Ralph Lauren Corp (RL) stock analysis
Ralph Lauren Corp (RL) clears 3 of this site's 8 mechanical value filters, 4 of 8 Buffett-style checks and 3 of 5 Lynch-style checks. At $381.95 it trades 27.1% above this site's neutral DCF value (a margin of safety of -27.1%). Its earnings quality rates Strong and it returns +3.2% to shareholders net of dilution. Figures are as of October 23, 2026, from SEC filings and market data refreshed weekly; this is educational analysis, not investment advice.
Data as of October 23, 2026. Refreshed weekly from SEC filings and market data.
What does Ralph Lauren do?
Ralph Lauren designs and sells apparel, accessories and home goods under the Polo Ralph Lauren, Lauren and Ralph Lauren Collection names.
Brands and businesses it owns
- Polo Ralph Lauren
- Lauren
- Ralph Lauren Collection
- Double RL
What stands out about Ralph Lauren?
- The share price implies 14.1% yearly growth. At $381.95, RL's free cash flow of $17.59 per share would have to grow 14.1% a year, fading to 2.5% by year 10, for this site's DCF (10% discount rate) to match the price. This site's baseline starts at 8%, so the price asks for more growth than the baseline. Change the assumptions.
- Misses 3 of the 8 value filters. It fails Market Cap > $25B ($22.6B), PEG Ratio < 1.5 (1.64) and Price/Book < 8 (8.32); the other 3 pass and 2 were not evaluated. See every filter.
- Strongest against peers: revenue growth. At 14.7% (peer median 1.8%) it ranks 1st of 19 among consumer products stocks this site tracks. See the ranking.
- Weakest against peers: dividend yield. At 0.97% (peer median 2.44%) it ranks 15th of 16 among consumer products stocks this site tracks. See the ranking.
- Short interest is elevated. 6.4% of the float is sold short, 3.4 days to cover, above this site's 5% flag. See the figures.
How has Ralph Lauren's share price moved?
The interactive price chart needs JavaScript.
Is Ralph Lauren undervalued? The value diligence check
Every value-investing signal this site computes for this stock, gathered in one place: the same real numbers from the tools below, not a new score.
- Margin of safety (DCF) -27.1%
- P/E vs. its own history 23.0x · at/above its priciest point Real range: 14.8x–21.7x over 5 years (net income per diluted share from each fiscal year's 10-K, paired with the real closing price at that fiscal year-end).
- Wall St. analyst rating Buy · 4.21/5 28 analysts this month: 9 strong buy, 16 buy, 3 hold, 0 sell, 0 strong sell (Finnhub).
- Earnings quality (is the profit real?) Strong · all 5 checks clean Beneish M-score −2.51 · accruals −2.9% of assets · 148% of profit arrived as cash · stock comp 1.4% of revenue · share count −3.2% a year. From the latest 10-K (year to Mar 2026) - see the Earnings Quality Screener for how each check is scored.
- Shareholder yield (cash back to owners) +3.2% net Latest fiscal year (2026): dividends 1.0% + buybacks 2.8% − stock comp 0.5%, as a share of today's market cap. Over 14 years its split-adjusted share count fell 35%. See Shareholder Yield Leaders.
- Capital needed to grow (See's test) None needed · capital fell while profit grew Operating profit $323M → $956M, capital needed $2.7B → $2.2B, 2017–2026 (3-year averages); return on capital now 44% before tax. Buffett's See's Candies needed $0.42 per $1 of new profit, FlightSafety $3.20, a typical grower about $5. See Capital-Light Compounders.
- PEG (growth at a reasonable price) 1.64 · Above fair P/E 23.0× ÷ 14.0% a year of growth behind it. 184th lowest of 447 stocks with a usable PEG. Lynch's fair value is a PEG of 1; a very high PEG usually means almost no growth, a very low one a profit spike. See PEG Ratio Ranking.
- Compounder lenses (4) 3 of 4 · misses price Capital-light growth: cleared; Profit is real: cleared; Cash to owners: cleared; Fair price (PEG): not cleared (PEG 1.64, over 1.5). See Compounders at a Fair Price, which also lets you move the PEG bar.
- Value trap check Clear
- Munger's Inversion Check 2 flags
- Standing vs. sector peers 2 of 7 measures above the median Compared with the 18 other consumer products stocks this site tracks: 1 in the top third, 2 in the bottom third.
