Head-To-Head Comparison: Guess? (NYSE:GES) and PVH (NYSE:PVH)

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

Volatility and Risk

Guess? has a beta of 1.23, indicating that its share price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, PVH has a beta of 1.81, indicating that its share price is 81% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Guess? pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 9.3%. PVH pays an annual dividend of $0.15 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Guess? pays out -500.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. PVH pays out 2.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Guess? has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Guess? is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Guess? and PVH, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Guess?	0	2	0	0	2.00
PVH	0	6	10	0	2.63

Guess? currently has a consensus target price of $12.50, indicating a potential downside of 3.33%. PVH has a consensus target price of $98.27, indicating a potential upside of 34.56%. Given PVH’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe PVH is more favorable than Guess?.

Valuation and Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Guess?	$3.00 billion	0.22	$60.42 million	($0.24)	-53.88
PVH	$8.65 billion	0.41	$598.50 million	$7.09	10.30

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Guess?	0.47%	18.25%	3.43%
PVH	4.63%	12.66%	5.80%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

61.7% of Guess? shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 97.3% of PVH shares are owned by institutional investors. 33.7% of Guess? shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of PVH shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

PVH beats Guess? on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About PVH

PVH Corp. operates as an apparel company in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Tommy Hilfiger North America, Tommy Hilfiger International, Calvin Klein North America, Calvin Klein International, and Heritage Brands Wholesale segments. It designs and markets men's, women's, and children's branded apparel, footwear and accessories, underwear, sleepwear, outerwear, home furnishings, luggage, dresses, suits and swimwear, activewear, sportswear, socks and accessories, outerwear, golf products, footwear, watches and jewelry, eyeglasses and non-ophthalmic sunglasses, jeans wear, performance apparel, intimate apparel, dress shirts, handbags, fragrance, small leather goods, and other related products; and men's and boy's tailored clothing products, duvets, pillows, mattress pads and toppers, and feather beds. The company offers its products under its own brands, such as TOMMY HILFIGER, TOMMY JEANS, Calvin Klein, CK Calvin Klein, Calvin Klein Jeans, Calvin Klein Underwear, and Calvin Klein Performance, as well as various other owned, licensed, and private label brands. It distributes its products at wholesale in department, chain, and specialty stores; through warehouse clubs, mass market, and off-price and independent retailers; and through company-operated full-price, outlet stores, and concession locations; and through digital commerce sites. PVH Corp. was founded in 1881 and is based in New York, New York.