Head-To-Head Review: Dillard’s (DDS) vs. The Competition

Dillard’s (NYSE:DDS) is one of 143 publicly-traded companies in the “Broadline Retail” industry, but how does it contrast to its peers? We will compare Dillard’s to related businesses based on the strength of its earnings, valuation, risk, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Risk and Volatility

Dillard’s has a beta of 1.14, indicating that its stock price is 14% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Dillard’s’ peers have a beta of -1.25, indicating that their average stock price is 225% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Dillard’s pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Dillard’s pays out 2.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Broadline Retail” companies pay a dividend yield of 33.0% and pay out 11.5% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Dillard’s has raised its dividend for 14 consecutive years.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Dillard’s and its peers gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Dillard’s	$6.47 billion	$570.19 million	13.40
Dillard’s Competitors	$23.56 billion	$1.70 billion	-218.06

Dillard’s’ peers have higher revenue and earnings than Dillard’s. Dillard’s is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

67.2% of Dillard’s shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 44.1% of shares of all “Broadline Retail” companies are owned by institutional investors. 34.8% of Dillard’s shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 23.8% of shares of all “Broadline Retail” companies are owned 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.

Profitability

This table compares Dillard’s and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Dillard’s	10.48%	31.88%	16.20%
Dillard’s Competitors	-4.19%	-36.17%	-2.88%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Dillard’s and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Dillard’s	2	3	0	0	1.60
Dillard’s Competitors	1370	5331	10740	295	2.56

Dillard’s presently has a consensus price target of $521.33, indicating a potential downside of 10.86%. As a group, “Broadline Retail” companies have a potential upside of 22.30%. Given Dillard’s’ peers stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Dillard’s has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Summary

Dillard’s beats its peers on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

Dillard’s Company Profile

Dillard’s, Inc. engages in the retail of fashion apparel, cosmetics, and home furnishings, and other consumer goods. It operates through the Retail Operations and Construction segments. The Retail Operations segment comprises sells cosmetics, ladies’ apparel, ladies’ accessories and lingerie, juniors’ and children’s apparel, men’s apparel and accessories, shoes, and home and furniture products. The Construction segment constructs and remodels stores through CDI Contractors, LLC. The company was founded by William Thomas Dillard in 1938 and is headquartered in Little Rock, AR.