Gildan Activewear Inc.
- Open
- 51.60
- Day high
- 52.51
- Day low
- 51.49
- Prev close
- 52.13
- Volume
- 280K
- Mkt cap
- $9.6B
- P/E (TTM)
- 96.1
- EPS (TTM)
- $0.54
- P/B
- 2.9
- P/S
- 2.0
- Yield
- 1.44%
- Per share
- $0.75
Gildan Activewear Inc. (GIL) is a Consumer Cyclical company listed on NYSE. The stock is up 0% over the past year. Drillr has 1 published research article covering GIL.
Gildan Activewear Inc. (GIL) financials & analyst ratings
Fundamentals (TTM)
Analyst consensus · 4 analysts
Source: exchange market data + company filings. Figures are trailing-twelve-month or as most recently reported. For informational purposes only — not investment advice.
GIL earnings date, history & EPS estimates
| Report date | EPS est | EPS actual | Surprise | Revenue | Rev. surprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 30, 2026 | $1.11 | $1.28 | +15.3% | $1.6B | -1.8% |
| Apr 30, 2026 | $0.36 | $0.43 | +19.4% | $1.2B | +2.0% |
| Feb 26, 2026 | $0.94 | $0.96 | +2.1% | $1.1B | +1.5% |
| Oct 29, 2025 | $0.98 | $1.00 | +2.0% | $911M | -5.8% |
| Jul 31, 2025 | $0.96 | $0.97 | +1.0% | $919M | -0.4% |
| Feb 19, 2025 | $1.13 | $0.83 | -26.2% | $822M | +14.2% |
| Oct 31, 2024 | $0.85 | $0.85 | +0.1% | $898M | +10.3% |
| Aug 1, 2024 | $0.72 | $0.74 | +3.1% | $862M | -25.8% |
| May 1, 2024 | $0.51 | $0.59 | +16.4% | $693M | -0.1% |
| Feb 21, 2024 | $0.72 | $0.75 | +3.4% | $783M | +3.2% |
| Nov 2, 2023 | $0.71 | $0.74 | +4.4% | $870M | +3.0% |
| Aug 3, 2023 | $0.61 | $0.63 | +2.6% | $840M | +2.1% |
Gildan Activewear Inc. company profile
Overview
Gildan Activewear Inc. (TSX:GIL) is a Canadian apparel manufacturer founded in 1946 and headquartered in Montreal, Canada. Originally known as Textiles Gildan Inc., the company changed its name to Gildan Activewear Inc. in March 1995 and went public in 1998. Over nearly eight decades, Gildan has evolved from a small textile company into one of North America's largest manufacturers of basic apparel, operating a vertically integrated business model with manufacturing facilities across North America, Central America, and Asia. The company serves wholesale distributors, screen printers, embellishers, retailers, and lifestyle brand companies across the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America.
Business
Gildan operates in the basic apparel manufacturing industry, producing everyday clothing items that serve as blank canvases for customization or direct retail sale. The company's business is structured around two primary segments that generate distinct revenue streams. The Activewear segment represents the company's core business, accounting for approximately 80% of total revenues. This division manufactures T-shirts, fleece tops and bottoms, and sports shirts under various brands including Gildan, Gildan Performance, Gildan Hammer, Comfort Colors, American Apparel, and Alstyle. These products are primarily sold as "blanks" to wholesale distributors, screen printers, and embellishers who then customize them with logos, designs, or text for corporate clients, sports teams, promotional events, and retail customers. The activewear segment has shown consistent growth, with recent quarters demonstrating high single-digit to double-digit increases. The Hosiery and Underwear segment comprises approximately 20% of revenues and includes athletic, dress, and casual socks, as well as men's and women's underwear products. This segment markets products under brands such as Gildan, Under Armour (through licensing), GoldToe, PowerSox, Secret, and American Apparel. The segment has faced headwinds due to the planned phase-out of the Under Armour licensing agreement, which has contributed to declining revenues in this division. Gildan's manufacturing model is vertically integrated, meaning the company controls most aspects of production from yarn spinning to finished garments. This integration includes cotton sourcing, yarn production, fabric knitting, dyeing, cutting, and sewing operations across facilities in the United States, Central America (Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic), and Bangladesh.
Revenue model
Gildan generates revenue primarily through product sales to a diverse customer base spanning multiple distribution channels. The company's business model centers on high-volume, low-margin manufacturing of basic apparel items sold at competitive prices. The company's primary customers include wholesale distributors who purchase blank apparel for resale to screen printers and embellishers, direct customers such as large screen printing operations and promotional product companies, and retail customers including major retailers and lifestyle brand companies. This diversified customer base helps mitigate concentration risk, though the company does have some dependence on large wholesale distributors. Revenue generation is influenced by several key factors that can expand or compress margins. Positive margin drivers include economies of scale from high-volume production, vertical integration that reduces supplier dependency, product innovation that commands premium pricing (such as the company's soft cotton technology), and market share gains when competitors exit the market. The company has benefited from competitors' financial difficulties, allowing Gildan to capture additional market share. Margin pressures come from raw material cost fluctuations, particularly cotton prices which directly impact input costs, competitive pricing pressure in the commodity-like basic apparel market, and operational inefficiencies during facility ramp-ups such as the current Bangladesh expansion. Additionally, customer mix shifts toward lower-priced products during economic uncertainty can compress average selling prices, while currency fluctuations affect international operations and cost structures. The company's vertically integrated model provides some protection against supply chain disruptions and allows for better margin control compared to companies that rely heavily on third-party manufacturers. However, this model also requires significant capital investment and operational expertise across multiple manufacturing processes.