- Dividend payout sustainability 0/6 · clean
How does Ralph Lauren compare with its peers?
2 of 7 measures sit above the median of the 18 other consumer products stocks tracked here, 1 in the top third and 2 in the bottom third.
- P/E ratiolower is cheaper · peer median 18.3× 23.0× –12th of 19
- Free-cash-flow yieldhigher is cheaper · peer median 5.1% 4.6% ✕14th of 19
- Return on equityhigher is better · peer median 30% 36% –8th of 19
- Net marginhigher is better · peer median 11.8% 11.8% –11th of 19
- Revenue growthhigher is better, year on year · peer median 1.8% 14.7% ✓1st of 19
- Debt / equitylower is safer · peer median 0.54 0.54 –10th of 19
- Dividend yieldamong dividend payers · peer median 2.44% 0.97% ✕15th of 16
Peers are the stocks this site tracks in the same sector group, not every listed competitor. The bar runs from the weakest peer (left) to the strongest (right); the tick is the middle. Measures that don't apply to a sector (cash-flow yield for banks, debt for financials) are left out.
What would Buffett & Lynch say?
Buffett's checklist is built around durable, profitable businesses bought at sensible prices, and RL doesn't clear enough of it yet. In its favor: RL is currently earning a strong return on shareholders' equity, and has kept that profitability up over five years, not just this year, earns many times its interest expense, so debt service isn't a worry, and trades at a reasonable multiple of owner earnings, his own term for the real cash a business could pay out. Where it comes up short: RL carries more debt relative to equity than he typically tolerates, runs thinner pretax margins than he'd like to see, hasn't grown earnings per share fast enough over five years to impress him, and is trading above what a conservative discounted-cash-flow estimate says it's worth right now.
- ROE (TTM) > 11% ✓
- ROE (5yr avg) > 11% ✓
- Debt/Equity < 0.5 ✕
- Pretax margin > 15% ✕
- EPS growth (5yr) > 7% ✕
- Interest coverage > 5x ✓
- Trading below intrinsic value (DCF) ✕
- Price vs. owner earnings < 25x ✓
- Bonus: returning capital via buybacks FY2026
Lynch looked for growth stories that weren't overpriced for that growth, and RL falls short of his bar. In its favor: RL is growing earnings 20-50% a year, his classic fast-grower zone, isn't asking too much even by a fast grower's usual richer multiple, and is generating real cash to back up a fast grower's higher price tag. Where it comes up short: RL doesn't clear the tighter PEG bar a fast grower needs to justify its pace, and is leaning on more debt than he liked a growth story to carry.
- PEG < 1 (stricter for fast growers) ✕
- EPS growth 20%-50% ✓
- Debt/Equity < 0.5 ✕
- P/E < 40 ✓
- Price/FCF < 40 ✓
Quantitative approximations of each investor's documented approach, not endorsed by either investor or their estates - commentary, not this site's actual ranking criteria. Buffett never published a numeric checklist: only 2 of his 8 checks here trace to his own documented concepts ("owner earnings," from his 1986 shareholder letter, and "price is what you pay, value is what you get," his case against fixed P/E/P/B ceilings) - the other 6 (ROE, debt, margins, growth, interest coverage) use commonly-cited thresholds that are not numbers he himself published. The 8 hard filters below (plus the Munger check and Graham margin of safety) are this site's real, mechanical screen and are computed completely independently of the checklists above.
Berkshire Hathaway's own filing
Which of the 8 value filters does Ralph Lauren pass?
- Market Cap > $25B $22.6B
- Trailing P/E < 25 23.03
- PEG Ratio < 1.5 1.64
- Price/Book < 8 8.32
- Price/Sales < 7 2.71
- EPS Growth YoY > -5% +21.3%
- vs 50-day MA (±12%) Not evaluated †
- vs 200-day MA (±12%) Not evaluated †
What is Ralph Lauren's margin of safety?
History tracking starts this week - check back in a future week to see how this has moved.
Where is Ralph Lauren in its 52-week range?
What is the short interest in Ralph Lauren?
2,344,979 shares short as of 2026-09-30 (FINRA settlement date). Reported twice a month, so this only changes roughly every two weeks, not daily.
What could go wrong with Ralph Lauren? Munger's inversion check
"Invert, always invert." Instead of reasons to buy, these are reasons to hesitate, not a verdict, and not everything worth knowing about a business.
