Contrasting Li Ning (OTCMKTS:LNNGY) and Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ:URBN)

Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ:URBN) and Li Ning (OTCMKTS:LNNGY) are both mid-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, valuation, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

77.6% of Urban Outfitters shares are owned by institutional investors. 31.6% of Urban Outfitters 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.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Urban Outfitters and Li Ning, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Urban Outfitters	1	6	5	1	2.46
Li Ning	1	0	0	0	1.00

Urban Outfitters currently has a consensus price target of $81.91, suggesting a potential upside of 14.70%. Given Urban Outfitters’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Urban Outfitters is more favorable than Li Ning.

Profitability

This table compares Urban Outfitters and Li Ning’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Urban Outfitters	8.15%	18.43%	9.98%
Li Ning	N/A	N/A	N/A

Volatility & Risk

Urban Outfitters has a beta of 1.29, indicating that its share price is 29% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Li Ning has a beta of 0.54, indicating that its share price is 46% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Urban Outfitters and Li Ning”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Urban Outfitters	$5.55 billion	1.15	$402.46 million	$5.12	13.95
Li Ning	$3.99 billion	1.54	$419.10 million	N/A	N/A

Li Ning has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Urban Outfitters.

Summary

Urban Outfitters beats Li Ning on 11 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Urban Outfitters

Urban Outfitters, Inc. engages in the retail and wholesale of general consumer products. The company operates through three segments: Retail, Wholesale, and Nuuly. It operates Urban Outfitters stores, which offer women's and men's fashion apparel, activewear, intimates, footwear, accessories, home goods, electronics, and beauty products for young adults aged 18 to 28; and Anthropologie stores that provide women's apparel, accessories, intimates, shoes, and home furnishings, as well as gifts, decorative items, and beauty and wellness products for women aged 28 to 45. The company also operates Terrain stores that provide lifestyle home products, garden and outdoor living products, antiques, live plants, flowers, wellness products, and accessories. In addition, it operates Free People retail stores, which offer casual women's apparel, intimates, activewear, shoes, accessories, home products, gifts, and beauty and wellness products for young women aged 25 to 30; and restaurants, as well as women's apparel subscription rental service under the Nuuly brand. Further, the company is involved in the wholesale of young women's contemporary casual apparel, intimates, activewear, and shoes under the Free People brand; and apparel collections under the Urban Outfitters brand. The company serves its customers directly through retail stores, websites, mobile applications, catalogs and customer contact centers, franchisee-owned stores, and department and specialty stores, as well as social media and third-party digital platforms. Urban Outfitters, Inc. was founded in 1970 and is based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

About Li Ning

Li Ning Company Limited, a sports brand company, engages in the research and development, design, manufacture, marketing, distribution, and retail of sporting goods in the People’s Republic of China. The company offers sporting goods, including professional and leisure footwear, apparel, equipment, and accessories under the LI-NING brand. It also develops, manufactures, markets, distributes, and/or sells outdoor sports products under the AIGLE brand; table tennis products under the Double Happiness brand name; fashionable fitness products for dance and yoga under the Danskin brand; and badminton products under the Kason brand name. The company also provides brand licensing, administrative, and property management services. It operates conventional stores, flagship stores, China LI-NING stores, LI-NING 1990 stores, factory outlets, and multi-brand stores under the LI-NING brand. The company was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People’s Republic of China.