Competitive moat
Gildan's competitive moat is moderate but meaningful, built primarily on operational scale, vertical integration, and cost leadership rather than brand strength or proprietary technology. The company's most significant competitive advantage lies in its vertically integrated, low-cost manufacturing platform that few competitors can replicate at similar scale. The company's manufacturing scale and geographic diversification across North America, Central America, and Asia provides operational flexibility and cost advantages. This scale allows Gildan to achieve economies that smaller competitors cannot match, while geographic diversification helps mitigate tariff risks and supply chain disruptions. The vertical integration from yarn spinning to finished garments reduces dependency on external suppliers and provides better margin control. Market position and customer relationships represent another defensive element. Gildan has established long-term relationships with major wholesale distributors and large customers, creating switching costs and preferred supplier status. The company's ability to provide consistent quality, reliable delivery, and competitive pricing has made it a go-to supplier for many customers in the promotional products and screen printing industries. However, Gildan's moat faces meaningful competitive threats and limitations. The basic apparel industry is inherently commodity-like, with limited product differentiation and intense price competition. Customers can relatively easily switch suppliers if price or service advantages emerge elsewhere. Additionally, the company competes against both domestic manufacturers and low-cost international producers, particularly from Asia, who may have even lower labor costs. Potential disruption could come from continued growth of direct-to-consumer custom apparel platforms that bypass traditional wholesale distributors, shifts in consumer preferences toward more sustainable or premium basic apparel, or new manufacturing technologies that reduce the advantages of scale and vertical integration. The company's limited brand strength in consumer markets also makes it vulnerable to private label competition and customer concentration risks.
Risks & safety
Gildan demonstrates a solid margin of safety with strong financial fundamentals, though some metrics warrant monitoring. **Cash and Debt Position:** - Cash and short-term investments: $75.5 million (Q1 2025) - Debt-to-equity ratio: 0.013 (very low debt burden) - Current ratio: 3.91 (strong liquidity position) - Free cash flow: -$164.5 million (Q1 2025, negative due to seasonal working capital build) - Annual free cash flow: $351 million (FY 2024, demonstrating strong cash generation capability) **Valuation Metrics:** - P/E ratio: 20.1 (reasonable for current earnings) - EV/EBITDA: 10.8 (moderate valuation multiple) - Price-to-book: 4.84 (elevated but justified by ROE performance) - Graham number: $10.64 vs. current price around $43 (suggests potential overvaluation by traditional value metrics) **Other Considerations:** - Strong return on equity of 26.2% (FY 2024) indicates efficient capital deployment - Seasonal cash flow patterns require monitoring of working capital management - Geographic diversification provides operational risk mitigation - Exposure to commodity cotton prices creates input cost volatility
Recent development
Over the past few years, Gildan has executed its Gildan Sustainable Growth (GSG) Strategy focused on three strategic pillars: capacity expansion, innovation, and environmental/social governance (ESG). This strategy represents a significant evolution from the company's historical focus on basic commodity manufacturing toward higher-value products and operational excellence. The most significant recent development has been the Bangladesh manufacturing facility expansion, which began production in late 2023 and is expected to reach 75% capacity by the end of 2024. This facility provides geographic diversification, lower labor costs, and additional manufacturing capacity to support growth. Simultaneously, the company has been modernizing its U.S. yarn operations and optimizing Central American facilities to improve efficiency and product quality. Product innovation initiatives have become increasingly important to the company's strategy. Key innovations include soft cotton technology that improves fabric feel and printability, plasma print technology for enhanced digital printing capabilities, and ColorBlast technology for the Comfort Colors brand. These innovations have driven double-digit growth in certain product categories and helped differentiate Gildan's offerings in the commodity-focused basic apparel market. The company has also focused on brand portfolio expansion and optimization. The Comfort Colors brand has shown particularly strong performance with 40% growth in 2024, while the company has successfully integrated the American Apparel brand acquired in previous years. Additionally, Gildan secured licensing rights for the Champion brand in the printwear channel, expanding its premium brand offerings. Market share capture has accelerated as competitors face financial difficulties. The company has benefited from competitors exiting the market or reducing capacity, allowing Gildan to gain share particularly in ring-spun products, fleece categories, and fashion basics. This market consolidation has provided organic growth opportunities without requiring significant additional investment. Recent leadership changes include the promotion of Chuck Ward to Executive VP and Chief Operating Officer, and the planned succession of Luca Barelli as CFO, replacing retiring CFO Rhodri Harries in January 2026. These changes reflect the company's focus on operational excellence and financial discipline as it executes its growth strategy.
GIL company profile · for informational purposes only — not investment advice.
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