EMP.A vs. MRU, NWC, ATD.B, ATD.A, L, WN, SAP, PRMW, PBH, and MFI
Should you be buying Empire stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Empire include Metro (MRU), North West (NWC), Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD.B), Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD.A), Loblaw Companies (L), George Weston (WN), Saputo (SAP), Primo Water (PRMW), Premium Brands (PBH), and Maple Leaf Foods (MFI). These companies are all part of the "consumer defensive" sector.
Empire (TSE:EMP.A) and Metro (TSE:MRU) are both consumer defensive companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, community ranking, dividends, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, risk and institutional ownership.
42.1% of Empire shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 45.1% of Metro shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.0% of Empire shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Metro shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Metro received 160 more outperform votes than Empire when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 55.72% of users gave Metro an outperform vote while only 45.87% of users gave Empire an outperform vote.
In the previous week, Empire had 2 more articles in the media than Metro. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for Empire and 1 mentions for Metro. Empire's average media sentiment score of 0.01 beat Metro's score of -0.02 indicating that Empire is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Empire pays an annual dividend of C$0.73 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Metro pays an annual dividend of C$1.34 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Empire pays out 24.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Metro pays out 31.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Empire is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Empire has a beta of 0.46, suggesting that its share price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Metro has a beta of 0.05, suggesting that its share price is 95% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Empire currently has a consensus price target of C$38.43, suggesting a potential upside of 19.01%. Metro has a consensus price target of C$77.86, suggesting a potential upside of 7.20%. Given Empire's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Empire is more favorable than Metro.
Metro has a net margin of 4.64% compared to Empire's net margin of 2.46%. Empire's return on equity of 14.81% beat Metro's return on equity.
Metro has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Empire. Empire is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Metro, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Empire beats Metro on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding EMP.A and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
This chart shows the average media sentiment of TSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
EMP.A vs. The Competition
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