Head to Head Survey: Children’s Place (NASDAQ:PLCE) & Zumiez (NASDAQ:ZUMZ)

Children’s Place (NASDAQ:PLCE) and Zumiez (NASDAQ:ZUMZ) are both small-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings and institutional ownership.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Children’s Place and Zumiez”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Children’s Place	$1.18 billion	0.04	-$88.26 million	($4.84)	-0.49
Zumiez	$929.06 million	0.35	$13.38 million	$0.83	23.45

Zumiez has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Children’s Place. Children’s Place is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Zumiez, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Children’s Place and Zumiez’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Children’s Place	-9.09%	N/A	-12.53%
Zumiez	1.54%	4.24%	2.05%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

95.5% of Zumiez shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Children’s Place shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 24.3% of Zumiez shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Children’s Place has a beta of 1.94, suggesting that its share price is 94% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Zumiez has a beta of 1, suggesting that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Children’s Place and Zumiez, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Children’s Place	1	1	0	0	1.50
Zumiez	1	2	0	0	1.67

Children’s Place presently has a consensus target price of $4.00, indicating a potential upside of 68.07%. Zumiez has a consensus target price of $18.00, indicating a potential downside of 7.50%. Given Children’s Place’s higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Children’s Place is more favorable than Zumiez.

Summary

Zumiez beats Children’s Place on 10 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Children’s Place

The Children’s Place, Inc. engages in the provision of apparel, footwear, accessories, and other items for children. The firm also designs contracts to manufacture and sell fashionable and value-priced merchandise under the brand names of The Children’s Place, Baby Place, and Gymboree. It operates through The Children’s Place U.S. and The Children’s Place International segments. The Children’s Place U.S. segment refers to the company’s U.S. and Puerto Rico-based stores and revenue from its U.S. based wholesale business. The Children’s Place International segment is involved in the Canadian-based stores, revenue from the company’s Canadian-based wholesale business, as well as revenue from international franchisees. The company was founded by David Pulver and Clinton A. Clark in 1969 and is headquartered in Secaucus, NJ.

About Zumiez

Zumiez Inc. operates as a specialty retailer of apparel, footwear, accessories, and hardgoods for young men and women. The company provides hardgoods, including skateboards, snowboards, bindings, components, and other equipment. It operates stores in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia under the names of Zumiez, Blue Tomato, and Fast Times. It operates zumiez.com, zumiez.ca, blue-tomato.com, and fasttimes.com.au e-commerce websites. Zumiez Inc. was founded in 1978 and is headquartered in Lynnwood, Washington.