Comparing Sportsman’s Warehouse (NASDAQ:SPWH) & Children’s Place (NASDAQ:PLCE)

Sportsman’s Warehouse (NASDAQ:SPWH) and Children’s Place (NASDAQ:PLCE) are both small-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, risk and profitability.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Sportsman’s Warehouse and Children’s Place”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sportsman’s Warehouse	$1.21 billion	0.05	-$50.06 million	($1.30)	-1.14
Children’s Place	$1.39 billion	0.06	-$57.82 million	($2.62)	-1.52

Sportsman’s Warehouse has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Children’s Place. Children’s Place is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Sportsman’s Warehouse, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Sportsman’s Warehouse and Children’s Place, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sportsman’s Warehouse	1	1	3	0	2.40
Children’s Place	1	1	0	0	1.50

Sportsman’s Warehouse presently has a consensus price target of $2.94, suggesting a potential upside of 98.48%. Children’s Place has a consensus price target of $4.50, suggesting a potential upside of 13.35%. Given Sportsman’s Warehouse’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Sportsman’s Warehouse is more favorable than Children’s Place.

Volatility and Risk

Sportsman’s Warehouse has a beta of 0.46, suggesting that its stock price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Children’s Place has a beta of 2.01, suggesting that its stock price is 101% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

83.0% of Sportsman’s Warehouse shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.7% of Sportsman’s Warehouse shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Children’s Place 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.

Profitability

This table compares Sportsman’s Warehouse and Children’s Place’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sportsman’s Warehouse	-4.14%	-10.30%	-2.38%
Children’s Place	-4.01%	N/A	-6.44%

Summary

Sportsman’s Warehouse beats Children’s Place on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sportsman’s Warehouse

Sportsman’s Warehouse Holdings, Inc. engages in the retail of sporting and athletic goods. Its products include hunting and shooting, archery, fishing, camping, boating accessories, optics and electronics, knives and tools, and footwear. The company was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in West Jordan, UT.

About Children’s Place

The Children’s Place, Inc. engages in the provision of apparel, footwear, accessories, and other items for children. The firm also designs contracts to manufacture and sell fashionable and value-priced merchandise under the brand names of The Children’s Place, Baby Place, and Gymboree. It operates through The Children’s Place U.S. and The Children’s Place International segments. The Children’s Place U.S. segment refers to the company’s U.S. and Puerto Rico-based stores and revenue from its U.S. based wholesale business. The Children’s Place International segment is involved in the Canadian-based stores, revenue from the company’s Canadian-based wholesale business, as well as revenue from international franchisees. The company was founded by David Pulver and Clinton A. Clark in 1969 and is headquartered in Secaucus, NJ.