Ross Stores, Inc. vs THE SHERWIN-WILLIAMS COMPANY, two Retail stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
Ross Stores buys leftover branded apparel and sells it cheap from no-frills stores, a $68.5B off-price chain keeping 9.74% of sales and returning 36.73% on equity with almost no debt at 0.2. Sherwin-Williams manufactures and sells paint, an $85.4B business keeping 10.86% but carrying heavy leverage at 2.64 to equity. Sherwin trades richer, 33.05 times earnings against Ross's 29.78, and pays a slightly larger dividend, 0.92% versus 0.76%. Free cash yields land close, 3.4% and 3.84%. One profits by turning cheap inventory fast; the other by owning a repeat-purchase product from factory to store. Very different routes to a similar margin.
Comparison updated 2026-07-11.
| Metric | ROST | SHW |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $222.82 | $334.01 |
| Market cap | $71.6B | $82.9B |
| Sector | Retail | Retail |
| Stage | Mature | Mature |
| Implied growth (priced in) | +24.3% | +10.9% |
| P/E | 31.1 | 32.1 |
| P/B | 11.35 | 18.70 |
| P/S | 3.01 | 3.46 |
| EV/EBITDA | 20.0 | 263.0 |
| Revenue growth | +11.9% | +4.1% |
| Gross margin | — | 49.1% |
| Operating margin | 13.4% | — |
| Net margin | 9.7% | 10.9% |
| Return on equity | 36.7% | 58.7% |
| Return on assets | 14.9% | 9.8% |
| Return on invested capital | 29.8% | — |
| FCF yield | 3.7% | 3.5% |
| Dividend yield | 0.7% | 0.9% |
| Debt / equity | 0.20 | 2.64 |
| Current ratio | 1.54 | 0.86 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 8.35 | 6.93 |
| 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.