Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM) versus Birkenstock (NYSE:BIRK) Financial Survey

Columbia Sportswear (NASDAQ:COLM) and Birkenstock (NYSE:BIRK) are both mid-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, risk, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Columbia Sportswear and Birkenstock”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Columbia Sportswear	$3.40 billion	0.85	$177.22 million	$3.85	14.63
Birkenstock	$2.32 billion	2.98	$385.46 million	$2.21	17.00

Birkenstock has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Columbia Sportswear. Columbia Sportswear is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Birkenstock, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Columbia Sportswear and Birkenstock, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Columbia Sportswear	2	2	2	0	2.00
Birkenstock	1	4	13	0	2.67

Columbia Sportswear currently has a consensus target price of $65.40, indicating a potential upside of 16.12%. Birkenstock has a consensus target price of $53.28, indicating a potential upside of 41.80%. Given Birkenstock’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Birkenstock is more favorable than Columbia Sportswear.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

47.8% of Columbia Sportswear shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 19.9% of Birkenstock shares are held by institutional investors. 51.9% of Columbia Sportswear shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Columbia Sportswear has a beta of 0.94, suggesting that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Birkenstock has a beta of 1.3, suggesting that its share price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Columbia Sportswear and Birkenstock’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Columbia Sportswear	6.05%	11.20%	6.67%
Birkenstock	16.26%	12.95%	7.15%

Summary

Birkenstock beats Columbia Sportswear on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Columbia Sportswear

Columbia Sportswear Company, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, markets, and distributes outdoor, active, and everyday lifestyle apparel, footwear, accessories, and equipment in the United States, Latin America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Canada. The company provides apparel, accessories, and equipment for hiking, trail running, snow, fishing, hunting, mountaineering, climbing, skiing and snowboarding, trail, and outdoor activities. It offers footwear products that include lightweight hiking boot; trail running shoes; rugged cold weather boots; sandals and shoes for use in water activities; and footwear for lifestyle wear. In addition, it owned network of branded and outlet retail stores; brand-specific e-commerce sites; and concession or franchise-based arrangements with third parties at branded outlet and shop-in-shop retail locations, as well as through independently operated specialty outdoor and sporting goods stores, sporting goods chains, department store chains, internet retailers, and international distributors. The company sells its products under the Columbia, Mountain Hard Wear, SOREL, and prAna brand names. Columbia Sportswear Company was founded in 1938 and is headquartered in Portland, Oregon.

About Birkenstock

Birkenstock Holding plc manufactures and sells footwear products. It also offers sandals, shoes, closed-toe silhouettes, skincare products, and accessories. The company sells its products through e-commerce sites and a network of owned retail stores, as well as business-to-business channels. It operates in the United States, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Europe, APMA, and internationally. Birkenstock Holding plc was founded in 1774 and is based in London, the United Kingdom. Birkenstock Holding plc is a subsidiary of BK LC Lux MidCo S.à r.l.