How much a stock's price changes over time is a significant driver for most investors. Not only can price performance impact your portfolio, but it can help you compare investment results across sectors and industries as well.
Another thing that can drive investing is the fear of missing out, or FOMO. This particularly applies to tech giants and popular consumer-facing stocks.
What if you'd invested in Ralph Lauren (RL) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to RL for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?
Ralph Lauren's Business In-Depth
With that in mind, let's take a look at Ralph Lauren's main business drivers.
Ralph Lauren Corp. is a major designer, marketer and distributor of premium lifestyle products in North America, Europe, Asia, and internationally. It offers products in the apparel, footwear, accessories, home furnishings, and other licensed product categories. The company possesses a strong portfolio of globally recognized brand names such as Polo Ralph Lauren, Ralph Lauren Purple Label, Ralph Lauren Collection, Double RL, Lauren Ralph Lauren, Polo Golf Ralph Lauren, Ralph Lauren Golf, RLX Ralph Lauren, Polo Ralph Lauren Children, Chaps, Club Monaco and American Living.
The company offers lifestyle product collections in 4 categories – Apparel, which includes men's, women's, and children's clothing; Home, which includes bedding and bath products, furniture, fabric and wallpaper, paint, tabletop and giftware; Accessories, comprising footwear, eyewear, watches, fashion and fine jewelry, and leather goods; and Fragrance and skin care products sold under the Glamorous, Romance, Polo, Lauren, Safari, and Polo Sport brands.
The company’s reportable segments include North America, Europe and Asia. These segments contributed roughly 46.5%, 28.2% and 23.6% respectively to net revenues in fiscal 2024. The rest of the contribution came from other non-reportable segments.
The company operates through wholesale, retail and licensing channels of distribution. It sells products to department stores, specialty stores, and golf and pro shops through the wholesale channel. It also sells directly to consumers through an integrated retail channel, which includes retail stores, concession-based shop-within-shops, and its digital commerce sites. It also licenses to third parties for specified periods the right to access its trademarks in connection with the licensees' manufacture and sale of designated products.
As of Dec. 27, 2025, Ralph Lauren had 600 directly operated stores and 663 concession shops globally. The directly operated stores included 287 Ralph Lauren and 313 Outlet stores. The company operated 131 licensed partner stores globally as of the same date.
Bottom Line
Anyone can invest, but building a successful investment portfolio takes a combination of a few things: research, patience, and a little bit of risk. So, if you had invested in Ralph Lauren a decade ago, you're probably feeling pretty good about your investment today.
According to our calculations, a $1000 investment made in February 2016 would be worth $4,102.15, or a gain of 310.22%, as of February 26, 2026, and this return excludes dividends but includes price increases.
In comparison, the S&P 500's gained 255.90% and the price of gold went up 303.87% over the same time frame.
Analysts are forecasting more upside for RL too.
Ralph Lauren's shares outperformed the industry in the past six months, driven by the execution of its “Next Great Chapter: Drive Plan” and robust financial performance. The plan focuses on brand elevation, consumer centricity and operational agility. Digital transformation drives growth, with investments in personalization, mobile, omnichannel and fulfillment enhancing consumer engagement. Retail and wholesale remain key pillars, with flagship stores, premium distribution and partnerships boosting comparable sales across North America, Europe and Asia in third-quarter fiscal 2026. For fiscal 2026, management expects revenues to increase in the high-single to low-double digits on a constant currency basis. While gross margin is likely to increase 40-80 bps, operating margin is expected to expand 100-140 bps in constant currency.
The stock is up 6.82% over the past four weeks, and no earnings estimate has gone lower in the past two months, compared to 4 higher, for fiscal 2026. The consensus estimate has moved up as well.
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Ralph Lauren Corporation (RL): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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