Critical Comparison: Edgewell Personal Care (NYSE:EPC) & National Vision (NASDAQ:EYE)

Edgewell Personal Care (NYSE:EPC) and National Vision (NASDAQ:EYE) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and dividends.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Edgewell Personal Care and National Vision”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Edgewell Personal Care	$2.22 billion	0.42	$25.40 million	($0.85)	-23.62
National Vision	$1.99 billion	1.12	$29.60 million	$0.37	75.84

National Vision has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Edgewell Personal Care. Edgewell Personal Care is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than National Vision, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Edgewell Personal Care and National Vision’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Edgewell Personal Care	-1.76%	7.16%	2.90%
National Vision	1.49%	5.15%	2.22%

Risk and Volatility

Edgewell Personal Care has a beta of 0.59, meaning that its stock price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, National Vision has a beta of 1.38, meaning that its stock price is 38% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Edgewell Personal Care and National Vision, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Edgewell Personal Care	1	4	3	0	2.25
National Vision	0	6	8	0	2.57

Edgewell Personal Care presently has a consensus price target of $23.67, suggesting a potential upside of 17.89%. National Vision has a consensus price target of $31.21, suggesting a potential upside of 11.24%. Given Edgewell Personal Care’s higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Edgewell Personal Care is more favorable than National Vision.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

91.9% of Edgewell Personal Care shares are owned by institutional investors. 3.0% of Edgewell Personal Care shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 2.7% of National Vision shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

National Vision beats Edgewell Personal Care on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Edgewell Personal Care

Edgewell Personal Care Company is a manufacturer and marketer of personal care products in the wet shave, sun and skin care, feminine care and infant care categories. As of September 30, 2016, the Company had a portfolio of over 25 brands. It manages its business in four segments: Wet Shave, Sun and Skin Care, Feminine Care and All Other. Its Wet shave products are sold under the Schick, Wilkinson Sword, Edge, Skintimate, Shave Guard and Personna brand names. Its Sun and Skin Care products are sold under the Banana Boat, Hawaiian Tropic, Wet Ones and Playtex brand names and offers Wet Ones, portable hand wipes category, and Playtex household gloves, the branded household glove in the United States. Its Feminine Care segment markets its products under the Playtex, Stayfree, Carefree and o.b. brands and markets pads and liners. Its All Other segment includes infant care, pet care and miscellaneous other products.

About National Vision

National Vision Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as an optical retailer in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Owned & Host and Legacy. It offers eyeglasses and contact lenses, and optical accessory products; provides eye exams through its America’s Best, Eyeglass World, Vista Optical, Fred Meyer, and Vista Optical military, as well as Vision Center branded stores; and offers health maintenance organization and optometric services. National Vision Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Duluth, Georgia.