Head to Head Survey: Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) vs. Hugo Boss (OTCMKTS:BOSSY)

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) and Hugo Boss (OTCMKTS:BOSSY) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Ralph Lauren and Hugo Boss, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ralph Lauren	1	3	16	2	2.86
Hugo Boss	0	1	0	0	2.00

Ralph Lauren presently has a consensus target price of $340.53, suggesting a potential upside of 4.78%. Given Ralph Lauren’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Ralph Lauren is more favorable than Hugo Boss.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Ralph Lauren and Hugo Boss”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ralph Lauren	$7.29 billion	2.70	$742.90 million	$12.52	25.96
Hugo Boss	$4.66 billion	0.67	$230.99 million	$0.72	12.56

Ralph Lauren has higher revenue and earnings than Hugo Boss. Hugo Boss is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Ralph Lauren, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

67.9% of Ralph Lauren shares are owned by institutional investors. 38.3% of Ralph Lauren shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Ralph Lauren pays an annual dividend of $3.65 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Hugo Boss pays an annual dividend of $0.21 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Ralph Lauren pays out 29.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hugo Boss pays out 29.2% 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. Ralph Lauren has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Ralph Lauren and Hugo Boss’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ralph Lauren	10.91%	33.72%	11.86%
Hugo Boss	5.15%	15.57%	6.00%

Risk and Volatility

Ralph Lauren has a beta of 1.61, suggesting that its stock price is 61% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hugo Boss has a beta of 0.85, suggesting that its stock price is 15% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Ralph Lauren beats Hugo Boss on 17 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren Corporation designs, markets, and distributes lifestyle products in North America, Europe, Asia, and internationally. The company offers apparel, including a range of men’s, women’s, and children’s clothing; footwear and accessories, which comprise casual shoes, dress shoes, boots, sneakers, sandals, eyewear, watches, fashion and fine jewelry, scarves, hats, gloves, and umbrellas, as well as leather goods, such as handbags, luggage, small leather goods, and belts; home products consisting of bed and bath lines, furniture, fabric and wallcoverings, floor coverings, lighting, tabletop, kitchen linens, floor coverings, dining, decorative accessories, and giftware; and fragrances. It sells apparel and accessories under the Ralph Lauren Collection, Ralph Lauren Purple Label, Polo Ralph Lauren, Double RL, Lauren Ralph Lauren, Polo Golf Ralph Lauren, Ralph Lauren Golf, RLX Ralph Lauren, Polo Ralph Lauren Children, and Chaps brands; women’s fragrances under the Ralph Lauren Collection, Woman by Ralph Lauren, Romance Collection, and Ralph Collection brand names; and men’s fragrances under the Ralph’s Club, Purple Label, Polo Blue, Polo Red, Polo Green, Polo Black, Polo 67, Safari, Polo Sport, and Big Pony Men’s brand names. The company’s restaurant collection includes The Polo Bar in New York City; RL Restaurant in Chicago; Ralph’s in Paris; The Bar at Ralph Lauren located in Milan; Ralph’s Bar located in Chengdu, China; and Ralph’s Coffee concept. It sells its products to department stores, specialty stores, and golf and pro shops, as well as directly to consumers through its retail stores, concession-based shop-within-shops, and its digital commerce sites. The company directly operates retail stores and concession-based shop-within-shops; and operates Ralph Lauren stores and stores and shops through licensing partners. Ralph Lauren Corporation was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Hugo Boss

Hugo Boss AG, together with its subsidiaries, provides apparels, shoes, and accessories for men and women worldwide. It also offers licensed products comprising of fragrances, eyewear, watches, children’s fashion, equestrian, and cycling. The company markets and sells its products under the BOSS and HUGO brand names through freestanding stores, shop-in-shops, factory outlets, multi-brand stores, and franchise business, as well as online retailers, distribution, and stores. Hugo Boss AG was founded in 1924 and is headquartered in Metzingen, Germany.