Analyzing Guess? (NYSE:GES) & Oxford Industries (NYSE:OXM)

Oxford Industries (NYSE:OXM) and Guess? (NYSE:GES) are both small-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, risk, valuation, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Oxford Industries and Guess?, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Oxford Industries	2	5	0	0	1.71
Guess?	0	4	0	1	2.40

Oxford Industries currently has a consensus price target of $54.40, suggesting a potential upside of 48.63%. Guess? has a consensus price target of $16.75, suggesting a potential downside of 1.15%. Given Oxford Industries’ higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Oxford Industries is more favorable than Guess?.

Profitability

This table compares Oxford Industries and Guess?’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Oxford Industries	3.80%	10.99%	5.15%
Guess?	1.01%	16.44%	3.05%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Oxford Industries and Guess?”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Oxford Industries	$1.49 billion	0.36	$92.97 million	$3.70	9.89
Guess?	$3.09 billion	0.29	$60.42 million	$0.16	105.91

Oxford Industries has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Guess?. Oxford Industries is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Guess?, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Dividends

Oxford Industries pays an annual dividend of $2.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.5%. Guess? pays an annual dividend of $0.90 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.3%. Oxford Industries pays out 74.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Guess? pays out 562.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Oxford Industries has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years and Guess? has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Oxford Industries is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

91.2% of Oxford Industries shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.7% of Guess? shares are owned by institutional investors. 6.0% of Oxford Industries shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 33.7% of Guess? shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Oxford Industries has a beta of 1.3, meaning that its share price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Guess? has a beta of 1.28, meaning that its share price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Oxford Industries beats Guess? on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Oxford Industries

Oxford Industries, Inc., an apparel company, designs, sources, markets, and distributes products of lifestyle and other brands worldwide. The company offers men's and women's sportswear and related products under the Tommy Bahama brand; and women's and girl's dresses and sportswear, scarves, bags, jewelry, and belts, as well as children's apparel, swim, footwear, and licensed products under the Lilly Pulitzer brand. In addition, the company licenses Tommy Bahama brand for various products, such as indoor and outdoor furniture, beach chairs, bedding and bath linens, fabrics, leather goods and gifts, headwear, hosiery, sleepwear, shampoo, toiletries, fragrances, cigar accessories, distilled spirits, and other products; and Lilly Pulitzer for stationery and gift products, home furnishing products, and eyewear. The company distribute its products through southerntide.com, thebeaufortbonnetcompany.com, and duckhead.com; and specialty retailers. It offers products through its retail stores, department stores, specialty stores, multi-branded e-commerce retailers, off-price retailers, and other retailers, as well as e-commerce sites. The company operates brand-specific full-price retail stores; Tommy Bahama food and beverage locations; and Tommy Bahama outlet stores. Oxford Industries, Inc. was founded in 1942 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

About Guess?

Guess?, Inc. designs, markets, distributes, and licenses lifestyle collections of apparel and accessories for men, women, and children. It operates through five segments: Americas Retail, Americas Wholesale, Europe, Asia, and Licensing. The company’s clothing collection includes jeans, pants, skirts, dresses, shorts, blouses, shirts, jackets, activewear, knitwear, and intimate apparel. It also grants licenses to design, manufacture, and distribute various products that complement its apparel lines, such as eyewear, watches, handbags, footwear, kids’ and infants’ apparel, outerwear, fragrance, jewelry, and other fashion accessories, as well as to wholesale partners to operate and sell products through licensed retail stores. The company markets its products under the GUESS, GUESS?, GUESS U.S.A., GUESS Jeans, GUESS? and Triangle Design, MARCIANO, Question Mark and Triangle Design, a stylized G and a stylized M, GUESS Kids, Baby GUESS, YES, G by GUESS, GUESS by MARCIANO, and Gc brand names. It sells its products through direct-to-consumer, wholesale, and licensing distribution channels, as well as through its retail websites. Guess?, Inc. was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.