Macy's, Inc. vs WALMART INC., two Discount Stores stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
Macy's and Walmart sit at opposite ends of broad-line retail. Walmart is the mass-market superstore giant, a $922.3B company earning 22.58% on equity and priced at 40.6 times earnings and 9.16 times book. Macy's is the $7.1B discounted department store, earning 13.79% and priced at just 10.72 times earnings and 1.46 times book. Their net margins run close, 3.13% for Walmart and 2.94% for Macy's, both thin. But Macy's throws off a 20.14% free cash yield to Walmart's 1.36% and pays 2.81% against 0.82%. Both carry moderate debt, 0.47 and 0.50. The premium-priced compounder versus the cheap cash generator few want to own.
Comparison updated 2026-07-11.
| Metric | M | WMT |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $22.65 | $113.90 |
| Market cap | $6.2B | $911.1B |
| Sector | Discount Stores | Discount Stores |
| Stage | Mature | Mature |
| Implied growth (priced in) | — | +22.0% |
| P/E | 9.4 | 40.1 |
| P/B | 1.28 | 9.05 |
| P/S | 0.27 | 1.26 |
| EV/EBITDA | 3.8 | 31.4 |
| Revenue growth | -0.2% | +5.9% |
| Operating margin | 2.3% | 4.2% |
| Net margin | 2.9% | 3.1% |
| Return on equity | 13.8% | 22.6% |
| Return on assets | 4.1% | 7.8% |
| Return on invested capital | 9.8% | 15.6% |
| FCF yield | 23.1% | 1.4% |
| Dividend yield | 3.2% | 0.8% |
| Debt / equity | 0.50 | 0.47 |
| Current ratio | 1.48 | 0.77 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 7.58 | 8.97 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 7 / 9 | 5 / 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.