Contrasting J.Jill (NYSE:JILL) and Boot Barn (NYSE:BOOT)

Boot Barn (NYSE:BOOT) and J.Jill (NYSE:JILL) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Volatility and Risk

Boot Barn has a beta of 1.61, indicating that its stock price is 61% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, J.Jill has a beta of 0.94, indicating that its stock price is 6% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Boot Barn and J.Jill, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Boot Barn	0	4	11	0	2.73
J.Jill	2	2	2	0	2.00

Boot Barn presently has a consensus target price of $206.08, suggesting a potential upside of 12.00%. J.Jill has a consensus target price of $18.00, suggesting a potential upside of 13.67%. Given J.Jill’s higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe J.Jill is more favorable than Boot Barn.

Dividends

Boot Barn pays an annual dividend of $0.50 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. J.Jill pays an annual dividend of $0.32 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Boot Barn pays out 7.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. J.Jill pays out 14.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. J.Jill has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. J.Jill is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Boot Barn and J.Jill”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Boot Barn	$2.07 billion	2.71	$180.94 million	$6.76	27.22
J.Jill	$600.98 million	0.40	$39.48 million	$2.19	7.23

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

Profitability

This table compares Boot Barn and J.Jill’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Boot Barn	10.05%	18.11%	9.94%
J.Jill	5.60%	36.33%	9.75%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

40.7% of J.Jill shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.7% of Boot Barn shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 4.4% of J.Jill shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Boot Barn beats J.Jill on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Boot Barn

Boot Barn Holdings, Inc., a lifestyle retail chain, operates specialty retail stores in the United States. The company's specialty retail stores offer western and work-related footwear, apparel, and accessories for men, women, and kids. It offers boots, shirts, jackets, hats, belts and belt buckles, handbags, western-style jewelry, rugged footwear, outerwear, overalls, denim, and flame-resistant and high-visibility clothing. The company also provides gifts and home merchandise. The company also sells its products through e-commerce websites, including bootbarn.com; sheplers.com; and countryoutfitter.com. The company was formerly known as WW Top Investment Corporation and changed its name to Boot Barn Holdings, Inc. in June 2014. Boot Barn Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1978 and is based in Irvine, California.

About J.Jill

J.Jill, Inc. operates as an omnichannel retailer for women's apparel under the J.Jill brand in the United States. It offers apparel, footwear, and accessories, including scarves and jewelry. The company markets its products through retail stores, website, and catalogs. J.Jill, Inc. was founded in 1959 and is headquartered in Quincy, Massachusetts.