Reviewing Columbia Sportswear (COLM) & Its Rivals

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

47.8% of Columbia Sportswear shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 68.2% of shares of all “TEXTILE – APPAREL” companies are owned by institutional investors. 48.3% of Columbia Sportswear shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 17.3% of shares of all “TEXTILE – APPAREL” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk and Volatility

Columbia Sportswear has a beta of 0.89, suggesting that its share price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Columbia Sportswear’s rivals have a beta of 3.28, suggesting that their average share price is 228% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for Columbia Sportswear and its rivals, as provided 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	601	3364	4362	162	2.48

Columbia Sportswear currently has a consensus price target of $60.50, indicating a potential downside of 0.48%. As a group, “TEXTILE – APPAREL” companies have a potential upside of 7.26%. Given Columbia Sportswear’s rivals stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Columbia Sportswear has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Profitability

This table compares Columbia Sportswear and its rivals’ 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%	-40.82%	4.60%

Dividends

Columbia Sportswear pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. 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 1.7% and pay out 47.6% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Columbia Sportswear is clearly a better dividend stock than its rivals, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Columbia Sportswear and its rivals gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Columbia Sportswear	$3.40 billion	$177.22 million	18.76
Columbia Sportswear Competitors	$6.66 billion	$514.29 million	19.80

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

Summary

Columbia Sportswear rivals beat Columbia Sportswear 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.