British American Tobacco (BATS) Competitors

Imperial Brands (LON:IMB) and British American Tobacco (LON:BATS) are both large-cap consumer defensive companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, community ranking, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, media sentiment and risk.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in IMB or BATS?

British American Tobacco received 597 more outperform votes than Imperial Brands when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 74.01% of users gave British American Tobacco an outperform vote while only 69.56% of users gave Imperial Brands an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Imperial Brands	Outperform Votes 633 69.56%	Underperform Votes 277 30.44%
British American Tobacco	Outperform Votes 1230 74.01%	Underperform Votes 432 25.99%

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, IMB or BATS?

Imperial Brands has higher earnings, but lower revenue than British American Tobacco. British American Tobacco is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Imperial Brands, 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
Imperial Brands	£17.31B	1.37	£1.98B	£236.12	11.95
British American Tobacco	£25.81B	2.65	-£13.64B	-£619.76	-5.01

Do insiders and institutionals believe in IMB or BATS?

68.0% of Imperial Brands shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 40.7% of British American Tobacco shares are owned by institutional investors. 7.3% of Imperial Brands shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 10.6% of British American Tobacco shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is IMB or BATS more profitable?

Imperial Brands has a net margin of 11.44% compared to British American Tobacco's net margin of -52.84%. Imperial Brands' return on equity of 41.84% beat British American Tobacco's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Imperial Brands	11.44%	41.84%	6.92%
British American Tobacco	-52.84%	-25.94%	5.16%

Is IMB or BATS a better dividend stock?

Imperial Brands pays an annual dividend of GBX 153 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.4%. British American Tobacco pays an annual dividend of GBX 236 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.6%. Imperial Brands pays out 64.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. British American Tobacco pays out -38.1% 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. British American Tobacco is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has more volatility & risk, IMB or BATS?

Imperial Brands has a beta of 0.42, meaning that its stock price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, British American Tobacco has a beta of 0.27, meaning that its stock price is 73% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate IMB or BATS?

Imperial Brands presently has a consensus price target of GBX 2,205, indicating a potential downside of 21.84%. British American Tobacco has a consensus price target of GBX 3,183.33, indicating a potential upside of 2.56%. Given British American Tobacco's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe British American Tobacco is more favorable than Imperial Brands.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Imperial Brands	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
British American Tobacco	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Does the media prefer IMB or BATS?

In the previous week, British American Tobacco had 3 more articles in the media than Imperial Brands. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for British American Tobacco and 0 mentions for Imperial Brands. British American Tobacco's average media sentiment score of 0.18 beat Imperial Brands' score of 0.00 indicating that British American Tobacco is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Imperial Brands	Neutral
British American Tobacco	Neutral

Summary

British American Tobacco beats Imperial Brands on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.