Comparing Kontoor Brands (NYSE:KTB) and Amer Sports (NYSE:AS)

Amer Sports (NYSE:AS) and Kontoor Brands (NYSE:KTB) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation and dividends.

Risk and Volatility

Amer Sports has a beta of 2.04, suggesting that its stock price is 104% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kontoor Brands has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its stock price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Amer Sports and Kontoor Brands”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Amer Sports	$6.57 billion	2.48	$427.40 million	$0.95	30.96
Kontoor Brands	$3.15 billion	1.28	$227.45 million	$4.79	15.47

Amer Sports has higher revenue and earnings than Kontoor Brands. Kontoor Brands is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Amer Sports, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

40.3% of Amer Sports shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.1% of Kontoor Brands shares are held by institutional investors. 1.8% of Kontoor Brands shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Amer Sports and Kontoor Brands, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Amer Sports	0	3	12	1	2.88
Kontoor Brands	1	4	7	0	2.50

Amer Sports presently has a consensus target price of $44.59, suggesting a potential upside of 51.60%. Kontoor Brands has a consensus target price of $96.56, suggesting a potential upside of 30.28%. Given Amer Sports’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Amer Sports is more favorable than Kontoor Brands.

Profitability

This table compares Amer Sports and Kontoor Brands’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Amer Sports	7.35%	11.18%	7.02%
Kontoor Brands	8.21%	59.71%	12.94%

Summary

Amer Sports beats Kontoor Brands on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Amer Sports

Amer Sports, Inc. designs, manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells sports equipment, apparel, footwear, and accessories in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, China, and the Asia Pacific. It operates through three segments: Technical Apparel, Outdoor Performance, and Ball & Racquet Sports. The Technical Apparel segment offers outdoor apparel, footwear, and accessories which includes climbing gear. The Outdoor Performance segment provides hiking and running footwear, functional apparel, skiing and snowboarding gear, and lifestyle footwear. The Ball & Racquet Sports segment offers sports equipment for tennis, baseball, american football, basketball, golf, and various other professional and recreational sports. This segment provides custom-fitting protective gear and apparel for baseball, softball, football, and lacrosse. It sells its products under the Arc'teryx, PeakPerformance, Salomon, Atomic, Armada, ENVE, Wilson, Louisville Slugger, DeMarini, EvoShield, and ATEC brands. The company distributes its products through retail stores, general sporting goods retailers, specialty stores, independently operated partner stores, and distributors, as well as its e-commerce websites, and retailer-owned and third-party e-commerce websites. The company was formerly known as Amer Sports Management Holding (Cayman) Limited and changed its name to Amer Sports, Inc. in August 2023. Amer Sports, Inc. was founded in 1950 and is based in Helsinki, Finland.

About Kontoor Brands

Kontoor Brands, Inc., a lifestyle apparel company, designs, produces, procures, markets, distributes, and licenses denim, apparel, footwear, and accessories, primarily under the Wrangler and Lee brands. The company operates through two segments: Wrangler and Lee. It licenses and sells apparel under the Rock & Republic brand name. The company sells its products primarily through mass merchants, specialty stores, mid-tier and traditional department stores, company-operated stores, and online. It operates in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific regions. Kontoor Brands, Inc. was incorporated in 2018 and is headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina.