V.F. (VFC) Competitors

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

Which has more volatility and risk, VFC or COLM?

V.F. has a beta of 1.68, indicating that its stock price is 68% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Columbia Sportswear has a beta of 1, indicating that its stock price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, VFC or COLM?

Columbia Sportswear has lower revenue, but higher earnings than V.F.. V.F. 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
V.F.	$9.50B	0.49	-$189.72M	-$0.13	-90.79
Columbia Sportswear	$3.37B	0.80	$223.27M	$3.92	12.61

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of VFC or COLM?

86.8% of V.F. shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.8% of Columbia Sportswear shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.1% of V.F. shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 48.3% of Columbia Sportswear shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is VFC or COLM more profitable?

Columbia Sportswear has a net margin of 6.59% compared to V.F.'s net margin of -0.50%. V.F.'s return on equity of 22.77% beat Columbia Sportswear's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
V.F.	-0.50%	22.77%	3.16%
Columbia Sportswear	6.59%	12.97%	7.93%

Do analysts prefer VFC or COLM?

V.F. currently has a consensus price target of $16.20, indicating a potential upside of 37.25%. Columbia Sportswear has a consensus price target of $60.80, indicating a potential upside of 23.03%. Given V.F.'s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe V.F. is more favorable than Columbia Sportswear.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
V.F.	2 Sell rating(s)	12 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.24
Columbia Sportswear	1 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Does the media prefer VFC or COLM?

In the previous week, V.F. had 15 more articles in the media than Columbia Sportswear. MarketBeat recorded 23 mentions for V.F. and 8 mentions for Columbia Sportswear. Columbia Sportswear's average media sentiment score of 0.08 beat V.F.'s score of -0.52 indicating that Columbia Sportswear is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
V.F.	4 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	11 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Negative
Columbia Sportswear	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is VFC or COLM a better dividend stock?

V.F. pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.1%. Columbia Sportswear pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. V.F. pays out -276.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Columbia Sportswear pays out 30.6% 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. V.F. is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

V.F. beats Columbia Sportswear on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.