Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ:URBN) vs. Signet Jewelers (NYSE:SIG) Financial Comparison

Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ:URBN) and Signet Jewelers (NYSE:SIG) are both mid-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Urban Outfitters and Signet Jewelers, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Urban Outfitters	0	7	8	0	2.53
Signet Jewelers	0	7	5	0	2.42

Urban Outfitters presently has a consensus target price of $89.75, indicating a potential upside of 14.21%. Signet Jewelers has a consensus target price of $125.56, indicating a potential upside of 25.60%. Given Signet Jewelers’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Signet Jewelers is more favorable than Urban Outfitters.

Profitability

This table compares Urban Outfitters and Signet Jewelers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Urban Outfitters	8.79%	18.64%	10.34%
Signet Jewelers	5.19%	23.28%	7.61%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Urban Outfitters and Signet Jewelers”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Urban Outfitters	$6.17 billion	1.09	$464.92 million	$6.41	12.26
Signet Jewelers	$6.81 billion	0.58	$294.40 million	$8.68	11.52

Urban Outfitters has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Signet Jewelers. Signet Jewelers is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Urban Outfitters, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

77.6% of Urban Outfitters shares are held by institutional investors. 32.1% of Urban Outfitters shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.2% of Signet Jewelers shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Urban Outfitters has a beta of 1.26, indicating that its stock price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Signet Jewelers has a beta of 1.11, indicating that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Urban Outfitters beats Signet Jewelers on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Urban Outfitters

Urban Outfitters, Inc. engages in the retail and wholesale of general consumer products. The company operates through three segments: Retail, Wholesale, and Nuuly. It operates Urban Outfitters stores, which offer women's and men's fashion apparel, activewear, intimates, footwear, accessories, home goods, electronics, and beauty products for young adults aged 18 to 28; and Anthropologie stores that provide women's apparel, accessories, intimates, shoes, and home furnishings, as well as gifts, decorative items, and beauty and wellness products for women aged 28 to 45. The company also operates Terrain stores that provide lifestyle home products, garden and outdoor living products, antiques, live plants, flowers, wellness products, and accessories. In addition, it operates Free People retail stores, which offer casual women's apparel, intimates, activewear, shoes, accessories, home products, gifts, and beauty and wellness products for young women aged 25 to 30; and restaurants, as well as women's apparel subscription rental service under the Nuuly brand. Further, the company is involved in the wholesale of young women's contemporary casual apparel, intimates, activewear, and shoes under the Free People brand; and apparel collections under the Urban Outfitters brand. The company serves its customers directly through retail stores, websites, mobile applications, catalogs and customer contact centers, franchisee-owned stores, and department and specialty stores, as well as social media and third-party digital platforms. Urban Outfitters, Inc. was founded in 1970 and is based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

About Signet Jewelers

Signet Jewelers Limited operates as a diamond jewelry retailer. It operates through three segments: North America, International, and Other. The North America segment operates jewelry stores in jewelry stores in malls, mall-based kiosks, and off-mall locations in the United States and Canada primarily under the Kay Jewelers, Kay Jewelers Outlet, Jared The Galleria Of Jewelry, Jared Vault, Zales Outlet, Zales Jewelers, Diamonds Direct, James Allen, Banter by Piercing Pagoda, and Peoples Jewellers names, as well as operates online through its digital banners, James Allen and Blue Nile. This segment also engages in jewelry subscription business. The International segment operates stores in shopping malls and off-mall locations primarily under the H.Samuel and Ernest Jones brands in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, and Channel Islands. The Other segment is involved in the purchase and conversion of rough diamonds to polished stones, as well as the provision of diamond polishing services. Signet Jewelers Limited is based in Hamilton, Bermuda.