Stocks · Consumer Cyclical · Apparel - Retail
The Buckle, Inc. BKE
$42.90 +0.49% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $2.21B
High qualityInexpensive vs sectorLow risk
Next earnings report: Nov 20, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Earnings beat analyst estimates in each of the last 8 quarters (average surprise over the last four: +9.6%).
- The stock is in a downtrend: below its 200-day average, with the 50-day average below the 200-day.
- Over the past year the stock returned -25.6%, behind the S&P 500 by 40.7 percentage points.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Consumer Cyclical sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Top 40%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Top 43%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 33%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 35%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 33%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 7%
- Gross marginTop 23%
- Operating marginTop 8%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Bottom 21%
- Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 29%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 19%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 10%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 31%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 15%
- Sales / enterprise valueBottom 37%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Bottom 47%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthBottom 21%
- 6-month returnBottom 28%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 30%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 48%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Bottom 47%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 50%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 15%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 1%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 19%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 13%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 22%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 29%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 19%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 7.1% | 6.2% | ↓ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | 12.1% | 8.5% | ↓ |
| Gross margin | 48.9% | 49.0% | ↑ |
| Operating margin | 20.0% | 20.8% | ↑ |
| FCF margin | 16.8% | 14.4% | ↓ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 6.2% | 7.1% | ↓ | Top 40% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | 8.5% | 12.1% | ↓ | Top 43% |
| Gross margin | 49.0% | 48.9% | ↑ | Top 23% |
| Operating margin | 20.8% | 20.0% | ↑ | Top 8% |
| Net margin | 16.6% | 16.1% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 14.4% | 16.8% | ↓ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 22.2% | — | Top 7% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | -1.2% | — | Bottom 35% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 1.17×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -3.4%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.0%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- +22.7 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 0.50×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 10.20%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 0.00%
- Shareholder yield
- 10.20%
- Share count change, 1 year
- +0.8%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- +0.8%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Aug 1, 2026 (filed Sep 10, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 8
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 8 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +9.6%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -0.2%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 6 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $47.00
- Target vs current price
- +9.6%
- Analysts with a rating
- 20
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 5%
- Consensus rating
- Hold
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 21, 2026 | +7.4% | +2.7% | +0.7% | -5.5% | — |
| May 29, 2026 | +24.7% | -9.1% | -13.7% | -14.3% | -12.0% |
| Mar 13, 2026 | +5.3% | -0.8% | -2.3% | +8.2% | -12.0% |
| Nov 21, 2025 | +0.8% | -1.3% | +2.7% | +2.1% | -2.7% |
| Aug 22, 2025 | +6.6% | +2.4% | +4.8% | +10.6% | +2.5% |
| May 23, 2025 | +1.0% | -0.6% | +2.9% | +7.2% | +33.3% |
| Mar 14, 2025 | +10.1% | +2.8% | +9.1% | +0.6% | +24.8% |
