4 companies · median 27 of 36 checks · prices as of 2026-10-16
Apparel retail stocks.
Sorted by how many checks each one passes. Sort by any column to see who is cheapest, who is growing, or who has the strongest balance sheet - and how that compares with what is normal for the industry.
Ranked by checks passed
4 companies in this sector→There is real spread here - American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) leads on 34 of 36 checks, Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) trails on 26, with a median of 27.
→TJX, GAP, ANF are 98% of the $179.7B we cover here, so a sector average says more about them than about the rest.
| Save | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 American Eagle OutfittersAEOSells casual clothing under American Eagle and the Aerie intimates and activewear brand.Report | -0.4% | +21.1% | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 34/36 | |
 TJX CompaniesTJXSells branded clothing and home goods at a discount through TJ Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods.Report | +1.9% | +2.7% | 1 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 27/36 | |
 GapGAPSells clothing under the Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic and Athleta brands.Report | -1.5% | +13.0% | 6 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 27/36 | |
 Abercrombie & FitchANFSells clothing under the Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister brands, in stores and online.Report | +0.8% | +115.5% | 4 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 26/36 |
Every filing behind this table closes on 2026-08-01; prices are the close of 2026-10-16. Each name links to its full report; every score is a count of pass-or-fail checks read from that company's own filings.
Where the sector falls short
median score per axis→Growth is where the apparel retailers we cover come up short most often, at a median of 4.5 of 6, while Quality runs at 5.5. Every one of them passes at least five of the Quality checks, so that axis separates nothing here.
| Value | ●●●●●○ | 5 of 6 |
| Growth | ●●●●●○ | 5 of 6 |
| Quality | ●●●●●● | 6 of 6 |
| Financial health | ●●●●●● | 6 of 6 |
| Shareholder returns | ●●●●●○ | 5 of 6 |
| Trend | ●●●●●○ | 5 of 6 |
What a normal margin looks like here
sector percentiles · 21 filers→Operating margin clusters among apparel retailers, from 1% to 6% across the middle of the field, with a midpoint of 3% measured over 21 filers.
| Metric | Bottom third | Midpoint | Top third |
|---|---|---|---|
| Operating margin n=21 | 0.7% | 3.1% | 5.9% |
| Net margin n=22 | -0.3% | 2.5% | 7.5% |
Who grows, and who keeps it
every company in the industry→AEO, ANF do both: growing faster than this industry's middle and keeping more of each sale than it does. The industry's middle is 2% growth on a 3% margin.
A year of price
not a fact about the business→Every one of them is up over twelve months, by a median of +17.1% - Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) at +115.5% against TJX Companies (TJX) at +2.7%. Price is not a fact about a business, and the Trend chapter of each report says what it is measured on.
Head to head
2 pairsThe table above gives the order. These put two of them in one column each, so you can see where the difference actually is.