Is the business good?
How good a business is AEO?
American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. earns 17% on the capital it employs against a 9.0% cost of capital, so the business is worth more the bigger it gets.
17%
Return on invested capital · cost of capital 9.0% · 7.5 points above what the capital costs: growth creates value
- Operating margin
- 6.0%
Operating margin · Apparel Retail median 11% · 12 months to Q1 2026
- Cash conversion
- 0.66×
Cash conversion · 1.08× a year ago · some of the reported profit has not turned into cash yet
- Share count, year on year
- −4.0%
Share count, year on year · bought back, each share owns more of the company
| Year | Operating margin |
|---|---|
| FY2020 | −7.2% |
| FY2021 | 12% |
| FY2022 | 5.0% |
| FY2023 | 4.2% |
| FY2024 | 8.0% |
| FY2025 | 4.1% |
Details›
- Gross margin12 months to Q1 2026
- 38%
- Operating margin12 months to Q1 2026
- 6.0%
- Net margin12 months to Q1 2026
- 5.0%
- Free cash flow margin
- 3.3%
- Revenue, trailing twelve months
- $5.65B
- Free cash flow, trailing twelve months
- $185M
- Net income, trailing twelve months
- $280M
- Return on invested capitaloperating profit after tax ÷ debt + equity − cash
- 17%
Margins, capital and share counts from the statements as filed with the SEC; cash conversion from the cash flow statement.