Critical Analysis: Asos Pls (OTCMKTS:ASOMY) & a.k.a. Brands (NYSE:AKA)

a.k.a. Brands (NYSE:AKA) and Asos Pls (OTCMKTS:ASOMY) are both small-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends, risk and earnings.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for a.k.a. Brands and Asos Pls, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
a.k.a. Brands	1	2	1	0	2.00
Asos Pls	0	0	0	2	4.00

a.k.a. Brands presently has a consensus target price of $19.00, suggesting a potential upside of 79.08%. Given a.k.a. Brands’ higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe a.k.a. Brands is more favorable than Asos Pls.

Volatility and Risk

a.k.a. Brands has a beta of 1.5, indicating that its share price is 50% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Asos Pls has a beta of 2.21, indicating that its share price is 121% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares a.k.a. Brands and Asos Pls”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
a.k.a. Brands	$600.21 million	0.19	-$31.43 million	($2.81)	-3.78
Asos Pls	$3.23 billion	0.12	-$388.99 million	N/A	N/A

a.k.a. Brands has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Asos Pls.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

55.4% of a.k.a. Brands shares are held by institutional investors. 18.2% of a.k.a. Brands shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares a.k.a. Brands and Asos Pls’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
a.k.a. Brands	-5.00%	-23.32%	-6.01%
Asos Pls	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Asos Pls beats a.k.a. Brands on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About a.k.a. Brands

a.k.a. Brands Holding Corp. operates a portfolio of online fashion brands in the United States, Australia, and internationally. The company offers streetwear apparel, dresses, tops, bottoms, shoes, headwear, and accessories through its online stores under the Princess Polly, Petal & Pup, Culture Kings, and mnml brands. It also operates physical stores under the Culture Kings brand. The company was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

About Asos Pls

ASOS Plc operates as an online fashion retailer in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, Poland, and internationally. It offers womenswear and menswear products. The company sells its products under the ASOS Design, ASOS Edition, ASOS Luxe, ASOS 4505, Collusion, Reclaimed Vintage, Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge, HIIT, AsYou, Dark Future, UNRVLLD/SPPLY, Crooked Tongues, Daysocial, Actual, and Weekend Collective brands, as well as through third-party brands. It is also involved in the employer of marketing staff and payment processing businesses, as well as acts as a vehicle for issue of convertible bonds. ASOS Plc was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.