Head-To-Head Survey: American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) and Its Peers

American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) is one of 285 publicly-traded companies in the “Specialty Retail” industry, but how does it contrast to its rivals? We will compare American Eagle Outfitters to similar companies based on the strength of its valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, profitability, risk, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares American Eagle Outfitters and its rivals gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
American Eagle Outfitters	$5.50 billion	$191.98 million	10.17
American Eagle Outfitters Competitors	$7.06 billion	$386.47 million	29.92

American Eagle Outfitters’ rivals have higher revenue and earnings than American Eagle Outfitters. American Eagle Outfitters is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Dividends

American Eagle Outfitters pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. American Eagle Outfitters pays out 25.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Specialty Retail” companies pay a dividend yield of 2.1% and pay out 35.5% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. American Eagle Outfitters has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years. American Eagle Outfitters is clearly a better dividend stock than its rivals, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

97.3% of American Eagle Outfitters shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.9% of shares of all “Specialty Retail” companies are held by institutional investors. 8.9% of American Eagle Outfitters shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 20.5% of shares of all “Specialty Retail” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

American Eagle Outfitters has a beta of 1.34, suggesting that its share price is 34% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Eagle Outfitters’ rivals have a beta of 1.91, suggesting that their average share price is 91% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares American Eagle Outfitters and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
American Eagle Outfitters	5.91%	23.63%	9.59%
American Eagle Outfitters Competitors	-3.62%	-13.67%	3.21%

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for American Eagle Outfitters and its rivals, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
American Eagle Outfitters	1	12	2	0	2.07
American Eagle Outfitters Competitors	3675	15593	21618	590	2.46

American Eagle Outfitters currently has a consensus target price of $19.55, indicating a potential downside of 1.92%. As a group, “Specialty Retail” companies have a potential upside of 7.38%. Given American Eagle Outfitters’ rivals stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe American Eagle Outfitters has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Summary

American Eagle Outfitters rivals beat American Eagle Outfitters on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

American Eagle Outfitters Company Profile

American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. operates as a multi-brand specialty retailer in the United States and internationally. The company provides jeans, apparel and accessories, and personal care products for women and men under the American Eagle brand; and intimates, apparel, activewear, and swim collections under the Aerie and OFFLINE by Aerie brands. It also offers menswear products under the Todd Snyder New York brand; and fashion clothing and accessories under the Unsubscribed brand. The company sells its products through own and licensed retail stores; concession-based shops-within-shops; and digital channels, such as www.ae.com, www.aerie.com, www.toddsnyder.com, and www.unsubscribed.com. American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. was founded in 1977 and is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.