Carter's (CRI) Competitors

Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM) and Carter's (NYSE:CRI) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, earnings, media sentiment, valuation, risk and analyst recommendations.

Is COLM or CRI more profitable?

Columbia Sportswear has a net margin of 6.61% compared to Carter's' net margin of 5.80%. Carter's' return on equity of 23.50% beat Columbia Sportswear's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Columbia Sportswear	6.61%	12.57%	7.97%
Carter's	5.80%	23.50%	8.27%

Do analysts prefer COLM or CRI?

Columbia Sportswear currently has a consensus price target of $70.00, suggesting a potential upside of 9.79%. Carter's has a consensus price target of $36.80, suggesting a potential upside of 14.32%. Given Carter's' higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Carter's is more favorable than Columbia Sportswear.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Columbia Sportswear	1 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Carter's	3 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.40

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of COLM or CRI?

47.8% of Columbia Sportswear shares are held by institutional investors. 48.3% of Columbia Sportswear shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of Carter's shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has stronger earnings and valuation, COLM or CRI?

Columbia Sportswear has higher revenue and earnings than Carter's. Carter's is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Columbia Sportswear, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Columbia Sportswear	$3.37B	1.04	$223.27M	$3.91	16.31
Carter's	$2.84B	0.41	$185.51M	$4.52	7.12

Does the media favor COLM or CRI?

In the previous week, Carter's had 2 more articles in the media than Columbia Sportswear. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for Carter's and 1 mentions for Columbia Sportswear. Carter's' average media sentiment score of 0.89 beat Columbia Sportswear's score of 0.00 indicating that Carter's is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Columbia Sportswear	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Carter's	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility & risk, COLM or CRI?

Columbia Sportswear has a beta of 0.97, indicating that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Carter's has a beta of 0.98, indicating that its share price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is COLM or CRI a better dividend stock?

Columbia Sportswear pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Carter's pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Columbia Sportswear pays out 30.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Carter's pays out 22.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Carter's is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Columbia Sportswear and Carter's tied by winning 9 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.