| Nov 22, 2024 | +4.8% | +2.5% | +9.3% | +6.8% | -13.6% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 21, 2026 | $0.87 | $0.81 | +7.4% | $319.8M |
| May 29, 2026 | $0.92 | $0.74 | +24.7% | $288.7M |
| Mar 13, 2026 | $1.59 | $1.51 | +5.3% | $399.1M |
| Nov 21, 2025 | $0.96 | $0.95 | +0.8% | $320.8M |
| Aug 22, 2025 | $0.89 | $0.84 | +6.6% | $305.7M |
| May 23, 2025 | $0.70 | $0.69 | +1.0% | $272.1M |
| Mar 14, 2025 | $1.53 | $1.39 | +10.1% | $379.2M |
| Nov 22, 2024 | $0.88 | $0.84 | +4.8% | $293.6M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 9.9× | 9.2× | 57th | Top 10% |
| P/E (forward) | 10.0× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 7.5× | — | — | Top 15% |
| EV / Sales | 1.78× | — | — | Bottom 37% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 8.66% | — | — | Top 31% |
| Earnings yield | 10.12% | — | — | Top 10% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 6.2× – 15.4× since Jul 31, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- -25.6%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- +8.5%
- Change in P/E multiple
- -39.7%
Most of the move came from a change in the valuation multiple.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✓ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✗ Price above 200-day average
- ✗ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✓ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 0
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -0.8%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- -2.9%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -0.5%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -11.3%
- RSI (14)
- 55.2
- Relative volume
- 0.76×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 27.2%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 12th percentile · Low for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.79
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.41
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -26.7%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -37.6%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 18, 2021 | Jul 14, 2022 | -50.0% | 162 days | 600 days (Dec 2, 2024) |
| Dec 2, 2024 | Apr 8, 2025 | -37.6% | 86 days | 85 days (Aug 11, 2025) |
| Sep 11, 2025 | Sep 15, 2026 | -35.6% | 253 days | Not yet recovered |
| Jul 1, 2021 | Sep 1, 2021 | -23.2% | 43 days | 52 days (Nov 15, 2021) |
| May 7, 2021 | Jun 9, 2021 | -14.7% | 22 days | 12 days (Jun 25, 2021) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $2.21B
- P/E (TTM)
- 9.9
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $4.34
- Revenue (TTM)
- $1.33B
- Dividend yield
- 11.07%
- 52-week range
- $39.44 – $58.67
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1.29B | $1.35B | $1.26B | $1.22B | $1.30B |
| Gross profit | $653.0M | $676.0M | $619.1M | $592.8M | $635.9M |
| Operating income | $335.5M | $328.1M | $271.1M | $241.4M | $261.4M |
| Net income | $254.8M | $254.6M | $219.9M | $195.5M | $209.7M |
| EPS (diluted) | $5.16 | $5.13 | $4.40 | $3.89 | $4.14 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $293.6M | $379.2M | $272.1M | $305.7M | $320.8M | $399.1M | $288.7M | $319.8M |
| Net income | $44.2M | $77.2M | $35.2M | $45.0M | $48.7M | $80.8M | $46.9M | $44.4M |
| EPS (diluted) | $0.88 | $1.53 | $0.70 | $0.89 | $0.96 | $1.59 | $0.92 | $0.87 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $311.8M | $242.4M | $254.6M | $242.0M | $251.1M |
| Capital expenditure | -$19.1M | -$30.4M | -$37.3M | -$42.3M | -$45.4M |
| Free cash flow | $292.7M | $212.0M | $217.4M | $199.7M | $205.8M |
| Dividends paid | -$347.8M | -$202.9M | -$196.7M | -$198.0M | -$225.1M |
| Net share buybacks | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $287.2M
- Total assets
- $1.09B
- Total liabilities
- $605.8M
- Total debt
- $421.4M
- Net debt
- $156.6M
- Shareholders’ equity
- $489.0M
As of Aug 1, 2026 (filed Sep 10, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 15, 2026 | $0.35 | Oct 29, 2026 |
| Jul 15, 2026 | $0.35 | Jul 29, 2026 |
| Apr 15, 2026 | $0.35 | Apr 29, 2026 |
| Jan 15, 2026 | $3.35 | Jan 29, 2026 |
| Oct 15, 2025 | $0.35 | Oct 29, 2025 |
| Jul 15, 2025 | $0.35 | Jul 29, 2025 |
| Apr 15, 2025 | $0.35 | Apr 29, 2025 |
| Jan 15, 2025 | $2.85 | Jan 29, 2025 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 3,927,643
- Days to cover
- 7.63
- Change vs previous report
- +7.2%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Jan 13, 2014
- 10,241-for-10,000
- Oct 31, 2008
- 3-for-2
- Jan 16, 2007
- 3-for-2
- Jun 9, 1998
- 3-for-2
- Apr 25, 1997
- 2-for-1