Cintas Corporation vs GILDAN ACTIVEWEAR INC., two Apparel stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
Where CTAS and GIL diverge most: on debt / equity, CTAS reads 0.55 and GIL reads 0.00; on p/b, CTAS reads 15.18 and GIL reads 2.26. The rest of the comparable metrics sit closer together. On valuation, today's CTAS price has a different growth bar priced in than GIL (+27.0% implied for CTAS vs +13.2% for GIL); the higher figure is the steeper assumption to clear, not a better or worse stock. What CTAS's price implies is a demanding bet versus history and the cohort (whole-company basis). What GIL's price implies is a bet that sits within the historical range (whole-company basis). The bull and bear cases for each are in their full reports below.
| Metric | CTAS | GIL |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $179.57 | $52.51 |
| Market cap | $72.7B | $8.0B |
| Sector | Apparel | Apparel |
| Stage | Mature | Mature |
| Implied growth (priced in) | +27.0% | +13.2% |
| P/E | 38.0 | 20.1 |
| P/B | 15.18 | 2.26 |
| P/S | 6.59 | 2.22 |
| EV/EBITDA | 28.3 | 10.1 |
| Revenue growth | +8.7% | +5.6% |
| Gross margin | 51.0% | 31.2% |
| Operating margin | 23.2% | 17.1% |
| Net margin | 17.6% | 11.0% |
| Return on equity | 40.5% | 11.2% |
| Return on assets | 18.9% | 3.8% |
| Return on invested capital | 27.0% | 14.6% |
| FCF yield | 2.5% | 6.2% |
| Dividend yield | 0.9% | — |
| Debt / equity | 0.55 | 0.00 |
| Current ratio | 1.98 | 2.11 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 9.24 | 1.68 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 8 / 9 | 5 / 9 |
Each week boothcheck ranks the stocks whose prices are betting on the most. Read the most stretched bets archive →
boothcheck is also on Android. Get the app on Google Play →
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.