Kirkland’s (NASDAQ:KIRK) vs. Home Depot (NYSE:HD) Head-To-Head Review

Home Depot (NYSE:HD) and Kirkland’s (NASDAQ:KIRK) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, risk and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Home Depot and Kirkland’s, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Home Depot	0	7	20	1	2.79
Kirkland’s	0	0	1	1	3.50

Home Depot currently has a consensus price target of $426.77, indicating a potential upside of 18.77%. Kirkland’s has a consensus price target of $4.50, indicating a potential upside of 275.00%. Given Kirkland’s’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Kirkland’s is more favorable than Home Depot.

Profitability

This table compares Home Depot and Kirkland’s’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Home Depot	8.98%	242.51%	15.45%
Kirkland’s	-6.06%	N/A	-8.47%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Home Depot and Kirkland’s”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Home Depot	$162.95 billion	2.19	$14.81 billion	$14.74	24.38
Kirkland’s	$441.36 million	0.06	-$23.13 million	($1.73)	-0.69

Home Depot has higher revenue and earnings than Kirkland’s. Kirkland’s is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Home Depot, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

70.9% of Home Depot shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 15.4% of Kirkland’s shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of Home Depot shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 3.0% of Kirkland’s shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Home Depot has a beta of 1, meaning that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Kirkland’s has a beta of 2.38, meaning that its share price is 138% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Home Depot beats Kirkland’s on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Home Depot

The Home Depot, Inc. operates as a home improvement retailer in the United States and internationally. It sells various building materials, home improvement products, lawn and garden products, and décor products, as well as facilities maintenance, repair, and operations products. The company also offers installation services for flooring, water heaters, bath, garage doors, cabinets, cabinet makeovers, countertops, sheds, furnaces and central air systems, and windows. In addition, it provides tool and equipment rental services. The company primarily serves homeowners; and professional renovators/remodelers, general contractors, maintenance professionals, handymen, property managers, and building service contractors, as well as specialty tradesmen, such as electricians, plumbers, and painters. It sells its products through websites, including homedepot.com; homedepot.ca and homedepot.com.mx; blinds.com, justblinds.com, and americanblinds.com for custom window coverings; thecompanystore.com, an online site for textiles and décor products; hdsupply.com for maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) products and related services; and The Home Depot stores. The Home Depot, Inc. was incorporated in 1978 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

About Kirkland’s

Kirkland’s, Inc. operates as a specialty retailer of home décor and furnishings in the United States. Its stores provide various merchandise, including holiday décor, furniture, textiles, ornamental wall décor, decorative accessories, art, mirrors, home fragrance, lighting, floral, housewares, outdoor, and gifts. The company operates its stores under the Kirkland’s, Kirkland’s Home, Kirkland’s Home Outlet, Kirkland’s Outlet, and Kirkland Collection names. It also operates an e-commerce website, kirklands.com. The company was founded in 1966 and is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee.