Head to Head Analysis: Caleres (NYSE:CAL) vs. Five Below (NASDAQ:FIVE)

Caleres (NYSE:CAL) and Five Below (NASDAQ:FIVE) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings and dividends.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

98.4% of Caleres shares are held by institutional investors. 3.1% of Caleres shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.0% of Five Below shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Caleres and Five Below”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Caleres	$2.76 billion	0.16	-$6.69 million	$1.50	8.63
Five Below	$4.76 billion	2.67	$358.64 million	$11.14	20.76

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

Volatility & Risk

Caleres has a beta of 0.73, suggesting that its share price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Five Below has a beta of 0.94, suggesting that its share price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Caleres and Five Below, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Caleres	0	3	0	0	2.00
Five Below	0	12	19	1	2.66

Five Below has a consensus target price of $300.20, indicating a potential upside of 29.82%. Given Five Below’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Five Below is more favorable than Caleres.

Profitability

This table compares Caleres and Five Below’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Caleres	1.85%	7.84%	2.42%
Five Below	11.65%	22.13%	9.86%

Summary

Five Below beats Caleres on 13 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Caleres

Caleres, Inc. engages in the retail and wholesale of footwear business in the United States, Canada, East Asia, and internationally. It operates through Famous Footwear and Brand Portfolio segments. The company offers licensed, branded, and private-label athletic, casual, and dress footwear products. The company provides brand name athletic, casual, and dress shoes, including Nike, Skechers, adidas, Vans, Crocs, Converse, Puma, Birkenstock, New Balance, Under Armour, Dr. Martens, Asics, Timberland, Bearpaw, Skechers, HeyDude, Franco Sarto, Rykä, Vince, Bzees, Veronica Beard, and Zodiac brands, as well as company-owned and licensed brands, such as LifeStride, Dr. Scholl’s Shoes, Blowfish Malibu, and Naturalizer. The company also operates naturalizer.com, naturalizer.ca, vionicshoes.com, samedelman.com, samedelman.co.uk, allenedmonds.com, allenedmonds.ca, drschollsshoes.com, lifestride.com, francosarto.com, ryka.com, bzees.com, and zodiacshoes.com, as well as Vince.com, blowfishshoes.com, and veronicabeard.com websites. In addition, it designs, sources, manufactures, and markets footwear to retail stores, such as online retailers, national chains, department stores, mass merchandisers, and independent retailers. Further, the company wholesales men’s footwear, apparel, leather goods, and accessories under the Allen Edmonds brand; footwear for women under LifeStride brand; Italian footwear Franco Sarto brand; athletic footwear for women under the Rykä brand; women’s shoe collection under the Vince brand; women’s footwear under the Bzees brand; and women’s footwear collection under Veronica Beard brand. The company was formerly known as Brown Shoe Company, Inc. and changed its name to Caleres, Inc. in May 2015. Caleres, Inc. was founded in 1878 and is headquartered in Saint Louis, Missouri.

About Five Below

Five Below, Inc. operates as a specialty value retailer in the United States. The company offers range of accessories, which includes novelty socks, sunglasses, jewelry, scarves, gloves, hair accessories, athletic tops and bottoms, and t-shirts, as well as nail polish, lip gloss, fragrance, and branded cosmetics; and personalized living space products, such as lamps, posters, frames, fleece blankets, plush items, pillows, candles, incense, lighting, novelty décor, accent furniture, and related items, as well as provides storage options. It provides assortment of sports balls, team sports merchandise, and fitness accessories comprising hand weights, jump ropes, and gym balls; various games, such as board games, puzzles, collectibles, and toys, including remote control; and summer season sports, which includes pool, beach, and outdoor toys, as well as games and accessories. In addition, the company offers accessories for cell phones, tablets, audio, and computers, as well as cases, chargers, headphones, and other related items; and media products including books, video games, and DVDs. It also provides assortment of craft activity kits, and arts and crafts supplies, such as crayons, markers, and stickers; and school products comprising backpacks, fashion notebooks and journals, novelty pens and pencils, and locker accessories. Further, the company offers party products, which includes party goods, decorations, gag gifts, and greeting cards, as well as every day and special occasion merchandise; assortment of classic and novelty candy bars, movie-size box candy, seasonal-related candy, and gum and snack food products, as well as sells chilled drinks through coolers; and provides seasonally specific items used to celebrate and decorate for events. The company was formerly known as Cheap Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Five Below, Inc. in August 2002. Five Below, Inc. was incorporated in 2002 and is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.