How to buy The Cato Corporation stock | $17.89

The Cato Corporation is an apparel retail business based in the US. The Cato Corporation shares (CATO) are listed on the NYSE and all prices are listed in US Dollars. The Cato Corporation employs 7,400 staff and has a trailing 12-month revenue of around 0.00.

The Cato Corporation stock price (NYSE: CATO)

Use our graph to track the performance of CATO stocks over time.

The Cato Corporation shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2021-10-23.

Latest market close	$17.89
52-week range	$5.97 - $18.22
50-day moving average	$16.90
200-day moving average	$15.95
Wall St. target price	$23.00
PE ratio	17.422
Dividend yield	$0.11 (0.64%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	$0.99

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Is it a good time to buy The Cato Corporation stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

This chart is not advice or a guarantee of success. Rather, it gauges the real-time recommendations of three popular technical indicators: moving averages, oscillators and pivots. Finder is not responsible for how your stock performs.

The Cato Corporation price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the close of $17.89 from 2021-10-25

1 week (2021-10-15)	N/A
1 month (2021-09-24)	3.41%
3 months (2021-07-26)	11.60%
6 months (2021-04-26)	28.34%

1 year (2020-10-26)	160.79%
2 years (2019-10-25)	3.47%
3 years (2018-10-26)	19.17
5 years (2016-10-26)	29.67

Is The Cato Corporation under- or over-valued?

Valuing The Cato Corporation stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of The Cato Corporation's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

The Cato Corporation's P/E ratio

The Cato Corporation's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 17x. In other words, The Cato Corporation shares trade at around 17x recent earnings.

That's relatively low compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The low P/E ratio could mean that investors are pessimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're under-valued.

The Cato Corporation's PEG ratio

The Cato Corporation's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 1.54. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into The Cato Corporation's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

The Cato Corporation's EBITDA

The Cato Corporation's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is $31.6 million.

The EBITDA is a measure of a The Cato Corporation's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

The Cato Corporation financials

Revenue TTM	$727 million
Operating margin TTM	2.99%
Gross profit TTM	$141.9 million
Return on assets TTM	2.29%
Return on equity TTM	8.45%
Profit margin	3.14%
Book value	$12.84
Market capitalisation	$389.9 million

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting The Cato Corporation shares

There are currently 703,219 The Cato Corporation shares held short by investors – that's known as The Cato Corporation's "short interest". This figure is 8% down from 764,348 last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting The Cato Corporation shares can be evaluated.

The Cato Corporation's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

The Cato Corporation's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of The Cato Corporation shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of The Cato Corporation shares traded daily (recently around 110222.4137931). The Cato Corporation's SIR currently stands at 6.38. In other words for every 100,000 The Cato Corporation shares traded daily on the market, roughly 6380 shares are currently held short.

However The Cato Corporation's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of The Cato Corporation shares, or, against the total number of tradable The Cato Corporation shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case The Cato Corporation's short interest could be expressed as 0.03% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 The Cato Corporation shares in existence, roughly 30 shares are currently held short) or 0.0432% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable The Cato Corporation shares, roughly 43 shares are currently held short).

A SIR below 10% would generally be considered to indicate a fairly optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against The Cato Corporation.

Find out more about how you can short The Cato Corporation stock.

The Cato Corporation share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 23.59% of net profits

Recently The Cato Corporation has paid out, on average, around 23.59% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 3.95% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), The Cato Corporation shareholders could enjoy a 3.95% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In The Cato Corporation's case, that would currently equate to about $0.11 per share.

While The Cato Corporation's payout ratio might seem low, this can signify that The Cato Corporation is investing more in its future growth.

The Cato Corporation's most recent dividend payout was on 26 September 2021. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 9 September 2021 (the "ex-dividend date").

Have The Cato Corporation's shares ever split?

The Cato Corporation's shares were split on a 3:2 basis on 27 June 2005. So if you had owned 2 shares the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 3 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your The Cato Corporation shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 33.3% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for The Cato Corporation shares which in turn could have impacted The Cato Corporation's share price.

The Cato Corporation share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, The Cato Corporation's shares have ranged in value from as little as $5.9667 up to $18.2203. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while The Cato Corporation's is 0.9815. This would suggest that The Cato Corporation's shares are less volatile than average (for this exchange).

The Cato Corporation overview

The Cato Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a specialty retailer of fashion apparel and accessories primarily in the southeastern United States. It operates through two segments, Retail and Credit. The company's stores and e-commerce Websites offer a range of apparel and accessories, including dressy, career, and casual sportswear; and dresses, coats, shoes, lingerie, costume jewelry, and handbags, as well as men's wear, and lines for kids and infants. It operates its stores and e-commerce Websites under the Cato, Cato Fashions, Cato Plus, It's Fashion, It's Fashion Metro, and Versona names. As of January 30, 2021, the company operated 1,330 stores in 33 states. It also provides credit card services to its customers, as well as layaway plans for customers who agree to make periodic payments. The company was incorporated in 1946 and is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Frequently asked questions

What percentage of The Cato Corporation is owned by insiders or institutions?
Currently 7.369% of The Cato Corporation shares are held by insiders and 64.945% by institutions. How many people work for The Cato Corporation?
Latest data suggests 7,400 work at The Cato Corporation. When does the fiscal year end for The Cato Corporation?
The Cato Corporation's fiscal year ends in February. Where is The Cato Corporation based?
The Cato Corporation's address is: 8100 Denmark Road, Charlotte, NC, United States, 28273-5975 What is The Cato Corporation's ISIN number?
The Cato Corporation's international securities identification number is: US1492051065 What is The Cato Corporation's CUSIP number?
The Cato Corporation's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 149205106