Contrasting Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM) and Fossil Group (NASDAQ:FOSL)

Fossil Group (NASDAQ:FOSL) and Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, profitability and risk.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Fossil Group and Columbia Sportswear, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Fossil Group	1	1	3	1	2.67
Columbia Sportswear	1	3	2	0	2.17

Fossil Group currently has a consensus price target of $9.25, indicating a potential upside of 30.65%. Columbia Sportswear has a consensus price target of $65.40, indicating a potential upside of 15.69%. Given Fossil Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Fossil Group is more favorable than Columbia Sportswear.

Profitability

This table compares Fossil Group and Columbia Sportswear’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Fossil Group	-7.09%	-59.76%	-7.53%
Columbia Sportswear	6.05%	11.20%	6.67%

Volatility & Risk

Fossil Group has a beta of 1.55, indicating that its share price is 55% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Columbia Sportswear has a beta of 0.93, indicating that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Fossil Group and Columbia Sportswear”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Fossil Group	$1.00 billion	0.42	-$78.30 million	($1.28)	-5.53
Columbia Sportswear	$3.40 billion	0.85	$177.22 million	$3.85	14.68

Columbia Sportswear has higher revenue and earnings than Fossil Group. Fossil Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Columbia Sportswear, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

61.1% of Fossil Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.8% of Columbia Sportswear shares are held by institutional investors. 3.8% of Fossil Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 51.9% of Columbia Sportswear shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Columbia Sportswear beats Fossil Group on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Fossil Group

Fossil Group, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, markets, and distributes consumer fashion accessories in the United States, Europe, Asia, and internationally. The company’s products include traditional watches, smartwatches, jewelry, handbags, small leather goods, belts, and sunglasses. It also manufactures and distributes private label brands, as well as branded products purchased for resell in other branded retail stores. The company offers its products under its proprietary brands, such as FOSSIL, SKAGEN, MICHELE, RELIC, and ZODIAC; and under the licensed brands, including ARMANI EXCHANGE, DIESEL, DKNY, EMPORIO ARMANI, KATE SPADE NEW YORK, MICHAEL KORS, TORY BURCH, and Skechers. The company sells its products through company-owned retail and outlet stores, department and specialty retail stores, mass market stores, e-commerce sites, licensed and franchised FOSSIL retail stores, and retail concessions, as well as sells its products on airlines. The company was formerly known as Fossil, Inc. and changed its name to Fossil Group, Inc. in May 2013. Fossil Group, Inc. was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Richardson, Texas.

About Columbia Sportswear

Columbia Sportswear Company, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, markets, and distributes outdoor, active, and everyday lifestyle apparel, footwear, accessories, and equipment in the United States, Latin America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Canada. The company provides apparel, accessories, and equipment for hiking, trail running, snow, fishing, hunting, mountaineering, climbing, skiing and snowboarding, trail, and outdoor activities. It offers footwear products that include lightweight hiking boot; trail running shoes; rugged cold weather boots; sandals and shoes for use in water activities; and footwear for lifestyle wear. In addition, it owned network of branded and outlet retail stores; brand-specific e-commerce sites; and concession or franchise-based arrangements with third parties at branded outlet and shop-in-shop retail locations, as well as through independently operated specialty outdoor and sporting goods stores, sporting goods chains, department store chains, internet retailers, and international distributors. The company sells its products under the Columbia, Mountain Hard Wear, SOREL, and prAna brand names. Columbia Sportswear Company was founded in 1938 and is headquartered in Portland, Oregon.