Reviewing a.k.a. Brands (NYSE:AKA) and National Vision (NASDAQ:EYE)

a.k.a. Brands (NYSE:AKA) and National Vision (NASDAQ:EYE) are both small-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends, valuation, risk, earnings and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for a.k.a. Brands and National Vision, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
a.k.a. Brands	1	1	0	0	1.50
National Vision	0	4	7	0	2.64

National Vision has a consensus target price of $29.82, suggesting a potential upside of 57.19%. Given National Vision’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe National Vision is more favorable than a.k.a. Brands.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares a.k.a. Brands and National Vision”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
a.k.a. Brands	$600.21 million	0.18	-$31.43 million	($2.72)	-3.71
National Vision	$1.99 billion	0.75	$29.60 million	$0.61	31.10

National Vision has higher revenue and earnings than a.k.a. Brands. a.k.a. Brands is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than National Vision, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares a.k.a. Brands and National Vision’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
a.k.a. Brands	-4.78%	-24.58%	-5.89%
National Vision	2.47%	6.78%	3.01%

Volatility & Risk

a.k.a. Brands has a beta of 1.33, meaning that its share price is 33% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, National Vision has a beta of 0.96, meaning that its share price is 4% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

55.3% of a.k.a. Brands shares are held by institutional investors. 18.2% of a.k.a. Brands shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.4% of National Vision shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

National Vision beats a.k.a. Brands on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About a.k.a. Brands

a.k.a. Brands Holding Corp. operates a portfolio of online fashion brands in the United States, Australia, and internationally. The company offers streetwear apparel, dresses, tops, bottoms, shoes, headwear, and accessories through its online stores under the Princess Polly, Petal & Pup, Culture Kings, and mnml brands. It also operates physical stores under the Culture Kings brand. The company was founded in 2018 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

About National Vision

National Vision Holdings, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as an optical retailer in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Owned & Host and Legacy. It offers eyeglasses and contact lenses, and optical accessory products; provides eye exams through its America’s Best, Eyeglass World, Vista Optical, Fred Meyer, and Vista Optical military, as well as Vision Center branded stores; and offers health maintenance organization and optometric services. National Vision Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Duluth, Georgia.