Critical Comparison: Columbia Sportswear (COLM) & Its Competitors

Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM) is one of 37 publicly-traded companies in the “TEXTILE – APPAREL” industry, but how does it compare to its peers? We will compare Columbia Sportswear to similar businesses based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, valuation, risk, institutional ownership and profitability.

Dividends

Columbia Sportswear pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Columbia Sportswear pays out 37.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “TEXTILE – APPAREL” companies pay a dividend yield of 1.9% and pay out 47.5% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Columbia Sportswear is clearly a better dividend stock than its peers, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Columbia Sportswear and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Columbia Sportswear	1	5	2	1	2.33
Columbia Sportswear Competitors	596	3362	4356	156	2.48

Columbia Sportswear presently has a consensus target price of $60.50, suggesting a potential upside of 8.87%. As a group, “TEXTILE – APPAREL” companies have a potential upside of 18.86%. Given Columbia Sportswear’s peers stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Columbia Sportswear has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

47.8% of Columbia Sportswear shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 68.2% of shares of all “TEXTILE – APPAREL” companies are held by institutional investors. 48.3% of Columbia Sportswear shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 17.3% of shares of all “TEXTILE – APPAREL” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

Columbia Sportswear has a beta of 0.89, meaning that its stock price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Columbia Sportswear’s peers have a beta of 0.79, meaning that their average stock price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Columbia Sportswear and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Columbia Sportswear	5.22%	12.03%	7.20%
Columbia Sportswear Competitors	2.89%	-40.80%	4.60%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Columbia Sportswear and its peers gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Columbia Sportswear	$3.40 billion	$177.22 million	17.15
Columbia Sportswear Competitors	$6.62 billion	$533.37 million	18.06

Columbia Sportswear’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than Columbia Sportswear. Columbia Sportswear is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Columbia Sportswear beats its peers on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

Columbia Sportswear Company Profile

Columbia Sportswear Company, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, markets, and distributes outdoor, active, and everyday lifestyle apparel, footwear, accessories, and equipment in the United States, Latin America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Canada. The company provides apparel, accessories, and equipment for hiking, trail running, snow, fishing, hunting, mountaineering, climbing, skiing and snowboarding, trail, and outdoor activities. It offers footwear products that include lightweight hiking boot; trail running shoes; rugged cold weather boots; sandals and shoes for use in water activities; and footwear for lifestyle wear. In addition, it owned network of branded and outlet retail stores; brand-specific e-commerce sites; and concession or franchise-based arrangements with third parties at branded outlet and shop-in-shop retail locations, as well as through independently operated specialty outdoor and sporting goods stores, sporting goods chains, department store chains, internet retailers, and international distributors. The company sells its products under the Columbia, Mountain Hard Wear, SOREL, and prAna brand names. Columbia Sportswear Company was founded in 1938 and is headquartered in Portland, Oregon.