Contrasting GigaCloud Technology (NASDAQ:GCT) and Pool (NASDAQ:POOL)

Pool (NASDAQ:POOL) and GigaCloud Technology (NASDAQ:GCT) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, risk and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent recommendations and price targets for Pool and GigaCloud Technology, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Pool	2	6	5	0	2.23
GigaCloud Technology	0	2	1	0	2.33

Pool currently has a consensus price target of $235.67, indicating a potential upside of 14.23%. GigaCloud Technology has a consensus price target of $33.00, indicating a potential downside of 38.03%. Given Pool’s higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Pool is more favorable than GigaCloud Technology.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Pool and GigaCloud Technology”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Pool	$5.29 billion	1.42	$406.40 million	$10.87	18.98
GigaCloud Technology	$1.29 billion	1.52	$137.37 million	$3.98	13.38

Pool has higher revenue and earnings than GigaCloud Technology. GigaCloud Technology is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Pool, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Pool and GigaCloud Technology’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Pool	7.40%	32.74%	10.91%
GigaCloud Technology	10.65%	32.23%	13.17%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

99.0% of Pool shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 34.9% of GigaCloud Technology shares are held by institutional investors. 3.0% of Pool shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 23.4% of GigaCloud Technology shares are held by 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.

Volatility and Risk

Pool has a beta of 1.06, suggesting that its share price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, GigaCloud Technology has a beta of 1.65, suggesting that its share price is 65% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Pool beats GigaCloud Technology on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Pool

Pool Corporation distributes swimming pool supplies, equipment, and related leisure products in the United States and internationally. The company offers maintenance products, including chemicals, supplies, and pool accessories; repair and replacement parts for pool equipment, such as cleaners, filters, heaters, pumps, and lights; and building materials, such as concrete, plumbing and electrical components, functional and decorative pool surfaces, decking materials, tiles, hardscapes, and natural stones for pool installations and remodeling. It also provides pool equipment and components for new pool construction and the remodeling of existing pools; irrigation and related products, such as irrigation system components, and professional turf care equipment and supplies; commercial products, including heaters, safety equipment, commercial decking equipment, and commercial pumps and filters. In addition, the company offers fiberglass pools, and hot tubs and packaged pool kits comprising walls, liners, braces, and coping for in-ground and above-ground pools; and other pool construction and recreational products comprising discretionary recreational and related outdoor living products, such as grills and components for outdoor kitchens. It serves swimming pool remodelers and builders; specialty retailers that sell swimming pool supplies; swimming pool repair and service businesses; irrigation construction and landscape maintenance contractors; and commercial pool operators and pool contractors. Pool Corporation was incorporated in 1993 and is headquartered in Covington, Louisiana.

About GigaCloud Technology

GigaCloud Technology Inc. provides end-to-end B2B ecommerce solutions for large parcel merchandise in the United States and internationally. The company offers GigaCloud Marketplace integrates product discovery to payments to logistics tools into one easy-to-use platform. Its marketplace connects manufacturers primarily in Asia with resellers in the United States, Asia, and Europe to execute cross-border transactions across furniture, home appliance, fitness equipment, and other large parcel categories. The company was formerly known as Oriental Standard Human Resources Holdings Limited and changed its name to GigaCloud Technology Inc. in February 2021. GigaCloud Technology Inc. was incorporated in 2006 and is headquartered in El Monte, California.