Cato (CATO) Competitors

Cato (NYSE:CATO) and Zumiez (NASDAQ:ZUMZ) are both small-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, community ranking, media sentiment, institutional ownership and valuation.

Do analysts recommend CATO or ZUMZ?

Zumiez has a consensus price target of $22.00, indicating a potential upside of 2.47%. Given Zumiez's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Zumiez is more favorable than Cato.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cato	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
Zumiez	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Does the media favor CATO or ZUMZ?

In the previous week, Cato had 2 more articles in the media than Zumiez. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for Cato and 3 mentions for Zumiez. Zumiez's average media sentiment score of 0.53 beat Cato's score of 0.24 indicating that Zumiez is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Cato	1 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Zumiez	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is CATO or ZUMZ more profitable?

Cato has a net margin of -2.71% compared to Zumiez's net margin of -6.02%. Zumiez's return on equity of -3.52% beat Cato's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cato	-2.71%	-9.19%	-3.87%
Zumiez	-6.02%	-3.52%	-1.79%

Which has more volatility and risk, CATO or ZUMZ?

Cato has a beta of 1.08, meaning that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Zumiez has a beta of 1.24, meaning that its stock price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer CATO or ZUMZ?

Zumiez received 400 more outperform votes than Cato when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 59.52% of users gave Cato an outperform vote while only 47.84% of users gave Zumiez an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Cato	Outperform Votes 175 59.52%	Underperform Votes 119 40.48%
Zumiez	Outperform Votes 575 47.84%	Underperform Votes 627 52.16%

Which has higher valuation & earnings, CATO or ZUMZ?

Cato has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Zumiez. Zumiez is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cato, 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
Cato	$708.06M	0.18	-$23.94M	-$0.89	-6.86
Zumiez	$875.49M	0.47	-$62.61M	-$2.75	-7.81

Do insiders & institutionals believe in CATO or ZUMZ?

61.1% of Cato shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.5% of Zumiez shares are owned by institutional investors. 16.6% of Cato shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 20.3% of Zumiez shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Zumiez beats Cato on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.