Vera Bradley (NASDAQ:VRA) & Lulu’s Fashion Lounge (NASDAQ:LVLU) Head-To-Head Comparison

Lulu’s Fashion Lounge (NASDAQ:LVLU) and Vera Bradley (NASDAQ:VRA) are both small-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, profitability, risk, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Risk and Volatility

Lulu’s Fashion Lounge has a beta of 0.37, indicating that its share price is 63% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vera Bradley has a beta of 1.78, indicating that its share price is 78% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

73.8% of Lulu’s Fashion Lounge shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 59.9% of Vera Bradley shares are held by institutional investors. 6.8% of Lulu’s Fashion Lounge shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 12.1% of Vera Bradley shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Lulu’s Fashion Lounge and Vera Bradley”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Lulu’s Fashion Lounge	$315.89 million	0.06	-$55.29 million	($16.16)	-0.42
Vera Bradley	$371.97 million	0.23	-$62.19 million	($3.50)	-0.88

Lulu’s Fashion Lounge has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Vera Bradley. Vera Bradley is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Lulu’s Fashion Lounge, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Lulu’s Fashion Lounge and Vera Bradley, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lulu’s Fashion Lounge	1	1	0	0	1.50
Vera Bradley	1	2	0	0	1.67

Lulu’s Fashion Lounge presently has a consensus price target of $15.00, suggesting a potential upside of 121.57%. Given Lulu’s Fashion Lounge’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Lulu’s Fashion Lounge is more favorable than Vera Bradley.

Profitability

This table compares Lulu’s Fashion Lounge and Vera Bradley’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lulu’s Fashion Lounge	-15.83%	-251.91%	-15.75%
Vera Bradley	-34.23%	-18.30%	-10.02%

Summary

Vera Bradley beats Lulu’s Fashion Lounge on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Lulu’s Fashion Lounge

Lulu’s Fashion Lounge Holdings, Inc. engages in providing an online website for clothing. It offers retailing of women’s clothing, shoes, and accessories. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Chico, CA.

About Vera Bradley

Vera Bradley, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and sells women’s handbags, luggage and travel items, fashion and home accessories, and gifts. It operates through three segments: Vera Bradley Direct, Vera Bradley Indirect, and Pura Vida. The company offers bag products, such as totes, crossbodies, satchels, clutches, backpacks, baby bags, and lunch bags; accessories, including ID holders, lanyards, wallets, wristlets, eyewear, scarves, hair accessories, and various technology accessories; bracelets, rings, and necklaces under Pura Vida brand name; and travel products consist of rolling luggage, cosmetics, and travel and packing accessories, as well as travel bags comprising duffel and weekend bags. It also provides home products that include throw blankets, beach towels, and comforters, as well as items, such as mugs and tumblers; apparel/footwear comprising sleepwear, footwear, outerwear, tees and hoodies, and socks; and stationery and merchandising products, as well as freight, licensing, and gift card breakage services. The company sells its Vera Bradley branded products through its full-line and outlet stores in the United States; verabradley.com, an online outlet site; its annual outlet sale in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It sells its Pura Vida branded products through wholesale retailers and Pura Vida websites, including www.puravidabracelets.com, www.puravidabracelets.eu, and www.puravidabracelets.ca; and Vera Bradley Indirect branded products to specialty retail locations, department stores, national accounts, third party e-commerce sites, third-party inventory liquidators, and through licensing agreements. Vera Bradley, Inc. was incorporated in 1982 and is headquartered in Roanoke, Indiana.