Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ:URBN) versus Signet Jewelers (NYSE:SIG) Head-To-Head Review

Signet Jewelers (NYSE:SIG) and Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ:URBN) are both mid-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends, risk and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Signet Jewelers and Urban Outfitters, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Signet Jewelers	0	5	5	1	2.64
Urban Outfitters	0	6	8	0	2.57

Signet Jewelers currently has a consensus price target of $113.62, suggesting a potential upside of 33.58%. Urban Outfitters has a consensus price target of $90.64, suggesting a potential upside of 11.94%. Given Signet Jewelers’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Signet Jewelers is more favorable than Urban Outfitters.

Profitability

This table compares Signet Jewelers and Urban Outfitters’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Signet Jewelers	4.29%	22.54%	7.35%
Urban Outfitters	8.79%	18.64%	10.34%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

77.6% of Urban Outfitters shares are held by institutional investors. 1.2% of Signet Jewelers shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 32.1% of Urban Outfitters shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

Signet Jewelers has a beta of 1.11, suggesting that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Urban Outfitters has a beta of 1.26, suggesting that its stock price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Signet Jewelers	$6.81 billion	0.49	$294.40 million	$7.13	11.93
Urban Outfitters	$6.17 billion	1.12	$464.92 million	$6.41	12.63

Urban Outfitters has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Signet Jewelers. Signet Jewelers is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Urban Outfitters, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Urban Outfitters beats Signet Jewelers on 9 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Signet Jewelers

Signet Jewelers Limited operates as a diamond jewelry retailer. It operates through three segments: North America, International, and Other. The North America segment operates jewelry stores in jewelry stores in malls, mall-based kiosks, and off-mall locations in the United States and Canada primarily under the Kay Jewelers, Kay Jewelers Outlet, Jared The Galleria Of Jewelry, Jared Vault, Zales Outlet, Zales Jewelers, Diamonds Direct, James Allen, Banter by Piercing Pagoda, and Peoples Jewellers names, as well as operates online through its digital banners, James Allen and Blue Nile. This segment also engages in jewelry subscription business. The International segment operates stores in shopping malls and off-mall locations primarily under the H.Samuel and Ernest Jones brands in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, and Channel Islands. The Other segment is involved in the purchase and conversion of rough diamonds to polished stones, as well as the provision of diamond polishing services. Signet Jewelers Limited is based in Hamilton, Bermuda.

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.