American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) Competitors

Casey's General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) and American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, dividends, media sentiment, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation and institutional ownership.

Which has more volatility & risk, CASY or AEO?

Casey's General Stores has a beta of 0.66, meaning that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Eagle Outfitters has a beta of 1.44, meaning that its share price is 44% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, CASY or AEO?

Casey's General Stores has higher revenue and earnings than American Eagle Outfitters. American Eagle Outfitters is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Casey's General Stores, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Casey's General Stores	$15.94B	1.29	$546.52M	$15.58	35.62
American Eagle Outfitters	$5.33B	0.62	$329.38M	$1.04	18.86

Is CASY or AEO more profitable?

American Eagle Outfitters has a net margin of 3.74% compared to Casey's General Stores' net margin of 3.54%. Casey's General Stores' return on equity of 16.73% beat American Eagle Outfitters' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Casey's General Stores	3.54%	16.73%	7.15%
American Eagle Outfitters	3.74%	13.67%	5.80%

Is CASY or AEO a better dividend stock?

Casey's General Stores pays an annual dividend of $2.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. American Eagle Outfitters pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Casey's General Stores pays out 14.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. American Eagle Outfitters pays out 48.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Casey's General Stores has raised its dividend for 24 consecutive years and American Eagle Outfitters has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Do analysts rate CASY or AEO?

Casey's General Stores currently has a consensus target price of $505.25, suggesting a potential downside of 8.95%. American Eagle Outfitters has a consensus target price of $13.94, suggesting a potential downside of 28.91%. Given Casey's General Stores' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Casey's General Stores is more favorable than American Eagle Outfitters.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Casey's General Stores	1 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.58
American Eagle Outfitters	3 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.83

Does the media prefer CASY or AEO?

In the previous week, Casey's General Stores had 27 more articles in the media than American Eagle Outfitters. MarketBeat recorded 54 mentions for Casey's General Stores and 27 mentions for American Eagle Outfitters. Casey's General Stores' average media sentiment score of 0.90 beat American Eagle Outfitters' score of 0.82 indicating that Casey's General Stores is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Casey's General Stores	26 Very Positive mention(s)	8 Positive mention(s)	10 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
American Eagle Outfitters	17 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of CASY or AEO?

85.6% of Casey's General Stores shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.3% of American Eagle Outfitters shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Casey's General Stores shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 8.7% of American Eagle Outfitters shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Casey's General Stores beats American Eagle Outfitters on 14 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.