Off-price retail company Burlington Stores (NYSE: BURL) missed Wall Street’s revenue expectations in Q2 CY2026, but sales rose 11% year on year to $3.00 billion. On the other hand, the company expects next quarter’s revenue to be around $2.98 billion, close to analysts’ estimates. Its non-GAAP profit of $2.96 per share was 35.4% above analysts’ consensus estimates.

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BURLINGTON, N.J., Aug. 27, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Burlington Stores, Inc. (NYSE: BURL), a nationally recognized off-price retailer of high-quality, branded apparel, footwear, accessories, and merchandise for the home at everyday low prices, today announced its results for the second quarter ended August 1, 2026.Michael O’Sullivan, CEO, stated, “We are pleased with our strong financial performance in the second quarter, Total sales grew 11% on top of a strong 10% increase last year. Comp store sales increased 2% on top of 5% last year, for a solid 7% two-year stack. Excluding the impact of tariff refunds, Adjusted EPS grew 38% versus the second quarter of last year, on top of a 39% increase in the prior year. This was driven by a 100 basis point increase in our operating margin. This represented our 15th consecutive quarter of double digit EPS growth, reflecting our ability to consistently convert sales growth into margin expansion and exceptional earnings growth.”

Company Overview

Founded in 1972 as a discount coat and outerwear retailer, Burlington Stores (NYSE: BURL) is now an off-price retailer that has broadened into general apparel, footwear, and home goods.

Revenue Growth

A company’s long-term sales performance is one signal of its overall quality. Any business can experience short-term success, but top-performing ones enjoy sustained growth for years.

With $12.22 billion in revenue over the past 12 months, Burlington is a mid-sized retailer, which sometimes brings disadvantages compared to larger competitors benefiting from better economies of scale. On the bright side, it can still flex high growth rates because it’s working from a smaller revenue base.

As you can see below, Burlington’s 10.3% annualized revenue growth over the last three years was decent as it opened new stores and increased sales at existing, established locations.

This quarter, Burlington’s revenue grew by 11% year on year to $3.00 billion but fell short of Wall Street’s estimates. Company management is currently guiding for a 10% year-on-year increase in sales next quarter.

Looking further ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 9.3% over the next 12 months, similar to its three-year rate. Still, this projection is eye-popping given its scale and indicates the market is forecasting success for its products.

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Store Performance

Number of Stores

A retailer’s store count often determines how much revenue it can generate.

Burlington sported 1,287 locations in the latest quarter. Over the last two years, it has opened new stores at a rapid clip by averaging 10.4% annual growth, among the fastest in the consumer retail sector. This gives it a chance to become a large, scaled business over time.

When a retailer opens new stores, it usually means it’s investing for growth because demand is greater than supply, especially in areas where consumers may not have a store within reasonable driving distance.

Same-Store Sales

The change in a company’s store base only tells one side of the story. The other is the performance of its existing locations and e-commerce sales, which informs management teams whether they should expand or downsize their physical footprints. Same-store sales is an industry measure of whether revenue is growing at those existing stores and is driven by customer visits (often called traffic) and the average spending per customer (ticket).

Burlington’s demand has been healthy for a retailer over the last two years. On average, the company has grown its same-store sales by a robust 3.1% per year. This performance gives it the confidence to meaningfully expand its store base.

In the latest quarter, Burlington’s same-store sales rose 2% year on year. This growth was a deceleration from its historical levels, showing the business is still performing well but losing a bit of steam.

Key Takeaways from Burlington’s Q2 Results

It was good to see Burlington beat analysts’ EPS expectations this quarter. We were also excited its gross margin outperformed Wall Street’s estimates by a wide margin. On the other hand, its EPS guidance for next quarter missed and its revenue fell slightly short of Wall Street’s estimates. Overall, this print was mixed but still had some key positives. The market seemed to be hoping for more, and the stock traded down 1.8% to $308.37 immediately following the results.

Big picture, is Burlington a buy here and now? The latest quarter does matter, but not nearly as much as longer-term fundamentals and valuation, when deciding if the stock is a buy. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).