Head-To-Head Contrast: Carvana (NYSE:CVNA) versus Caleres (NYSE:CAL)

Caleres (NYSE:CAL) and Carvana (NYSE:CVNA) are both 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 and Risk

Caleres has a beta of 0.71, suggesting that its share price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Carvana has a beta of 3.66, suggesting that its share price is 266% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Caleres and Carvana’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%
Carvana	6.21%	34.77%	12.03%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Caleres and Carvana”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Caleres	$2.76 billion	0.17	-$6.69 million	$1.50	8.98
Carvana	$27.45 billion	2.89	$1.41 billion	$1.99	36.27

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Caleres and Carvana, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Caleres	0	3	0	0	2.00
Carvana	0	8	16	1	2.72

Carvana has a consensus price target of $82.09, indicating a potential upside of 13.72%. Given Carvana’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Carvana is more favorable than Caleres.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

98.4% of Caleres shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 56.7% of Carvana shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.1% of Caleres shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 15.2% of Carvana shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Carvana beats Caleres on 14 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 Carvana

Carvana Co., together with its subsidiaries, operates an e-commerce platform for buying and selling used cars in the United States. Its platform allows customers to research and identify a vehicle; inspect it using company's 360-degree vehicle imaging technology; obtain financing and warranty coverage; purchase the vehicle; and schedule delivery or pick-up from their desktop or mobile devices. The company also operates auction sites. The company was founded in 2012 and is based in Tempe, Arizona.