Head-To-Head Contrast: Wolverine World Wide (NYSE:WWW) versus Rocky Brands (NASDAQ:RCKY)

Rocky Brands (NASDAQ:RCKY) and Wolverine World Wide (NYSE:WWW) are both small-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, risk, valuation, earnings and institutional ownership.

Volatility & Risk

Rocky Brands has a beta of 2.39, meaning that its stock price is 139% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Wolverine World Wide has a beta of 1.67, meaning that its stock price is 67% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Rocky Brands and Wolverine World Wide, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Rocky Brands	0	2	1	0	2.33
Wolverine World Wide	0	6	5	0	2.45

Rocky Brands currently has a consensus price target of $52.00, indicating a potential downside of 0.17%. Wolverine World Wide has a consensus price target of $23.11, indicating a potential upside of 3.04%. Given Wolverine World Wide’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Wolverine World Wide is more favorable than Rocky Brands.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Rocky Brands and Wolverine World Wide”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Rocky Brands	$481.98 million	0.81	$22.27 million	$4.55	11.45
Wolverine World Wide	$1.87 billion	0.98	$95.80 million	$1.29	17.39

Wolverine World Wide has higher revenue and earnings than Rocky Brands. Rocky Brands is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Wolverine World Wide, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

75.1% of Rocky Brands shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 90.2% of Wolverine World Wide shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.6% of Rocky Brands shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of Wolverine World Wide shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Rocky Brands pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Wolverine World Wide pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Rocky Brands pays out 14.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Wolverine World Wide pays out 31.0% 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.

Profitability

This table compares Rocky Brands and Wolverine World Wide’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Rocky Brands	6.62%	14.08%	7.51%
Wolverine World Wide	5.55%	28.50%	7.23%

Summary

Wolverine World Wide beats Rocky Brands on 10 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Rocky Brands

Rocky Brands, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures and markets footwear, apparel and accessories for work, outdoor, western, duty and lifestyle markets. Its products include work boots, hunting and outdoor footwear, western boots, rubber boots and related apparel. The company sells products under brands including Rocky, Georgia Boot, Durango, XTRATUF, Muck and Lehigh. Its customers include wholesale and retail businesses, government agencies and consumers purchasing through the company’s e-commerce operations.

About Wolverine World Wide

Wolverine World Wide, Inc. is a footwear and apparel company that designs, markets and distributes products through a portfolio of consumer and workwear brands. Its brands include Merrell, Saucony, Sweaty Betty, Wolverine, Chaco and Bates, with offerings that span outdoor, athletic, casual and occupational footwear, as well as apparel and accessories. Founded in 1883 in Rockford, Michigan, the company has expanded from its early roots in leather and footwear manufacturing into an international brand business.