Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ:URBN) and Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) Head to Head Contrast

Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ:URBN) and Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) are both mid-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, risk, dividends and profitability.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for Urban Outfitters and Bath & Body Works, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Urban Outfitters	0	8	9	0	2.53
Bath & Body Works	1	15	4	0	2.15

Urban Outfitters presently has a consensus price target of $90.54, suggesting a potential upside of 2.57%. Bath & Body Works has a consensus price target of $22.20, suggesting a potential upside of 1.99%. Given Urban Outfitters’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Urban Outfitters is more favorable than Bath & Body Works.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Urban Outfitters and Bath & Body Works”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Urban Outfitters	$6.47 billion	1.17	$464.92 million	$6.41	13.77
Bath & Body Works	$7.21 billion	0.61	$649.00 million	$3.84	5.67

Bath & Body Works has higher revenue and earnings than Urban Outfitters. Bath & Body Works is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Urban Outfitters, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

77.6% of Urban Outfitters shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.1% of Bath & Body Works shares are owned by institutional investors. 32.1% of Urban Outfitters shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Bath & Body Works shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

Urban Outfitters has a beta of 1.22, suggesting that its share price is 22% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bath & Body Works has a beta of 1.31, suggesting that its share price is 31% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Urban Outfitters and Bath & Body Works’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Urban Outfitters	8.79%	18.64%	10.34%
Bath & Body Works	10.83%	-53.48%	13.40%

Summary

Urban Outfitters beats Bath & Body Works on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Urban Outfitters

Urban Outfitters, Inc. engages in the retail and wholesale of general consumer products. The company operates through three segments: Retail, Wholesale, and Nuuly. It operates Urban Outfitters stores, which offer women's and men's fashion apparel, activewear, intimates, footwear, accessories, home goods, electronics, and beauty products for young adults aged 18 to 28; and Anthropologie stores that provide women's apparel, accessories, intimates, shoes, and home furnishings, as well as gifts, decorative items, and beauty and wellness products for women aged 28 to 45. The company also operates Terrain stores that provide lifestyle home products, garden and outdoor living products, antiques, live plants, flowers, wellness products, and accessories. In addition, it operates Free People retail stores, which offer casual women's apparel, intimates, activewear, shoes, accessories, home products, gifts, and beauty and wellness products for young women aged 25 to 30; and restaurants, as well as women's apparel subscription rental service under the Nuuly brand. Further, the company is involved in the wholesale of young women's contemporary casual apparel, intimates, activewear, and shoes under the Free People brand; and apparel collections under the Urban Outfitters brand. The company serves its customers directly through retail stores, websites, mobile applications, catalogs and customer contact centers, franchisee-owned stores, and department and specialty stores, as well as social media and third-party digital platforms. Urban Outfitters, Inc. was founded in 1970 and is based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

About Bath & Body Works

Bath & Body Works, Inc. is a specialty retailers and home to America’s Favorite Fragrances, offering a breadth of exclusive fragrances for the body and home, including the selling collections for fine fragrance mist, body lotion and body cream, 3-wick candles, home fragrance diffusers and liquid hand soap. The company was founded by Leslie Herbert Wexner in 1963 and is headquartered in Columbus, OH.