Reviewing Amer Sports (NYSE:AS) and Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL)

Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL) and Amer Sports (NYSE:AS) are both large-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, dividends, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Ralph Lauren and Amer Sports, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ralph Lauren	0	2	15	0	2.88
Amer Sports	0	3	11	1	2.87

Ralph Lauren currently has a consensus price target of $449.00, indicating a potential upside of 21.18%. Amer Sports has a consensus price target of $44.77, indicating a potential upside of 59.14%. Given Amer Sports’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Amer Sports is more favorable than Ralph Lauren.

Risk and Volatility

Ralph Lauren has a beta of 1.34, meaning that its stock price is 34% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Amer Sports has a beta of 2.04, meaning that its stock price is 104% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Ralph Lauren and Amer Sports”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ralph Lauren	$8.11 billion	2.72	$941.10 million	$15.87	23.35
Amer Sports	$6.57 billion	2.37	$427.40 million	$0.95	29.61

Ralph Lauren has higher revenue and earnings than Amer Sports. Ralph Lauren is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Amer Sports, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Ralph Lauren and Amer Sports’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ralph Lauren	11.76%	39.10%	14.11%
Amer Sports	7.35%	11.18%	7.02%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

67.9% of Ralph Lauren shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 40.3% of Amer Sports shares are held by institutional investors. 37.2% of Ralph Lauren shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Ralph Lauren beats Amer Sports on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren Corporation designs, markets, and distributes lifestyle products in North America, Europe, Asia, and internationally. The company offers apparel, including a range of men’s, women’s, and children’s clothing; footwear and accessories, which comprise casual shoes, dress shoes, boots, sneakers, sandals, eyewear, watches, fashion and fine jewelry, scarves, hats, gloves, and umbrellas, as well as leather goods, such as handbags, luggage, small leather goods, and belts; home products consisting of bed and bath lines, furniture, fabric and wallcoverings, floor coverings, lighting, tabletop, kitchen linens, floor coverings, dining, decorative accessories, and giftware; and fragrances. It sells apparel and accessories under the Ralph Lauren Collection, Ralph Lauren Purple Label, Polo Ralph Lauren, Double RL, Lauren Ralph Lauren, Polo Golf Ralph Lauren, Ralph Lauren Golf, RLX Ralph Lauren, Polo Ralph Lauren Children, and Chaps brands; women’s fragrances under the Ralph Lauren Collection, Woman by Ralph Lauren, Romance Collection, and Ralph Collection brand names; and men’s fragrances under the Ralph’s Club, Purple Label, Polo Blue, Polo Red, Polo Green, Polo Black, Polo 67, Safari, Polo Sport, and Big Pony Men’s brand names. The company’s restaurant collection includes The Polo Bar in New York City; RL Restaurant in Chicago; Ralph’s in Paris; The Bar at Ralph Lauren located in Milan; Ralph’s Bar located in Chengdu, China; and Ralph’s Coffee concept. It sells its products to department stores, specialty stores, and golf and pro shops, as well as directly to consumers through its retail stores, concession-based shop-within-shops, and its digital commerce sites. The company directly operates retail stores and concession-based shop-within-shops; and operates Ralph Lauren stores and stores and shops through licensing partners. Ralph Lauren Corporation was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Amer Sports

Amer Sports, Inc. designs, manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells sports equipment, apparel, footwear, and accessories in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, China, and the Asia Pacific. It operates through three segments: Technical Apparel, Outdoor Performance, and Ball & Racquet Sports. The Technical Apparel segment offers outdoor apparel, footwear, and accessories which includes climbing gear. The Outdoor Performance segment provides hiking and running footwear, functional apparel, skiing and snowboarding gear, and lifestyle footwear. The Ball & Racquet Sports segment offers sports equipment for tennis, baseball, american football, basketball, golf, and various other professional and recreational sports. This segment provides custom-fitting protective gear and apparel for baseball, softball, football, and lacrosse. It sells its products under the Arc'teryx, PeakPerformance, Salomon, Atomic, Armada, ENVE, Wilson, Louisville Slugger, DeMarini, EvoShield, and ATEC brands. The company distributes its products through retail stores, general sporting goods retailers, specialty stores, independently operated partner stores, and distributors, as well as its e-commerce websites, and retailer-owned and third-party e-commerce websites. The company was formerly known as Amer Sports Management Holding (Cayman) Limited and changed its name to Amer Sports, Inc. in August 2023. Amer Sports, Inc. was founded in 1950 and is based in Helsinki, Finland.