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Roots Corporation

ROOT.TO
42
Apparel - Retail · Consumer Cyclical
Exchange
Toronto Stock Exchange
Winston Score
42
Winston is serious
Mixed quality — meaningful strengths and weaknesses.
Data as of Aug 23, 2026 · filings through Apr 30, 2026
How the score breaks down
Quality
Weak
Growth
Mixed
Cash Flow
Strong
Stability
Good
Valuation
Good

Winston Score History

The full picture

Roots Corporation is a Canadian lifestyle brand that sells clothing, accessories, and leather goods. Its core products include casual apparel, sweatshirts, bags, and leather jackets, sold to everyday consumers through its own retail stores and website. Roots is one of Canada's most recognized heritage brands, known for outfitting Canadian Olympic teams and operating roughly 120 stores primarily across Canada.

The company makes money mainly through direct retail sales in its own stores and e-commerce channel, with a smaller presence in Asia through partner-operated locations. With a market cap around $200 million, Roots is a small retailer competing against much larger global apparel brands, which limits its pricing power and marketing reach. Its main growth opportunity lies in expanding its international footprint, particularly in Asia, but its thin operating margin and negative return on invested capital signal that the business currently struggles to generate consistent profits, making execution risk a key concern for investors.

Growth Profile

When traditional metrics don't capture the full picture, these are the signals growth stock investors use instead.

Revenue Growth

+4.2% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Slow revenue growth

EPS Growth

+168.5% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

EPS growth accelerating

Insider Activity

69.1%ownership

Flat

Insider ownership roughly steady over the past year

Cash Position

Cash flow positive

C$29M cash & investments

Quarterly Free Cash Flow

↑ Burn rate improving

Company generates more cash than it spends — no dilution risk from fundraising

Growth context

Roots Corporation is growing revenue at 4% year-over-year. The Winston Score measures business quality today — these growth metrics show what could matter tomorrow.

The Winston Score above measures business quality today. Growth stocks often score lower because they invest in the future rather than maximising current profits. These metrics show what matters most for evaluating that future.

Score breakdown

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Quality

Profit per sale
Gross Margin
39.6%
Modest — 39.6% gross margin
Profit after running costs
Operating Margin
-26.1%
Losing money on operations — -26.1%
Return on the money invested
ROCE
6.8%
Weak — 6.8% return on capital

ROIC between 5% and 15%. They earn 5 to 15 cents back per year on every dollar invested.

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Growth

Sales growth
Sales YoY
+5.6%
Slow sales growth (+5.6% YoY)
Profit growth
EPS YoY
N/A
Data not available
How steady the profit is
EPS Consistency
4/8 quarters
Earnings inconsistent quarter-to-quarter

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Cash Flow

Profit that turns into cash
Cash Conversion
1313%
Turns 1313% of profit into real cash
Spare cash per sale
FCF Margin
9.6%
Modest free cash flow (9.6%)

FCF margin between 0% and 10%. Some cash from sales, but not a lot.

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Stability

What it owes vs what it owns
Debt / Equity
0.22
Conservative — low debt load (0.22)
Covers its interest
Interest Cover
1.60x
Dangerous — barely covers interest (1.6x)

Interest coverage between 1 and 3. Profits cover interest, but with little room to spare.

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Valuation

Price vs profit
P/E Ratio (TTM)
61.8x
no trend
Expensive — P/E 61.8

P/E over 35. The market is pricing in heavy, sustained growth.

Cheaper or dearer next year
P/E vs Forward
+51.0
GROWING
Earnings expected to grow meaningfully — cheaper on forward P/E (61.8 → 10.9)

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Dividends

Not applicable for this business.
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