Stocks · Consumer Cyclical · Apparel - Retail
Carter's Inc. CRI
$31.59 -0.38% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $1.16B
Inexpensive vs sector
Next earnings report: Oct 26, 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
- At 5.8× trailing earnings, the shares trade at the lowest P/E of the company's past five years.
- Diluted EPS over the last four quarters was $5.49, up 45.8% year over year.
- The stock is in a downtrend: below its 200-day average, with the 50-day average below the 200-day.
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.
Growth69Positive
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Top 44%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Top 20%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Top 18%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 24%
- Revenue growth accelerationTop 45%
Quality77Positive
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 33%
- Gross marginTop 24%
- Operating marginTop 39%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Bottom 47%
- Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 44%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 34%
- Interest coverTop 37%
Value100Exceptional
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 2%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 4%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 4%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 17%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Top 8%
Momentum52Neutral
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 35%
- 6-month returnBottom 30%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 34%
- Distance from 52-week highBottom 47%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Bottom 47%
Revisions75Positive
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 6%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 38%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 49%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 44%
Stability51Neutral
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 34%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsBottom 20%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 43%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 34%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 4.9% | 5.2% | ↑ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | -43.9% | 45.8% | ↑ |
| Gross margin | 47.3% | 48.6% | ↑ |
| Operating margin | 6.7% | 9.2% | ↑ |
| FCF margin | 5.0% | 9.8% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 5.2% | 4.9% | ↑ | Top 44% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | 45.8% | -43.9% | ↑ | Top 20% |
| Gross margin | 48.6% | 47.3% | ↑ | Top 24% |
| Operating margin | 9.2% | 6.7% | ↑ | Top 39% |
| Net margin | 6.5% | 4.8% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 9.8% | 5.0% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 9.6% | — | Top 33% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | -3.4% | — | Bottom 24% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 1.71×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -5.0%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.2%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- +14.4 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 1.59×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 6.6×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 3.14%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- -0.10%
- Shareholder yield
- 3.04%
- Share count change, 1 year
- +0.1%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -1.3%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jul 4, 2026 (filed Jul 31, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 3
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 6 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +100.0%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -8.1%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 1 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $40.20
- Target vs current price
- +27.3%
- Analysts with a rating
- 24
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 50%
- Consensus rating
- Buy
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 31, 2026 | +324.8% | +2.1% | +6.6% | -11.8% | — |
| May 6, 2026 | +212.0% | +11.7% | -0.1% | +16.7% | +15.7% |
| Feb 27, 2026 | +11.8% | -20.3% | -16.2% | -17.8% | -11.5% |
| Oct 27, 2025 | -5.1% | +1.9% | -2.9% | -6.5% | +16.8% |
| Jul 25, 2025 | -60.5% | -19.7% | -26.0% | -22.7% | -9.3% |
| Apr 25, 2025 | +24.5% | -11.4% | -12.8% | -15.4% | -12.4% |
| Feb 25, 2025 | +27.8% | -16.1% | -19.3% | -18.2% | -29.4% |
| Oct 25, 2024 | +15.7% | -13.3% | -16.7% | -20.2% | -16.9% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 31, 2026 | $0.26 | $0.06 | +324.8% | $615.5M |
| May 6, 2026 | $0.39 | $0.13 | +212.0% | $681.1M |
| Feb 27, 2026 | $1.90 | $1.70 | +11.8% | $925.5M |
| Oct 27, 2025 | $0.74 | $0.78 | -5.1% | $757.8M |
| Jul 25, 2025 | $0.17 | $0.43 | -60.5% | $585.3M |
| Apr 25, 2025 | $0.66 | $0.53 | +24.5% | $629.8M |
| Feb 25, 2025 | $2.39 | $1.87 | +27.8% | $859.7M |
| Oct 25, 2024 | $1.62 | $1.40 | +15.7% | $758.5M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 5.8× | 11.7× | 0th | Top 2% |
| P/E (forward) | 9.7× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 5.1× | — | — | Top 4% |
| EV / Sales | 0.57× | — | — | Top 17% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 25.17% | — | — | Top 4% |
| Earnings yield | 17.38% | — | — | Top 2% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 7.0× – 14.7× since Jul 3, 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
- +8.8%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- +45.8%
- Change in P/E multiple
- +0.7%
Most of the move came from earnings growth.
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)
- -9.2%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- -0.1%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -8.7%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -13.1%
- RSI (14)
- 47.0
- Relative volume
- 0.77×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 36.0%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 45th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.96
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.31
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -28.8%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -73.1%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 3, 2021 | Aug 1, 2025 | -78.8% | 1067 days | Not yet recovered |
| Jan 12, 2021 | Mar 3, 2021 | -21.3% | 34 days | 38 days (Apr 27, 2021) |
| Oct 9, 2020 | Nov 4, 2020 | -10.1% | 18 days | 13 days (Nov 23, 2020) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $1.16B
- P/E (TTM)
- 5.8
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $5.49
- Revenue (TTM)
- $2.98B
- Dividend yield
- 3.17%
- 52-week range
- $27.15 – $44.44
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $3.49B | $3.21B | $2.95B | $2.84B | $2.90B |
| Gross profit | $1.66B | $1.47B | $1.40B | $1.37B | $1.31B |
| Operating income | $497.1M | $379.2M | $323.4M | $254.7M | $143.9M |
| Net income | $339.7M | $250.0M | $232.5M | $185.5M | $91.8M |
| EPS (diluted) | $7.81 | $6.34 | $6.24 | $5.12 | $2.59 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $758.5M | $859.7M | $629.8M | $585.3M | $757.8M | $925.5M | $681.1M | $615.5M |
| Net income | $58.3M | $61.5M | $15.5M | $446,000 | $11.6M | $64.2M | $14.3M | $105.0M |
| EPS (diluted) | $1.62 | $1.71 | $0.43 | $0.01 | $0.32 | $1.81 | $0.40 | $2.96 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $268.3M | $88.4M | $529.1M | $298.8M | $122.3M |
| Capital expenditure | -$37.4M | -$40.4M | -$59.9M | -$56.2M | -$53.7M |
| Free cash flow | $230.8M | $48.0M | $469.3M | $242.6M | $68.6M |
| Dividends paid | -$60.1M | -$118.1M | -$112.0M | -$116.2M | -$56.4M |
| Net share buybacks | -$299.3M | -$299.7M | -$100.0M | -$50.5M | -$4.5M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $653.6M
- Total assets
- $2.73B
- Total liabilities
- $1.71B
- Total debt
- $1.18B
- Net debt
- $531.2M
- Shareholders’ equity
- $1.03B
As of Jul 4, 2026 (filed Jul 31, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 1, 2026 | $0.25 | Sep 25, 2026 |
| May 26, 2026 | $0.25 | Jun 5, 2026 |
| Mar 13, 2026 | $0.25 | Mar 27, 2026 |
| Nov 24, 2025 | $0.25 | Dec 5, 2025 |
| Aug 26, 2025 | $0.25 | Sep 12, 2025 |
| Jun 2, 2025 | $0.25 | Jun 20, 2025 |
| Mar 10, 2025 | $0.80 | Mar 28, 2025 |
| Nov 25, 2024 | $0.80 | Dec 6, 2024 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 5,782,950
- Days to cover
- 3.45
- Change vs previous report
- +26.5%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Jun 7, 2006
- 2-for-1