Reviewing V.F. (NYSE:VFC) and Rocky Brands (NASDAQ:RCKY)

Rocky Brands (NASDAQ:RCKY) and V.F. (NYSE:VFC) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, valuation, risk and earnings.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

75.1% of Rocky Brands shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.8% of V.F. shares are held by institutional investors. 7.6% of Rocky Brands shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.5% of V.F. shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Rocky Brands has a beta of 2.35, suggesting that its stock price is 135% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, V.F. has a beta of 1.56, suggesting that its stock price is 56% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Rocky Brands pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. V.F. pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.4%. Rocky Brands pays out 17.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. V.F. pays out 52.2% 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.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for Rocky Brands and V.F., as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Rocky Brands	0	3	1	0	2.25
V.F.	2	12	4	2	2.30

Rocky Brands presently has a consensus price target of $56.00, indicating a potential upside of 10.96%. V.F. has a consensus price target of $18.21, indicating a potential upside of 19.50%. Given V.F.’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe V.F. is more favorable than Rocky Brands.

Profitability

This table compares Rocky Brands and V.F.’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Rocky Brands	5.72%	12.44%	6.45%
V.F.	2.88%	18.91%	3.26%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Rocky Brands and V.F.”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Rocky Brands	$481.98 million	0.79	$22.27 million	$3.82	13.21
V.F.	$9.51 billion	0.63	$254.92 million	$0.69	22.08

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

Summary

V.F. beats Rocky Brands on 10 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Rocky Brands

Rocky Brands, Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets footwear and apparel in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It operates through Wholesale, Retail, and Contract Manufacturing segments. The Wholesale segment offers products, which includes sporting goods stores, outdoor retailers, independent shoe retailers, hardware stores, catalogs, mass merchants, uniform stores, farm store chains, specialty safety stores, specialty retailers, and online retailers in retail locations through a range of distribution channels. Retail segment sells its products directly to consumers through its websites comprising rockyboots.com, georgiaboot.com, durangoboot.com, muckbootcompany.com, xtratuf.com, lehighoutfitters.com, lehighsafetyshoes.com, and slipgrips.com; and third-party marketplaces and Rocky Outdoor Gear Stores. The Contract Manufacturing segment include private label sales and any sales to customers which are contracted to manufacture a specific footwear product for a customer and include sales to the U.S. Military. In addition, it serves industrial and construction workers, as well as workers in the hospitality industry, such as restaurants or hotels; farmers and ranchers; western; commercial military personnel; hunting, fishing, camping, and hiking enthusiasts; law enforcement, security personnel, and postal employees; and for the U.S. military personnel. The company sells its products under the Rocky, Georgia Boot, Durango, Lehigh, Muck, XTRATUF, Servus, Ranger, and Michelin brand names Rocky Brands, Inc. was formerly known as William Brooks Shoe Co. The company was founded in 1932 and is headquartered in Nelsonville, Ohio.

About V.F.

VF Corp. engages in the business of producing and marketing apparel, footwear, and accessories. It operates through the following segments: Outdoor, Active, Work, and Other. The Outdoor segment includes authentic outdoor-based lifestyle brands such as performance-based and outdoor apparel, footwear, and equipment. The Active segment focuses on activity-based lifestyle brands including active apparel, footwear, backpacks, luggage, and accessories. The Work segment offers work and work-inspired lifestyle brands with product offerings including apparel, footwear, and accessories. The Other segment refers to the sale of non-VF products and sourcing activities related to transition services. The company was founded by John Barbey in October 1899 and is headquartered in Denver, CO.