Head-To-Head Analysis: Oxford Industries (NYSE:OXM) & Guess? (NYSE:GES)

Oxford Industries (NYSE:OXM) and Guess? (NYSE:GES) are both small-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations and earnings.

Volatility & Risk

Oxford Industries has a beta of 1.3, meaning that its stock price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Guess? has a beta of 1.28, meaning that its stock price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Oxford Industries pays an annual dividend of $2.76 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.4%. Guess? pays an annual dividend of $0.90 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.3%. Oxford Industries pays out 74.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Guess? pays out 562.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Oxford Industries has increased its dividend for 5 consecutive years and Guess? has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Oxford Industries is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Oxford Industries and Guess?”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Oxford Industries	$1.49 billion	0.37	$92.97 million	$3.70	10.02
Guess?	$3.09 billion	0.29	$60.42 million	$0.16	105.97

Oxford Industries has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Guess?. Oxford Industries is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Guess?, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Oxford Industries and Guess?, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Oxford Industries	3	4	0	0	1.57
Guess?	0	4	0	1	2.40

Oxford Industries presently has a consensus price target of $54.40, indicating a potential upside of 46.66%. Guess? has a consensus price target of $16.75, indicating a potential downside of 1.21%. Given Oxford Industries’ higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Oxford Industries is more favorable than Guess?.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

91.2% of Oxford Industries shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 61.7% of Guess? shares are held by institutional investors. 6.0% of Oxford Industries shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 33.7% of Guess? shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Oxford Industries and Guess?’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Oxford Industries	3.80%	10.99%	5.15%
Guess?	1.01%	16.44%	3.05%

Summary

Oxford Industries beats Guess? on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Oxford Industries

Oxford Industries, Inc., an apparel company, designs, sources, markets, and distributes products of lifestyle and other brands worldwide. The company offers men's and women's sportswear and related products under the Tommy Bahama brand; and women's and girl's dresses and sportswear, scarves, bags, jewelry, and belts, as well as children's apparel, swim, footwear, and licensed products under the Lilly Pulitzer brand. In addition, the company licenses Tommy Bahama brand for various products, such as indoor and outdoor furniture, beach chairs, bedding and bath linens, fabrics, leather goods and gifts, headwear, hosiery, sleepwear, shampoo, toiletries, fragrances, cigar accessories, distilled spirits, and other products; and Lilly Pulitzer for stationery and gift products, home furnishing products, and eyewear. The company distribute its products through southerntide.com, thebeaufortbonnetcompany.com, and duckhead.com; and specialty retailers. It offers products through its retail stores, department stores, specialty stores, multi-branded e-commerce retailers, off-price retailers, and other retailers, as well as e-commerce sites. The company operates brand-specific full-price retail stores; Tommy Bahama food and beverage locations; and Tommy Bahama outlet stores. Oxford Industries, Inc. was founded in 1942 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

About Guess?

Guess?, Inc. designs, markets, distributes, and licenses lifestyle collections of apparel and accessories for men, women, and children. It operates through five segments: Americas Retail, Americas Wholesale, Europe, Asia, and Licensing. The company’s clothing collection includes jeans, pants, skirts, dresses, shorts, blouses, shirts, jackets, activewear, knitwear, and intimate apparel. It also grants licenses to design, manufacture, and distribute various products that complement its apparel lines, such as eyewear, watches, handbags, footwear, kids’ and infants’ apparel, outerwear, fragrance, jewelry, and other fashion accessories, as well as to wholesale partners to operate and sell products through licensed retail stores. The company markets its products under the GUESS, GUESS?, GUESS U.S.A., GUESS Jeans, GUESS? and Triangle Design, MARCIANO, Question Mark and Triangle Design, a stylized G and a stylized M, GUESS Kids, Baby GUESS, YES, G by GUESS, GUESS by MARCIANO, and Gc brand names. It sells its products through direct-to-consumer, wholesale, and licensing distribution channels, as well as through its retail websites. Guess?, Inc. was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.