Children’s Place (NASDAQ:PLCE) and Vera Bradley (NASDAQ:VRA) Head-To-Head Survey

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

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Children’s Place	-7.30%	N/A	-10.79%
Vera Bradley	-17.74%	-12.00%	-6.48%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

59.9% of Vera Bradley shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of Children’s Place shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 10.5% of Vera Bradley shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Children’s Place has a beta of 2.01, indicating that its share price is 101% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Vera Bradley has a beta of 1.59, indicating that its share price is 59% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Children’s Place and Vera Bradley, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Children’s Place	1	1	0	0	1.50
Vera Bradley	1	2	0	0	1.67

Children’s Place currently has a consensus price target of $3.50, indicating a potential downside of 1.96%. Given Children’s Place’s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Children’s Place is more favorable than Vera Bradley.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Children’s Place and Vera Bradley”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Children’s Place	$1.21 billion	0.07	-$88.26 million	($4.01)	-0.89
Vera Bradley	$269.65 million	0.44	-$47.84 million	($1.72)	-2.48

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

Summary

Vera Bradley beats Children’s Place on 7 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Vera Bradley

Vera Bradley, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, manufactures, and sells women’s handbags, luggage and travel items, fashion and home accessories, and gifts. It operates through three segments: Vera Bradley Direct, Vera Bradley Indirect, and Pura Vida. The company offers bag products, such as totes, crossbodies, satchels, clutches, backpacks, baby bags, and lunch bags; accessories, including ID holders, lanyards, wallets, wristlets, eyewear, scarves, hair accessories, and various technology accessories; bracelets, rings, and necklaces under Pura Vida brand name; and travel products consist of rolling luggage, cosmetics, and travel and packing accessories, as well as travel bags comprising duffel and weekend bags. It also provides home products that include throw blankets, beach towels, and comforters, as well as items, such as mugs and tumblers; apparel/footwear comprising sleepwear, footwear, outerwear, tees and hoodies, and socks; and stationery and merchandising products, as well as freight, licensing, and gift card breakage services. The company sells its Vera Bradley branded products through its full-line and outlet stores in the United States; verabradley.com, an online outlet site; its annual outlet sale in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It sells its Pura Vida branded products through wholesale retailers and Pura Vida websites, including www.puravidabracelets.com, www.puravidabracelets.eu, and www.puravidabracelets.ca; and Vera Bradley Indirect branded products to specialty retail locations, department stores, national accounts, third party e-commerce sites, third-party inventory liquidators, and through licensing agreements. Vera Bradley, Inc. was incorporated in 1982 and is headquartered in Roanoke, Indiana.