Head to Head Comparison: Grasim Industries (OTCMKTS:GRSXY) vs. Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL)

Grasim Industries (OTCMKTS:GRSXY) and Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, dividends and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Grasim Industries and Gildan Activewear, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Grasim Industries	0	0	0	0	0.00
Gildan Activewear	0	1	11	0	2.92

Gildan Activewear has a consensus price target of $64.58, indicating a potential upside of 18.30%. Given Gildan Activewear’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Gildan Activewear is more favorable than Grasim Industries.

Risk and Volatility

Grasim Industries has a beta of -0.21, meaning that its share price is 121% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Gildan Activewear has a beta of 1.17, meaning that its share price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Grasim Industries pays an annual dividend of $0.10 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Gildan Activewear pays an annual dividend of $0.90 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Grasim Industries pays out 13.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Gildan Activewear pays out 28.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Gildan Activewear has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years. Gildan Activewear is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

82.8% of Gildan Activewear shares are held by institutional investors. 2.0% of Gildan Activewear shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Grasim Industries and Gildan Activewear’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Grasim Industries	2.71%	5.48%	1.75%
Gildan Activewear	14.55%	34.31%	13.06%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Grasim Industries and Gildan Activewear”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Grasim Industries	$17.74 billion	0.75	$915.25 million	$0.73	26.86
Gildan Activewear	$3.27 billion	2.49	$400.86 million	$3.15	17.33

Grasim Industries has higher revenue and earnings than Gildan Activewear. Gildan Activewear is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Grasim Industries, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Gildan Activewear beats Grasim Industries on 13 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Grasim Industries

Grasim Industries Limited operates in fibre, yarn, pulp, chemicals, textile, fertilizers, and insulators businesses in India and internationally. The company operates through Viscose, Chemicals, Cement, Financial Services, and Others segments. It provides viscose staple fiber, a man-made biodegradable fiber for use in apparels, home textiles, dress materials, knit wear products, and non-woven applications; wood pulp products; viscose filament yarn, a natural fibre for manufacturing fabrics such as georgettes, crepes, chiffons, and others; and textile products, such as linen and wool. The company offers various chemical products, including chlor-alkali and epoxy resin products. In addition, it provides electrical insulators for transmission lines and substations, as well as equipment and railways. Further, the company offers grey cement; white cement; ready mix concrete; and cement-based putty. Additionally, it provides various financial services comprising non-bank financial, life insurance, asset management, housing finance, equity broking, wealth management, general insurance advisory, and health insurance services. The company involved in solar power designing, engineering procurement, and commissioning business. Grasim Industries Limited was incorporated in 1947 and is based in Mumbai, India.

About Gildan Activewear

Gildan Activewear Inc. manufactures and sells various apparel products in the United States, North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America. It provides various activewear products, including T-shirts, fleece tops and bottoms, and sports shirts under the Gildan, Gildan Performance, Gildan Hammer, Glidan Softstyle, Gildan Heavy Cotton, Gildan Ultra Cotton, Gildan DryBlend, Gildan HeavyBlend, Comfort Colors, and American Apparel brands. The company also offers hosiery products comprising athletic; dress; and casual, liner, therapeutic, and workwear socks under the Gildan, Under Armour, GoldToe, Signature Gold by Goldtoe, Peds, MediPeds, All Pro, and GoldTeo Edition TM brands. In addition, it provides men's and boys' underwear products, and ladies panties under the Gildan and Gildan Platinum brands. The company sells its products to wholesale distributors, screen printers, and embellishers, as well as to retailers and lifestyle brand companies. The company was formerly known as Textiles Gildan Inc. and changed its name to Gildan Activewear Inc. in March 1995. Gildan Activewear Inc. was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.