Kohl's (KSS) Competitors

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

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, COST or KSS?

Costco Wholesale has higher revenue and earnings than Kohl's. Kohl'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	1.64	$7.37B	$17.63	53.41
Kohl's	$16.22B	0.10	$109M	$1.09	12.81

Do analysts prefer COST or KSS?

Costco Wholesale presently has a consensus target price of $1,050.00, suggesting a potential upside of 11.51%. Kohl's has a consensus target price of $9.89, suggesting a potential downside of 29.13%. Given Costco Wholesale's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Costco Wholesale is more favorable than Kohl's.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Costco Wholesale	0 Sell rating(s)	10 Hold rating(s)	17 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.63
Kohl's	6 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.60

Is COST or KSS a better dividend stock?

Costco Wholesale pays an annual dividend of $5.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Kohl's pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. Costco Wholesale pays out 29.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Kohl's pays out 45.9% 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.

Is COST or KSS more profitable?

Costco Wholesale has a net margin of 2.92% compared to Kohl's' net margin of 0.75%. Costco Wholesale's return on equity of 30.48% beat Kohl's' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Costco Wholesale	2.92%	30.48%	10.52%
Kohl's	0.75%	4.71%	1.27%

Which has more risk & volatility, COST or KSS?

Costco Wholesale has a beta of 0.96, suggesting that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kohl's has a beta of 1.73, suggesting that its share price is 73% more volatile than the S&P 500.

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

68.5% of Costco Wholesale shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.0% of Kohl's shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Costco Wholesale shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Kohl's shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media favor COST or KSS?

In the previous week, Costco Wholesale had 73 more articles in the media than Kohl's. MarketBeat recorded 93 mentions for Costco Wholesale and 20 mentions for Kohl's. Costco Wholesale's average media sentiment score of 1.18 beat Kohl's' score of 0.60 indicating that Costco Wholesale is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Costco Wholesale	63 Very Positive mention(s)	13 Positive mention(s)	14 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Kohl's	9 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Costco Wholesale beats Kohl's on 15 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.