Critical Comparison: Shoe Carnival (SHOE) and Its Competitors

Shoe Carnival (NASDAQ:SHOE) is one of 285 publicly-traded companies in the “Specialty Retail” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare Shoe Carnival to similar businesses based on the strength of its risk, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability and institutional ownership.

Dividends

Shoe Carnival pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.7%. Shoe Carnival pays out 77.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. As a group, “Specialty Retail” companies pay a dividend yield of 2.0% and pay out 35.6% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Shoe Carnival has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years.

Volatility and Risk

Shoe Carnival has a beta of 1.36, indicating that its share price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Shoe Carnival’s competitors have a beta of 1.91, indicating that their average share price is 91% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Shoe Carnival and its competitors revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Shoe Carnival	$1.11 billion	$52.27 million	16.45
Shoe Carnival Competitors	$7.06 billion	$386.51 million	31.14

Shoe Carnival’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Shoe Carnival. Shoe Carnival is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Profitability

This table compares Shoe Carnival and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Shoe Carnival	2.20%	5.32%	3.08%
Shoe Carnival Competitors	-3.62%	-13.77%	3.21%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Shoe Carnival and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Shoe Carnival	1	1	0	1	2.33
Shoe Carnival Competitors	3686	15617	21638	592	2.46

Shoe Carnival presently has a consensus price target of $22.00, suggesting a potential upside of 52.02%. As a group, “Specialty Retail” companies have a potential upside of 6.06%. Given Shoe Carnival’s higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Shoe Carnival is more favorable than its competitors.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

66.1% of Shoe Carnival shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.9% of shares of all “Specialty Retail” companies are held by institutional investors. 33.6% of Shoe Carnival shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 20.5% of shares of all “Specialty Retail” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Shoe Carnival competitors beat Shoe Carnival on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

Shoe Carnival Company Profile

Shoe Carnival, Inc. is a U.S.-based family footwear retailer that sells shoes, apparel and accessories through its stores and e-commerce channels. Its merchandise assortment includes athletic and casual footwear, dress shoes, boots, sandals, handbags and related accessories for women, men and children. The company offers products from nationally recognized brands as well as selected private-label merchandise. Shoe Carnival emphasizes a promotional shopping experience, with discounts, seasonal offers and other in-store and online promotions.