Ralph Lauren - RL Competitors

V.F. (NYSE:VFC) and Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) are both mid-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, community ranking, dividends, valuation, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership and media sentiment.

Is VFC or RL more profitable?

Ralph Lauren has a net margin of 8.01% compared to V.F.'s net margin of 3.54%. V.F.'s return on equity of 27.87% beat Ralph Lauren's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
V.F.	3.54%	27.87%	6.78%
Ralph Lauren	8.01%	22.88%	7.74%

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer VFC or RL?

V.F. received 204 more outperform votes than Ralph Lauren when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 68.59% of users gave V.F. an outperform vote while only 62.28% of users gave Ralph Lauren an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
V.F.	Outperform Votes 952 68.59%	Underperform Votes 436 31.41%
Ralph Lauren	Outperform Votes 748 62.28%	Underperform Votes 453 37.72%

Do institutionals and insiders believe in VFC or RL?

96.9% of V.F. shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 66.1% of Ralph Lauren shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of V.F. shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 36.6% of Ralph Lauren shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts prefer VFC or RL?

V.F. currently has a consensus price target of $32.22, suggesting a potential upside of 51.92%. Ralph Lauren has a consensus price target of $124.86, suggesting a potential upside of 8.01%. Given V.F.'s higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe V.F. is more favorable than Ralph Lauren.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
V.F.	4 Sell rating(s)	10 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.05
Ralph Lauren	2 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.42

Does the media favor VFC or RL?

In the previous week, V.F. had 6 more articles in the media than Ralph Lauren. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for V.F. and 4 mentions for Ralph Lauren. Ralph Lauren's average media sentiment score of 0.77 beat V.F.'s score of 0.17 indicating that Ralph Lauren is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
V.F.	3 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Ralph Lauren	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility and risk, VFC or RL?

V.F. has a beta of 1.43, indicating that its stock price is 43% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ralph Lauren has a beta of 1.37, indicating that its stock price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has higher earnings and valuation, VFC or RL?

V.F. has higher revenue and earnings than Ralph Lauren. Ralph Lauren is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than V.F., 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
V.F.	$11.84 billion	0.70	$1.39 billion	$1.07	19.82
Ralph Lauren	$6.22 billion	1.23	$600.10 million	$7.45	15.52

Is VFC or RL a better dividend stock?

V.F. pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.7%. Ralph Lauren pays an annual dividend of $3.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. V.F. pays out 112.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Ralph Lauren pays out 40.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Ralph Lauren has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Summary

V.F. beats Ralph Lauren on 11 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.