Why Burlington (BURL) Stock Is Up Today

What Happened?

Shares of off-price retail company Burlington Stores (NYSE:BURL) jumped 3.4% in the afternoon session after stronger-than-expected U.S. retail sales data pointed to resilient consumer spending, lifting investor sentiment for consumer-focused stocks. 

The Commerce Department reported that retail sales rose 0.6% in June, significantly beating market expectations. This report helped ease investor concerns about the health of the U.S. consumer, a key driver of the economy. For an off-price retailer like Burlington, the details were particularly encouraging. Sales at clothing and accessories stores saw a notable 0.9% increase, suggesting consumers are still actively shopping for apparel. This broad strength creates a positive backdrop for retailers. The upbeat data, combined with other reports showing a steady job market, lifted sentiment for consumer discretionary stocks by signaling a lower risk of recession. 

Also, the second quarter (2025) earnings season got off to a strong start. Quarterly earnings reports released during the week exceeded Wall Street's expectations, fueling investor confidence. Around 50 S&P 500 components reported, with 88% of those exceeding analysts' expectations, FactSet data revealed.

The shares closed the day at $262.53, up 3.1% from previous close.

Is now the time to buy Burlington? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.

What Is The Market Telling Us

Burlington’s shares are somewhat volatile and have had 12 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 4 months ago when the stock gained 13.7% on the news that the company reported impressive fourth quarter 2024 results which beat analysts' profit and EPS expectations. The key highlight for the quarter was the strong 6% growth in comparable store sales, significantly exceeding the company's guidance of 0% to 2%. 

Looking ahead to fiscal 2025, Burlington anticipates overall sales growth of 6% to 8%, with comparable sales expected to increase by up to 2%. Despite this optimistic outlook, management remains cautious due to ongoing economic uncertainty. 

Overall, this was a decent quarter, but expectations were likely low given concerns about overall consumer health and very uneven quarterly results from retail peers.

Burlington is down 8.3% since the beginning of the year, and at $262 per share, it is trading 11.3% below its 52-week high of $295.49 from December 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Burlington’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $1,360.

Here at StockStory, we certainly understand the potential of thematic investing. Diverse winners from Microsoft (MSFT) to Alphabet (GOOG), Coca-Cola (KO) to Monster Beverage (MNST) could all have been identified as promising growth stories with a megatrend driving the growth. So, in that spirit, we’ve identified a relatively under-the-radar profitable growth stock benefiting from the rise of AI, available to you FREE via this link.