Comparing Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) & Xcel Brands (NASDAQ:XELB)

Xcel Brands (NASDAQ:XELB) and Gildan Activewear (NYSE:GIL) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends, risk and analyst recommendations.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

18.5% of Xcel Brands shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.8% of Gildan Activewear shares are owned by institutional investors. 29.5% of Xcel Brands shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 2.0% of Gildan Activewear shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Xcel Brands and Gildan Activewear, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Xcel Brands	1	0	1	0	2.00
Gildan Activewear	0	3	12	0	2.80

Gildan Activewear has a consensus price target of $76.77, suggesting a potential upside of 83.15%. Given Gildan Activewear’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Gildan Activewear is more favorable than Xcel Brands.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Xcel Brands and Gildan Activewear”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Xcel Brands	$4.94 million	0.80	-$17.46 million	($3.39)	-0.18
Gildan Activewear	$3.62 billion	2.14	$398.88 million	$0.52	80.61

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

Risk and Volatility

Xcel Brands has a beta of 1.24, suggesting that its share price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Gildan Activewear has a beta of 1.11, suggesting that its share price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Xcel Brands and Gildan Activewear’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Xcel Brands	-343.68%	-109.17%	-42.19%
Gildan Activewear	1.28%	21.03%	7.07%

Summary

Gildan Activewear beats Xcel Brands on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Xcel Brands

Xcel Brands, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a media and consumer products company in the United States. The company designs, produces, markets, wholesales, and sells branded apparel, footwear, accessories, jewelry, home goods, and other consumer products; and acquires consumer lifestyle brands, including the Isaac Mizrahi, the LOGO by Lori Goldstein, the Judith Ripka, the Halston brand, the C Wonder, the TowerHill by Christie Brinkley brand (the CB brand), and other brands, as well as manages the Longaberger brand. It licenses its brands to third parties; and designs, produces, markets, and distributes through an omni-channel retail sales strategy, which include distribution through interactive television, digital live-stream shopping, brick-and-mortar retail, and e-commerce channels. The company also offers live streaming, social media and other marketing, and public relations support for its brands. In addition, it markets its brands through www.isaacmizrahi.com; www.halston.com; www.judithripka.com; www.cwonder.com; www.lorigoldstein.com; and www.longaberger.com. Xcel Brands, Inc. was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Gildan Activewear

Gildan Activewear Inc. manufactures and sells various apparel products in the United States, North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America. It provides various activewear products, including T-shirts, fleece tops and bottoms, and sports shirts under the Gildan, Gildan Performance, Gildan Hammer, Glidan Softstyle, Gildan Heavy Cotton, Gildan Ultra Cotton, Gildan DryBlend, Gildan HeavyBlend, Comfort Colors, and American Apparel brands. The company also offers hosiery products comprising athletic; dress; and casual, liner, therapeutic, and workwear socks under the Gildan, Under Armour, GoldToe, Signature Gold by Goldtoe, Peds, MediPeds, All Pro, and GoldTeo Edition TM brands. In addition, it provides men's and boys' underwear products, and ladies panties under the Gildan and Gildan Platinum brands. The company sells its products to wholesale distributors, screen printers, and embellishers, as well as to retailers and lifestyle brand companies. The company was formerly known as Textiles Gildan Inc. and changed its name to Gildan Activewear Inc. in March 1995. Gildan Activewear Inc. was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada.