BURLINGTON STORES, INC. vs Macy's, Inc., two Discount Stores stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
Off-price and department store, two ends of the same mall. Burlington buys leftover brand-name apparel and home goods and sells it below ticket, keeping a healthy 5.24% net margin and a 33.98% return on equity. Macy's runs the full department store at a thinner 2.94% margin and 13.79% on equity. The prices could not be further apart: Burlington asks 32.99 times earnings and 11.20 times book, Macy's a bargain-bin 10.72 times earnings and 1.46 times book. Macy's throws off a huge 20.14% free cash yield and pays 2.81%; Burlington yields 1.86% in free cash and pays a smaller 1.84%. Growth story versus deep-value carcass.
Comparison updated 2026-07-11.
| Metric | BURL | M |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $327.83 | $22.65 |
| Market cap | $21.0B | $6.2B |
| Sector | Discount Stores | Discount Stores |
| Stage | Mature | Mature |
| P/E | 33.7 | 9.4 |
| P/B | 11.45 | 1.28 |
| P/S | 1.76 | 0.27 |
| EV/EBITDA | 51.5 | 3.8 |
| Revenue growth | +10.6% | -0.2% |
| Operating margin | — | 2.3% |
| Net margin | 5.2% | 2.9% |
| Return on equity | 34.0% | 13.8% |
| Return on assets | 6.4% | 4.1% |
| Return on invested capital | — | 9.8% |
| FCF yield | 1.8% | 23.1% |
| Dividend yield | 1.8% | 3.2% |
| Debt / equity | 1.03 | 0.50 |
| Current ratio | 1.16 | 1.48 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 7.58 | 7.58 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 6 / 9 | 7 / 9 |
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The stronger value is highlighted per metric where one is strictly better on that single number; it is not an overall verdict on either company. For informational and research purposes only. Not investment advice. Not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. boothcheck is not a registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results.