Cato (CATO) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

The Cato Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a specialty retailer of fashion apparel and accessories primarily in the southeastern United States. It operates through two segments, Retail and Credit. The company's stores and e-commerce websites offer a range of apparel and accessories, including dressy, career, and casual sportswear; and dresses, coats, shoes, lingerie, costume jewelry, and handbags, as well as men's wear, and lines for kids and infants. It operates its stores and e-commerce websites under the Cato, Cato Fashions, Cato Plus, It's Fashion, It's Fashion Metro, and Versona names. It also provides credit card services to its customers, as well as layaway plans for customers. The Cato Corporation was incorporated in 1946 and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $2.78 to $2.93
• 50-Day Range: $2.27 to $3.88
• 52-Week Range: $2.19 to $6.70
• Volume: 51,293 shs
• Average Volume: 111,344 shs
• Market Capitalization: $56.72 million
• P/E Ratio: N/A
• Dividend Yield: N/A
• Price Target: N/A
• Consensus Rating: N/A

Cato Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Cato scored higher than 13% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 196th out of 208 stocks in the retail/wholesale sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: N/A
• Analyst Rating: N/A

Consensus Rating

There is not enough analysis data for Cato.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 0.6 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: N/A

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Cato is -2.05, which means that its earnings are negative and its P/E ratio cannot be compared to companies with positive earnings.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Cato is -2.05, which means that its earnings are negative and its P/E ratio cannot be compared to companies with positive earnings.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Cato has a P/B Ratio of 0.30. P/B Ratios below 1 indicate that a company could be undervalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 2.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Bearish

Percentage of Shares Shorted

3.35% of the float of Cato has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Cato has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 7.6.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Cato has recently increased by 9.64%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 0.0 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Weak

Dividend Yield

Cato does not currently pay a dividend.

Dividend Growth

Cato does not have a long track record of dividend growth.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: N/A
• Environmental Score: N/A

Percentage of Shares Shorted

3.35% of the float of Cato has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Cato has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 7.6.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Cato has recently increased by 9.64%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

News and Social Media

• Score: 1.5 / 5
• News Sentiment: -0.31

News Sentiment

Cato has a news sentiment score of -0.31. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a lower news sentiment than the 0.84 average news sentiment score of Retail/Wholesale companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 13 news articles for Cato this week, compared to 6 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

5 people have searched for CATO on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 67% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

Only 2 people have added Cato to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of 0% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Insider Trading: N/A

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Cato insiders have not sold or bought any company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

18.11% of the stock of Cato is held by insiders. A high percentage of insider ownership can be a sign of company health.

Percentage Held by Institutions

61.10% of the stock of Cato is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

CATO Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have CATO shares performed this year?

Cato's stock was trading at $3.90 at the beginning of 2025. Since then, CATO shares have decreased by 27.6% and is now trading at $2.8250.
View the best growth stocks for 2025 here.

How were Cato's earnings last quarter?

The Cato Co. (NYSE:CATO) issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May, 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $0.17 earnings per share for the quarter. The specialty retailer earned $170.24 million during the quarter. Cato had a negative trailing twelve-month return on equity of 14.41% and a negative net margin of 4.11%.

Who are Cato's major shareholders?

Cato's top institutional investors include Aldebaran Capital LLC (5.28%), Peapod Lane Capital LLC (3.27%), Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C. (0.83%) and Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. (0.40%). Insiders that own company stock include John P D Cato and Bailey W Patrick.
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of Cato?

Shares of CATO stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.

What other stocks do shareholders of Cato own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Cato investors own include NVIDIA (NVDA), Meta Platforms (META), Tesla (TSLA), Home Depot (HD), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Netflix (NFLX) and Walmart (WMT).

Company Calendar

• Last Earnings: 5/22/2025
• Today: 5/24/2025
• Fiscal Year End: 1/31/2026

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Retail/Wholesale
• Industry: Womens' clothing stores
• Sub-Industry: Apparel Retail
• Current Symbol: NYSE:CATO
• CIK: 18255
• Web: www.catofashions.com
• Phone: (704) 554-8510
• Fax: 704-551-7594
• Employees: 7,500
• Year Founded: 1946

Profitability

• EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year): ($0.98)
• Trailing P/E Ratio: N/A
• Forward P/E Ratio: N/A
• P/E Growth: N/A
• Net Income: $-23,940,000.00
• Net Margins: -4.11%
• Pretax Margin: -2.23%
• Return on Equity: -14.41%
• Return on Assets: -5.95%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: N/A
• Current Ratio: 1.36
• Quick Ratio: 0.73

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $649.81 million
• Price / Sales: 0.09
• Cash Flow: N/A
• Price / Cash Flow: N/A
• Book Value: $9.35 per share
• Price / Book: 0.30

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 20,078,000
• Free Float: 17,133,000
• Market Cap: $56.72 million
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.71