Comparing Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) and Sportsman’s Warehouse (NASDAQ:SPWH)

Sportsman’s Warehouse (NASDAQ:SPWH) and Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, dividends and institutional ownership.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

83.0% of Sportsman’s Warehouse shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.1% of Bath & Body Works shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.8% of Sportsman’s Warehouse shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Bath & Body Works shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Sportsman’s Warehouse has a beta of 0.42, meaning that its share price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bath & Body Works has a beta of 1.38, meaning that its share price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bath & Body Works, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sportsman’s Warehouse	1	2	1	0	2.00
Bath & Body Works	1	13	4	0	2.17

Sportsman’s Warehouse currently has a consensus target price of $2.12, suggesting a potential upside of 63.46%. Bath & Body Works has a consensus target price of $22.29, suggesting a potential upside of 13.94%. Given Sportsman’s Warehouse’s higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe Sportsman’s Warehouse is more favorable than Bath & Body Works.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bath & Body Works”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sportsman’s Warehouse	$1.21 billion	0.04	-$50.06 million	($1.23)	-1.06
Bath & Body Works	$7.29 billion	0.54	$649.00 million	$3.84	5.09

Bath & Body Works has higher revenue and earnings than Sportsman’s Warehouse. Sportsman’s Warehouse is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Bath & Body Works, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bath & Body Works’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sportsman’s Warehouse	-3.94%	-10.50%	-2.29%
Bath & Body Works	10.83%	-53.48%	13.40%

Summary

Bath & Body Works beats Sportsman’s Warehouse on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sportsman’s Warehouse

Sportsman’s Warehouse Holdings, Inc. engages in the retail of sporting and athletic goods. Its products include hunting and shooting, archery, fishing, camping, boating accessories, optics and electronics, knives and tools, and footwear. The company was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in West Jordan, UT.

About Bath & Body Works

Bath & Body Works, Inc. is a specialty retailers and home to America’s Favorite Fragrances, offering a breadth of exclusive fragrances for the body and home, including the selling collections for fine fragrance mist, body lotion and body cream, 3-wick candles, home fragrance diffusers and liquid hand soap. The company was founded by Leslie Herbert Wexner in 1963 and is headquartered in Columbus, OH.