Citi Trends (NASDAQ:CTRN) versus Children’s Place (NASDAQ:PLCE) Head to Head Contrast

Citi Trends (NASDAQ:CTRN) and Children’s Place (NASDAQ:PLCE) are both small-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, risk, dividends, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Citi Trends and Children’s Place”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Citi Trends	$753.08 million	0.39	-$43.17 million	($2.00)	-17.82
Children’s Place	$1.36 billion	0.08	-$57.82 million	($3.13)	-1.62

Citi Trends has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Children’s Place. Citi Trends is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Children’s Place, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations and price targets for Citi Trends and Children’s Place, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Citi Trends	0	0	2	0	3.00
Children’s Place	0	1	0	0	2.00

Citi Trends currently has a consensus price target of $39.50, indicating a potential upside of 10.86%. Children’s Place has a consensus price target of $6.00, indicating a potential upside of 18.34%. Given Children’s Place’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Children’s Place is more favorable than Citi Trends.

Profitability

This table compares Citi Trends and Children’s Place’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Citi Trends	-2.13%	-21.07%	-5.42%
Children’s Place	-3.97%	-10.32%	-1.49%

Volatility and Risk

Citi Trends has a beta of 2.07, indicating that its stock price is 107% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Children’s Place has a beta of 2.02, indicating that its stock price is 102% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Citi Trends beats Children’s Place on 7 of the 12 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Citi Trends

Citi Trends, Inc. operates as a value retailer of fashion apparel, accessories, and home goods. The company offers apparel, such as fashion sportswear and footwear for men and ladies, as well as apparel for kids, including newborns, infants, toddlers, boys, and girls; sleepwear, lingerie, and scrubs for ladies; and kids uniforms and accessories. It also provides accessories and beauty products that include handbags, luggage, hats, belts, sunglasses, jewelry, and watches, as well as offers outerwear for men and women. In addition, the company offers home and lifestyle products comprising home products for the bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and decorative accessories; and food, tech, team sports, health and products, as well as seasonal items, books, and toys. Citi Trends, Inc. provides its products primarily to African American and multicultural families in the United States. The company was formerly known as Allied Fashion, Inc. and changed its name to Citi Trends, Inc. in 2001. Citi Trends, Inc. was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Savannah, Georgia.

About Children’s Place

The Children’s Place, Inc. engages in the provision of apparel, footwear, accessories, and other items for children. The firm also designs contracts to manufacture and sell fashionable and value-priced merchandise under the brand names of The Children’s Place, Baby Place, and Gymboree. It operates through The Children’s Place U.S. and The Children’s Place International segments. The Children’s Place U.S. segment refers to the company’s U.S. and Puerto Rico-based stores and revenue from its U.S. based wholesale business. The Children’s Place International segment is involved in the Canadian-based stores, revenue from the company’s Canadian-based wholesale business, as well as revenue from international franchisees. The company was founded by David Pulver and Clinton A. Clark in 1969 and is headquartered in Secaucus, NJ.