Critical Survey: Warby Parker (NYSE:WRBY) vs. Edgewell Personal Care (NYSE:EPC)

Warby Parker (NYSE:WRBY) and Edgewell Personal Care (NYSE:EPC) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Warby Parker and Edgewell Personal Care, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Warby Parker	0	5	9	0	2.64
Edgewell Personal Care	1	4	3	0	2.25

Warby Parker presently has a consensus price target of $29.50, suggesting a potential upside of 14.84%. Edgewell Personal Care has a consensus price target of $24.50, suggesting a potential upside of 37.61%. Given Edgewell Personal Care’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Edgewell Personal Care is more favorable than Warby Parker.

Volatility & Risk

Warby Parker has a beta of 1.95, meaning that its stock price is 95% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Edgewell Personal Care has a beta of 0.55, meaning that its stock price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

93.2% of Warby Parker shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.9% of Edgewell Personal Care shares are held by institutional investors. 16.8% of Warby Parker shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.0% of Edgewell Personal Care shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Warby Parker and Edgewell Personal Care’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Warby Parker	0.15%	2.30%	1.18%
Edgewell Personal Care	-3.69%	6.31%	2.57%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Warby Parker and Edgewell Personal Care”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Warby Parker	$871.91 million	3.16	$1.64 million	$0.02	1,284.45
Edgewell Personal Care	$2.22 billion	0.37	$25.40 million	($1.67)	-10.66

Edgewell Personal Care has higher revenue and earnings than Warby Parker. Edgewell Personal Care is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Warby Parker, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Warby Parker beats Edgewell Personal Care on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Warby Parker

Warby Parker Inc. provides eyewear products in the United States and Canada. The company offers eyeglasses, sunglasses, light-responsive lenses, blue-light-filtering lenses, non-prescription lenses, and contact lenses. It also provides accessories, such as cases, lenses kit with anti-fog spray, pouches, and anti-fog lens spray through its retail stores, website, and mobile apps. In addition, the company offers eye exams and vision tests. Warby Parker Inc. was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

About Edgewell Personal Care

Edgewell Personal Care Company is a manufacturer and marketer of personal care products in the wet shave, sun and skin care, feminine care and infant care categories. As of September 30, 2016, the Company had a portfolio of over 25 brands. It manages its business in four segments: Wet Shave, Sun and Skin Care, Feminine Care and All Other. Its Wet shave products are sold under the Schick, Wilkinson Sword, Edge, Skintimate, Shave Guard and Personna brand names. Its Sun and Skin Care products are sold under the Banana Boat, Hawaiian Tropic, Wet Ones and Playtex brand names and offers Wet Ones, portable hand wipes category, and Playtex household gloves, the branded household glove in the United States. Its Feminine Care segment markets its products under the Playtex, Stayfree, Carefree and o.b. brands and markets pads and liners. Its All Other segment includes infant care, pet care and miscellaneous other products.