 1.6x 1.4x
EV/FCF 20.8x 40.6x
EV/Operating cash flow 15.7x 11.8x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 3.55 0.55

Growth

14 metrics
MetricLOWBURL
Revenue growth (1Y) 8.2% 10.9%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) -1.0% 10.3%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 6.9% 13.3%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) -1.2% 13.0%
Operating income growth (1Y) -0.4% -6.3%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 1.6% -5.5%
Net income growth (1Y) -3.1% 30.7%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 3.2% 39.1%
EPS growth (1Y) -3.1% 30.7%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 4.7% 39.9%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) -5.7% 76.0%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 2.7% 22.0%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) -8.9% 235.2%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 1.8% 5.1%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricLOWBURL
Gross margin 33.1% 44.6%
EBITDA margin 14.1% -44.0%
Operating margin 11.4% -47.7%
Pretax margin 9.7% 7.7%
Net margin 7.3% 5.8%
FCF margin 7.7% 3.4%
Operating cash flow margin 10.2% 11.6%
Return on equity – 37.2%
Return on assets 12.0% 7.2%
Return on invested capital 26.5% -115.4%
Return on capital employed 30.0% -75.7%
Asset turnover 1.6x 1.2x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.4x 2.0x
Stock comp / revenue 0.3% 1.0%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricLOWBURL
Debt / assets 67.2% 19.1%
Debt / equity -5.0x 1.0x
Net debt / EBITDA 2.7x -0.2x
Debt / FCF 5.4x 4.6x
Liabilities / assets 113.3% 80.1%
Equity / assets -13.3% 19.9%
Interest coverage – -78.8x
Current ratio 1.1x 1.2x
Quick ratio 0.2x 0.4x
Cash ratio 0.2x 0.3x
Altman Z-score 3.12 0.84

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricLOWBURL
Dividend yield 2.5% –
Net buyback yield 0.3% 1.9%
Shareholder yield 2.7% 1.9%
Payout ratio (earnings) 40.5% –
Payout ratio (FCF) 38.5% –
Dividend growth (1Y) 3.8% –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) 1.6% –

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.

ConsensusLOWBURL
Forward P/E 15.6xFY2026 21.9xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $12.72FY2026 $11.29FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +3.5%FY2026 +15.7%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after -4.7% +26.9%
Revenue, next fiscal year $85.87BFY2026 $12.23BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY -0.5%FY2026 +5.9%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +14.2% +18.9%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersLOWBURL
Held by institutions 79.5% 100.0%
Institutions holding 2,652 653
Change in shares held, QoQ +2.6% 0.0%
Institutions buying 1,070 367
Institutions selling 1,189 215
Buyers to sellers 0.90 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.

LOWBURL
LOW 1.00 0.23
BURL 0.23 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, LOW and BURL?

Lowes Companies (LOW) is the largest by market capitalisation: Lowes Companies (LOW) $110.87B, Burlington Stores (BURL) $15.14B.

Which stock is cheaper, LOW and BURL?

Lowes Companies (LOW) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Lowes Companies (LOW) 16.7x, Burlington Stores (BURL) 21.2x). On next year's consensus earnings, Lowes Companies (LOW) is cheapest (Lowes Companies (LOW) 15.6x, Burlington Stores (BURL) 21.9x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Burlington Stores (BURL) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Lowes Companies (LOW) +8.2%, Burlington Stores (BURL) +10.9%.

Which company is more profitable?

Lowes Companies (LOW) has the highest net margin (Lowes Companies (LOW) 7.3%, Burlington Stores (BURL) 5.8%). On return on invested capital, Lowes Companies (LOW) leads (Lowes Companies (LOW) 26.5%, Burlington Stores (BURL) -115.4%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Burlington Stores (BURL) returned the most: Lowes Companies (LOW) -18.5%, Burlington Stores (BURL) -7.7%. Over five years, Burlington Stores (BURL) compounded fastest (Lowes Companies (LOW) -2.8%/yr, Burlington Stores (BURL) -2.3%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Only one of these companies pays a dividend: Lowes Companies (LOW) 0.02%, Burlington Stores (BURL) 0.00%. Burlington Stores (BURL) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Lowes Companies (LOW) has been the steadiest (Lowes Companies (LOW) 28.3%, Burlington Stores (BURL) 40.4%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Do LOW and BURL move together?

Their daily returns over the past year have a correlation of 0.23, a weak relationship. Holding both diversifies more than two closely linked stocks would.

Which is the better stock, LOW and BURL?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Lowes Companies (LOW) leads on 7. 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.