Reviewing GAP (GAP) & Its Competitors

GAP (NYSE:GAP) is one of 14 public companies in the “Family clothing stores” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare GAP to related businesses based on the strength of its earnings, profitability, risk, valuation, institutional ownership, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

58.8% of GAP shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 71.3% of shares of all “Family clothing stores” companies are owned by institutional investors. 31.0% of GAP shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 14.5% of shares of all “Family clothing stores” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and price targets for GAP and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
GAP	0	3	0	0	2.00
GAP Competitors	357	2125	2351	30	2.42

GAP currently has a consensus target price of $27.00, indicating a potential upside of 24.94%. As a group, “Family clothing stores” companies have a potential upside of 14.81%. Given GAP’s higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe GAP is more favorable than its competitors.

Profitability

This table compares GAP and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
GAP	5.05%	28.89%	6.92%
GAP Competitors	3.12%	-411.36%	7.11%

Risk & Volatility

GAP has a beta of 2.35, meaning that its stock price is 135% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, GAP’s competitors have a beta of 2.24, meaning that their average stock price is 124% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares GAP and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
GAP	$14.89 billion	$502.00 million	10.70
GAP Competitors	$11.62 billion	$692.49 million	11.60

GAP has higher revenue, but lower earnings than its competitors. GAP is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Dividends

GAP pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. GAP pays out 29.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Family clothing stores” companies pay a dividend yield of 1.8% and pay out 78.7% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. GAP is clearly a better dividend stock than its competitors, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

GAP beats its competitors on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

GAP Company Profile

The Gap, Inc. operates as an apparel retail company. The company offers apparel, accessories, and personal care products for men, women, and children under the Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, and Athleta brands. Its products include adult apparel and accessories; and fitness and lifestyle products for use in yoga, training, sports, travel, and everyday activities for women and girls. The company offers its products through company-operated stores, franchise stores, websites, and third-party arrangements. It has franchise agreements to operate Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, and Athleta stores and websites in Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. The Gap, Inc. was incorporated in 1969 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.