Kirkland's (KIRK) Competitors

Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) and Kirkland's (NASDAQ:KIRK) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, profitability, media sentiment, valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, community ranking and analyst recommendations.

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of WSM or KIRK?

99.3% of Williams-Sonoma shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 15.4% of Kirkland's shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.5% of Williams-Sonoma shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 5.0% of Kirkland's shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has higher valuation and earnings, WSM or KIRK?

Williams-Sonoma has higher revenue and earnings than Kirkland's. Kirkland's is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Williams-Sonoma, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Williams-Sonoma	$7.75B	3.44	$949.76M	$8.45	25.63
Kirkland's	$468.69M	0.04	-$27.75M	-$1.60	-0.97

Do analysts rate WSM or KIRK?

Williams-Sonoma currently has a consensus target price of $163.16, suggesting a potential downside of 24.71%. Kirkland's has a consensus target price of $4.50, suggesting a potential upside of 190.32%. Given Kirkland's' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Kirkland's is more favorable than Williams-Sonoma.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Williams-Sonoma	3 Sell rating(s)	11 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.06
Kirkland's	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Is WSM or KIRK more profitable?

Williams-Sonoma has a net margin of 14.54% compared to Kirkland's' net margin of -4.56%. Williams-Sonoma's return on equity of 51.56% beat Kirkland's' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Williams-Sonoma	14.54%	51.56%	21.24%
Kirkland's	-4.56%	N/A	-6.56%

Does the media favor WSM or KIRK?

In the previous week, Williams-Sonoma had 17 more articles in the media than Kirkland's. MarketBeat recorded 35 mentions for Williams-Sonoma and 18 mentions for Kirkland's. Williams-Sonoma's average media sentiment score of 1.00 beat Kirkland's' score of 0.18 indicating that Williams-Sonoma is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Williams-Sonoma	17 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	10 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Kirkland's	0 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	10 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in WSM or KIRK?

Williams-Sonoma received 274 more outperform votes than Kirkland's when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 72.12% of users gave Kirkland's an outperform vote while only 49.23% of users gave Williams-Sonoma an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Williams-Sonoma	Outperform Votes 706 49.23%	Underperform Votes 728 50.77%
Kirkland's	Outperform Votes 432 72.12%	Underperform Votes 167 27.88%

Which has more risk and volatility, WSM or KIRK?

Williams-Sonoma has a beta of 1.79, indicating that its share price is 79% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kirkland's has a beta of 2.46, indicating that its share price is 146% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Williams-Sonoma beats Kirkland's on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.