Head-To-Head Survey: Dillard’s (DDS) and Its Rivals

Dillard’s (NYSE:DDS) is one of 142 public companies in the “Broadline Retail” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare Dillard’s to related companies based on the strength of its analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, dividends, valuation, earnings and institutional ownership.

Volatility and Risk

Dillard’s has a beta of 1.14, meaning that its share price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Dillard’s’ peers have a beta of -1.27, meaning that their average share price is 227% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Dillard’s and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Dillard’s	10.09%	31.43%	15.63%
Dillard’s Competitors	-3.16%	-18.42%	-1.34%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

67.2% of Dillard’s shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 44.5% of shares of all “Broadline Retail” companies are held by institutional investors. 34.8% of Dillard’s shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 24.0% of shares of all “Broadline Retail” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Dillard’s and its peers revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Dillard’s	$6.47 billion	$570.19 million	14.37
Dillard’s Competitors	$23.58 billion	$1.73 billion	-224.23

Dillard’s’ peers have higher revenue and earnings than Dillard’s. Dillard’s is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings for Dillard’s and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Dillard’s	2	3	0	0	1.60
Dillard’s Competitors	1349	5297	10675	294	2.56

Dillard’s currently has a consensus price target of $521.33, suggesting a potential downside of 13.71%. As a group, “Broadline Retail” companies have a potential upside of 17.12%. Given Dillard’s’ peers stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Dillard’s has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Dividends

Dillard’s pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Dillard’s pays out 2.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Broadline Retail” companies pay a dividend yield of 28.8% and pay out 11.5% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Dillard’s has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years.

Summary

Dillard’s beats its peers on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

About Dillard’s

Dillard’s, Inc. engages in the retail of fashion apparel, cosmetics, and home furnishings, and other consumer goods. It operates through the Retail Operations and Construction segments. The Retail Operations segment comprises sells cosmetics, ladies’ apparel, ladies’ accessories and lingerie, juniors’ and children’s apparel, men’s apparel and accessories, shoes, and home and furniture products. The Construction segment constructs and remodels stores through CDI Contractors, LLC. The company was founded by William Thomas Dillard in 1938 and is headquartered in Little Rock, AR.