- Margin of safety, even in the bull case +25%
- Short interest under 5% of float 6.4%
- Passes most of the 6 fundamental filters 3/6 passed
- Price run-up backed by value, not just momentum +23% off 52wk low
- Debt/equity stable since 2017 0.18 → 0.44
Doesn't cover circle of competence, management quality, or accounting concerns: those need judgment, not data.
How much have Ralph Lauren shareholders gained per year?
Not enough clean earnings history to compute this for RL yet - a loss year in the window breaks the growth math rather than faking a number through it.
An earnings-based proxy, not a stock-price total return - it doesn't capture multiple expansion/contraction or reinvested dividends. EPS from RL's own 10-K filings; dividend yield is the current trailing yield on today's price, from the same weekly fetch as the rest of this site.
What do Ralph Lauren's 10-year financials show?
From RL's own 10-K filings (SEC EDGAR): up to the last 10 fiscal years. Press any year's bars for the exact figures.
Frequently asked questions about Ralph Lauren
What kind of company is Ralph Lauren?
Ralph Lauren designs and sells apparel, accessories and home goods under the Polo Ralph Lauren, Lauren and Ralph Lauren Collection names. Brands and businesses it owns include Polo Ralph Lauren, Lauren, Ralph Lauren Collection and Double RL. This site groups it with Textiles, Apparel & Luxury Goods stocks.
Is Ralph Lauren trading above or below its DCF value?
At $381.95, RL trades 27.1% above this site's neutral DCF value of $300.41 per share, a margin of safety of −27.1%. That DCF projects free cash flow for 10 years, with growth starting at 8% and fading to 2.5%, discounted at 10%; it is one set of assumptions, not a forecast. Test your own in the Intrinsic Value Calculator.
How many of this site's 8 value filters does Ralph Lauren pass?
RL passes 3 of 8. It passes Trailing P/E < 25 (23.03), Price/Sales < 7 (2.71) and EPS Growth YoY > -5% (+21.3%). It misses Market Cap > $25B ($22.6B), PEG Ratio < 1.5 (1.64) and Price/Book < 8 (8.32). vs 50-day MA (±12%) and vs 200-day MA (±12%) were not evaluated, because the moving-average checks only run on stocks that clear the fundamentals first. The 8-filter list shows every stock that passes all of them.
Is Ralph Lauren's P/E ratio high or low compared with its own history?
RL trades at 23.0× trailing earnings. At the end of each of its last 5 fiscal years its P/E was between 14.8× and 21.7× (average 17.9×), so today's multiple is at or above the highest of those years. Each year's P/E pairs net income per diluted share from the 10-K with the closing price at that fiscal year-end.
When does Ralph Lauren report earnings next?
Ralph Lauren's next earnings report is expected on November 5, 2026, with analysts expecting earnings of $4.35 per share. Dates come from the Finnhub earnings calendar and can move. In its last 4 quarters it beat the estimate 4 times, by an average of +4.9%.
How heavily is Ralph Lauren stock sold short?
As of September 30, 2026, 6.4% of RL's float was sold short (2,344,979 shares, 3.4 days to cover), down 16.0% from the prior reporting period. FINRA publishes short interest twice a month, so it changes about every two weeks; this site flags anything above 5% of the float.
Where do these numbers come from?
- Financial statements: Ralph Lauren's 10-K annual report for the year ended Mar 28, 2026, filed May 21, 2026 (filing index). Every earlier year in the 10-year financials comes from the company's older 10-K filings, all listed on SEC EDGAR.
- Prices and market data: quotes, P/E and analyst ratings from Finnhub; daily price history and the 52-week range from Twelve Data, both refreshed weekly. Short interest comes from FINRA, reported twice a month.
- How to check a figure: click any number in the card above to see its exact source, and read the Editorial Standards for every rule behind the checks.
About this Ralph Lauren Corp analysis
This page shows every value-investing check the site runs on Ralph Lauren Corp (RL) in one place: the 8 mechanical filters, the Buffett and Lynch checklists, a margin of safety from a disclosed DCF, earnings quality, shareholder yield and how it ranks against its sector peers. The numbers come from SEC filings and public market data, refreshed weekly, and the same rules apply to every stock on the stock list. See Editorial Standards for the sources and the rules, or run your own filters in the stock screener.