Dillard's (DDS) Competitors

Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) and Dillard's (NYSE:DDS) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, profitability, media sentiment, valuation, dividends, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Is COST or DDS a better dividend stock?

Costco Wholesale pays an annual dividend of $5.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Dillard's pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Costco Wholesale pays out 29.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Dillard's pays out 2.8% 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. Costco Wholesale has raised its dividend for 22 consecutive years and Dillard's has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Costco Wholesale is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has higher valuation and earnings, COST or DDS?

Costco Wholesale has higher revenue and earnings than Dillard's. Dillard's is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Costco Wholesale, 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
Costco Wholesale	$254.45B	1.69	$7.37B	$17.63	54.90
Dillard's	$6.59B	1.36	$593.48M	$36.26	15.86

Is COST or DDS more profitable?

Dillard's has a net margin of 8.87% compared to Costco Wholesale's net margin of 2.92%. Dillard's' return on equity of 30.55% beat Costco Wholesale's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Costco Wholesale	2.92%	30.48%	10.52%
Dillard's	8.87%	30.55%	15.09%

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of COST or DDS?

68.5% of Costco Wholesale shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 67.2% of Dillard's shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Costco Wholesale shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 34.8% of Dillard's shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts prefer COST or DDS?

Costco Wholesale currently has a consensus price target of $1,056.67, suggesting a potential upside of 9.17%. Dillard's has a consensus price target of $394.33, suggesting a potential downside of 31.43%. Given Costco Wholesale's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Costco Wholesale is more favorable than Dillard's.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Costco Wholesale	0 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	17 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.65
Dillard's	2 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.33

Does the media favor COST or DDS?

In the previous week, Costco Wholesale had 90 more articles in the media than Dillard's. MarketBeat recorded 98 mentions for Costco Wholesale and 8 mentions for Dillard's. Dillard's' average media sentiment score of 1.41 beat Costco Wholesale's score of 1.14 indicating that Dillard's is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Costco Wholesale	70 Very Positive mention(s)	9 Positive mention(s)	12 Neutral mention(s)	4 Negative mention(s)	2 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Dillard's	7 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk and volatility, COST or DDS?

Costco Wholesale has a beta of 0.97, indicating that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Dillard's has a beta of 0.99, indicating that its share price is 1% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Costco Wholesale beats Dillard's on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.