Burlington Stores, Inc. (BURL) Stock Price & How to Invest

Burlington Stores runs 1,242 off-price retail stores across the United States, selling branded apparel, footwear, accessories, beauty and home goods at prices set well under what department stores charge for the same labels. The buying model is opportunistic: merchants pick up closeout lots, cancelled orders and packaway inventory from vendors, then flow it to stores as the season fits. Nothing is guaranteed to be on the rack next week, and that scarcity is the point of the format. The chain grew out of Burlington Coat Factory, and the operating subsidiary still carries that name, though outerwear is now a modest slice of the mix. Under CEO Michael O'Sullivan, who arrived in 2019, the company has moved to smaller store boxes, cut comparable-store inventory levels, widened the brand assortment and pushed hard on openings, many of them leases picked up out of other retailers' bankruptcies.

The stock trades near $337, about 35 times trailing earnings and roughly 29 times the midpoint of management's fiscal 2026 adjusted EPS guidance of $11.45 to $11.80. What buyers are paying for is the distance between Burlington's margins and those of its two larger rivals: adjusted operating margin sits in the mid single digits against low double digits at TJX and Ross Stores, so every basis point recovered falls through hard. The quarter ended May 2, 2026 supported that case, with net sales up 14%, comparable store sales up 6% and adjusted EPS up 26% to $2.10, a fourteenth straight quarter of double-digit growth. The counterargument sits inside the guidance. Full-year comp growth is guided to 2% to 4% and second-quarter comp to just 1% to 3%, so most of the top-line increase comes from roughly 115 net new stores against about $875 million of net capital spending. Durable compounding, or an expensive way to buy revenue, is the actual argument.

The full-year plan assumes comparable store sales of only 2% to 4% after a 6% first quarter, and the second-quarter guide of 1% to 3% points to deliberate deceleration, so a strong start does not carry the year by itself. Growth is capital-hungry: about $875 million of net capital spending against roughly $624 million of trailing net income means new square footage, not the existing base, supplies most of the sales increase. Burlington sells to a lower-income shopper whose spending bends quickly when rent, food and fuel move, and tariffs on imported apparel raise landed costs the company does not fully control. Comparable store inventory rose 11% against a 6% comp, and reserve inventory fell to 41% of the total from 48%, a mix shift worth following if goods do not clear at full ticket. Total debt of about $1.9 billion, mostly a term loan, sits against $747 million of unrestricted cash, and with no dividend the entire return depends on the share price and repurchases.

16 analysts publish price targets on BURL, averaging $380.56 against a $336.95 price as of August 2026, or +12.9%. The published targets run from $300.00 to $440.00, a moderate spread, and the ratings split 13 buy, 6 hold, 0 sell. Over the last six months there have been 7 raises and 2 cuts among the published actions. A price target is what an analyst published on a date, not a prediction, and sell-side ratings skew positive across the whole market.

Read the full BURL forecast and price target for the target table, the recent rating actions by firm, and how the consensus has shifted.

We give no verdict on Burlington Stores, Inc.. Both cases are real, which is why the question is contested at all, so here is the strongest version of each.

The case for buying. Store growth on other retailers' real estate. Burlington plans roughly 115 net new stores in fiscal 2026 on a base of 1,242, and a meaningful share of those boxes come from leases acquired when other chains fail. The most optimistic published target, $440.00, assumes this works close to its best case.

The case against. The full-year plan assumes comparable store sales of only 2% to 4% after a 6% first quarter, and the second-quarter guide of 1% to 3% points to deliberate deceleration, so a strong start does not carry the year by itself. The most pessimistic target, $300.00, is roughly what BURL is worth if this bites instead.

Read the full bull and bear case on BURL, including what would have to change to break either one. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see Burlington Stores, Inc.'s investor relations page or your broker.

• Revenue (TTM): ~$11.9B
• Net income / diluted EPS (TTM): ~$624M / ~$9.72
• Latest quarter (13 weeks ended May 2, 2026): Net sales ~$2.85B, up 14%; comps up 6%; adjusted EPS ~$2.10
• Fiscal 2026 adjusted EPS guidance: ~$11.45 to ~$11.80, vs ~$10.17 last year
• Market cap: ~$21.0B at ~$337 per share
• Valuation: ~35x trailing GAAP earnings, ~29x guided adjusted EPS, ~1.8x sales

Trailing twelve-month revenue of roughly $11.9 billion produced about $624 million of GAAP net income, or ~$9.72 per diluted share, while management guides fiscal 2026 adjusted EPS to $11.45 to $11.80. The gap between the two mostly reflects expenses on bankruptcy-acquired leases plus the $15 million charge from retiring convertible notes in the first quarter. At about $337 the shares carry a higher trailing multiple than either TJX or Ross Stores despite thinner margins, which is the premium attached to the catch-up case; second-quarter results are due in late August 2026.

Other names that sit close to BURL: same theme, named as a direct competitor, or held beside it in the same funds. Each entry says which. Worth a look if you are thinking about diversification within a thesis rather than concentration on one ticker.

There are three common ways to get BURL exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) directly at any major broker. Hold an ETF that includes it, which spreads the position across many companies. Or build it into a focused thematic portfolio, so BURL sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.

Walnut takes the portfolio route. Describe a thesis where BURL fits (for example “AI infrastructure” or “dividend-growth large-caps”) and the AI proposes 5 to 6 constituents with target weights. You review the plan and fund it through your own broker when you're ready.

New to this? Start with how to invest in stocks, see how to analyze a stock with AI, or compare the best AI stock analyzers.

Burlington is a margin-recovery and store-growth story priced near 29 times this year's guided adjusted earnings, and the live debate is whether new stores or comparable-store sales are doing the work.

Whether BURL is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, what would have to go right, and the risks in is BURL a buy or a sell?, and where the stock could go from here in the BURL stock forecast.

For income investors, whether BURL pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does BURL pay a dividend? And to weigh BURL against a peer, read the full side-by-side comparisons: BURL vs TJX and BURL vs ROST.