Duluth (NASDAQ:DLTH) vs. Guess? (NYSE:GES) Head-To-Head Review

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Duluth	-7.99%	-14.31%	-5.30%
Guess?	1.01%	16.44%	3.05%

Volatility and Risk

Duluth has a beta of 1.2, suggesting that its share price is 20% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Guess? has a beta of 1.24, suggesting that its share price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Duluth and Guess?, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Duluth	0	0	1	1	3.50
Guess?	0	3	0	0	2.00

Duluth presently has a consensus target price of $7.00, indicating a potential upside of 86.67%. Guess? has a consensus target price of $16.75, indicating a potential downside of 0.23%. Given Duluth’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Duluth is more favorable than Guess?.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Duluth and Guess?”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Duluth	$626.63 million	0.22	-$43.67 million	($1.43)	-2.62
Guess?	$3.00 billion	0.29	$60.42 million	$0.16	104.93

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

Insider & Institutional Ownership

24.4% of Duluth shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.7% of Guess? shares are held by institutional investors. 42.9% of Duluth shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 33.7% of Guess? shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Guess? beats Duluth on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Duluth

Duluth Holdings Inc. sells casual wear, workwear, and accessories for men and women under the Duluth Trading brand in the United States. It provides shirts, pants, underwear, tanks, outerwear, footwear, accessories, and hard goods. The company offers its products under various trademarks, trade names, and service marks, including Alaskan Hardgear, Armachillo, Ballroom, Bucket Master, Cab Commander, Crouch Gusset, Dry on the Fly, Duluth Trading Co, Duluthflex, Fire Hose, Longtail T, No-Yank, No Polo Shirt, Wild Boar Mocs, and Buck Naked. Duluth Holdings Inc. markets its products through its Website, catalogs, and retail stores. As of May 17, 2018, it operated 36 retail stores. The company was formerly known as GEMPLER'S, Inc. Duluth Holdings Inc. was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Belleville, Wisconsin.

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.