Head-To-Head Comparison: Buckle, Inc. (The) (BKE) & Xcel Brands (XELB)

Buckle, Inc. (The) (NYSE: BKE) and Xcel Brands (NASDAQ:XELB) are both small-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, profitabiliy, risk and dividends.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

66.5% of Buckle, Inc. (The) shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 22.5% of Xcel Brands shares are held by institutional investors. 41.7% of Buckle, Inc. (The) shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 62.2% of Xcel Brands shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Buckle, Inc. (The) and Xcel Brands’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Buckle, Inc. (The)	9.66%	20.95%	15.68%
Xcel Brands	7.27%	0.20%	0.14%

Volatility and Risk

Buckle, Inc. (The) has a beta of 0.89, meaning that its stock price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Xcel Brands has a beta of 0.66, meaning that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Buckle, Inc. (The) pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.0%. Xcel Brands does not pay a dividend. Buckle, Inc. (The) pays out 53.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Xcel Brands has raised its dividend for 3 consecutive years.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Buckle, Inc. (The) and Xcel Brands, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Buckle, Inc. (The)	1	1	0	0	1.50
Xcel Brands	0	0	2	0	3.00

Buckle, Inc. (The) currently has a consensus price target of $18.00, suggesting a potential upside of 8.76%. Xcel Brands has a consensus price target of $7.50, suggesting a potential upside of 130.77%. Given Xcel Brands’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Xcel Brands is more favorable than Buckle, Inc. (The).

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Buckle, Inc. (The) and Xcel Brands’ top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Buckle, Inc. (The)	$943.58 million	0.85	$174.08 million	$1.88	8.80
Xcel Brands	$32.82 million	1.57	$3.75 million	$0.13	25.00

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

Summary

Buckle, Inc. (The) beats Xcel Brands on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Buckle, Inc. (The)

The Buckle, Inc. is a retailer of casual apparel, footwear and accessories for young men and women. As of January 28, 2017, the Company operated 467 retail stores in 44 states throughout the United States under the names Buckle and The Buckle. The Company markets a selection of brand name casual apparel, including denims, other casual bottoms, tops, sportswear, outerwear, accessories and footwear. The Company provides customer services, such as free hemming, free gift-wrapping, easy layaways, the Buckle private label credit card, and a guest loyalty program. The Company offers denims from brands, such as Miss Me, Rock Revival, Big Star Vintage, Buffalo Jeans, KanCan, Flying Monkey and Levi’s. Its other brands include Hurley, Billabong, Affliction, American Fighter, Fast & Furious, Oakley, Fox, Puma, Obey, RVCA, Salvage, 7 Diamonds, Nixon, Amuse Society, Free People, White Crow, Corral, Reef, Kustom, Timberland, UGG, TOMS, SAXX, Stance, Lokai, Ray-Ban, and Fossil.

About Xcel Brands

Xcel Brands, Inc. is a brand development and media company. The Company is engaged in the design, production, licensing, marketing, and direct to consumer sales of branded apparel, footwear, accessories, jewelry, home goods, and other consumer products, and the acquisition of consumer lifestyle brands. The Company’s brand portfolio consists of the Isaac Mizrahi, Judith Ripka, H Halston, C Wonder and Highline Collective brands. The Company also manages and designs the Liz Claiborne New York brand (LCNY Brand). Isaac Mizrahi has over 150 different product categories, including sportswear, footwear, handbags, watches, eyewear, fragrance, tech accessories, intimates, bridal gowns and accessories, pet products, home and other merchandise. The Company’s Judith Ripka is a luxury jewelry brand. Wonder brand offers women’s clothing, footwear, jewelry and accessories; housewares, and home decor and gifts. The Liz Claiborne New York includes women’s apparel, footwear, outerwear and accessories.