Critical Review: The Finish Line (FINL) & Boot Barn Holdings (BOOT)

The Finish Line (NASDAQ: FINL) and Boot Barn Holdings (NYSE:BOOT) are both small-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for The Finish Line and Boot Barn Holdings, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
The Finish Line	1	15	2	0	2.06
Boot Barn Holdings	0	2	5	0	2.71

The Finish Line currently has a consensus price target of $17.65, indicating a potential upside of 65.39%. Boot Barn Holdings has a consensus price target of $10.43, indicating a potential upside of 21.69%. Given The Finish Line’s higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe The Finish Line is more favorable than Boot Barn Holdings.

Profitability

This table compares The Finish Line and Boot Barn Holdings’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
The Finish Line	-1.05%	8.97%	5.49%
Boot Barn Holdings	2.26%	8.58%	2.66%

Dividends

The Finish Line pays an annual dividend of $0.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. Boot Barn Holdings does not pay a dividend. The Finish Line pays out -89.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Volatility & Risk

The Finish Line has a beta of 1.27, meaning that its share price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Boot Barn Holdings has a beta of 1.26, meaning that its share price is 26% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares The Finish Line and Boot Barn Holdings’ gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	EBITDA	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
The Finish Line	$1.84 billion	0.23	$122.02 million	($0.49)	-21.78
Boot Barn Holdings	$635.78 million	0.36	$56.20 million	$0.54	15.87

The Finish Line has higher revenue and earnings than Boot Barn Holdings. The Finish Line is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Boot Barn Holdings, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

The Finish Line beats Boot Barn Holdings on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About The Finish Line

The Finish Line, Inc. is a specialty retailer. The Company is a retailer of athletic shoes, apparel and accessories for men, women and kids, throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. The Company operates through the Finish Line brand. Finish Line is a retailer of athletic shoes, apparel and accessories. The Company has approximately 970 Finish Line branded locations primarily in the United States malls and shops inside Macy’s department stores. In addition, Finish Line operates an e-commerce site, www.finishline.com, as well as mobile commerce through m.finishline.com. Finish Line carries a selection of men’s, women’s and kids’ athletic shoes (footwear), as well as an assortment of apparel and accessories (softgoods). Brand names offered by Finish Line include Nike, Brand Jordan, adidas, Under Armour and Puma.

About Boot Barn Holdings

Boot Barn Holdings, Inc. is a lifestyle retailer of western and work-related footwear, apparel and accessories for men, women and children. The Company’s stores are located in or near neighborhood shopping centers with trade areas of approximately five or more miles, and it has opened stores in malls and outlet center locations. The Company’s stores average an area of approximately 11,490 square feet and feature an assortment of brands and styles. It also carries assortments of denim, western shirts, cowboy hats, belts and belt buckles, western-style jewelry and accessories. The Company’s western assortment includes various brands, such as Ariat, Dan Post, Justin, Levi Strauss, Lucchese, Miss Me, Montana Silversmiths, Resistol and Wrangler. Its work assortment includes rugged footwear, outerwear, overalls, denim and shirts. Its other brands include Carhartt, Georgia, Timberland Pro and Wolverine. As of March 26, 2016, the Company operated 208 stores in 29 states.