Marston's (MARS) Competitors

J D Wetherspoon (LON:JDW) and Marston's (LON:MARS) are both small-cap consumer cyclical companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, media sentiment, risk, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability and community ranking.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer JDW or MARS?

Marston's received 315 more outperform votes than J D Wetherspoon when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.20% of users gave Marston's an outperform vote while only 42.86% of users gave J D Wetherspoon an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
J D Wetherspoon	Outperform Votes 309 42.86%	Underperform Votes 412 57.14%
Marston's	Outperform Votes 624 64.20%	Underperform Votes 348 35.80%

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in JDW or MARS?

70.0% of J D Wetherspoon shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 74.5% of Marston's shares are owned by institutional investors. 31.3% of J D Wetherspoon shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.8% of Marston's shares 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.

Is JDW or MARS more profitable?

J D Wetherspoon has a net margin of 2.40% compared to Marston's' net margin of -1.91%. J D Wetherspoon's return on equity of 11.98% beat Marston's' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
J D Wetherspoon	2.40%	11.98%	4.59%
Marston's	-1.91%	-2.80%	3.72%

Is JDW or MARS a better dividend stock?

J D Wetherspoon pays an annual dividend of GBX 12 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Marston's pays an annual dividend of GBX 8 per share and has a dividend yield of 17.6%. J D Wetherspoon pays out 3,076.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Marston's pays out -26,666.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Marston's is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Do analysts prefer JDW or MARS?

J D Wetherspoon presently has a consensus price target of GBX 674, suggesting a potential upside of 10.95%. Given J D Wetherspoon's higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe J D Wetherspoon is more favorable than Marston's.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
J D Wetherspoon	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75
Marston's	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Does the media favor JDW or MARS?

In the previous week, J D Wetherspoon had 2 more articles in the media than Marston's. MarketBeat recorded 4 mentions for J D Wetherspoon and 2 mentions for Marston's. J D Wetherspoon's average media sentiment score of 1.16 beat Marston's' score of 0.40 indicating that J D Wetherspoon is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
J D Wetherspoon	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Marston's	0 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Which has more volatility and risk, JDW or MARS?

J D Wetherspoon has a beta of 1.34, suggesting that its share price is 34% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Marston's has a beta of 1.68, suggesting that its share price is 68% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, JDW or MARS?

J D Wetherspoon has higher revenue and earnings than Marston's. Marston's is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than J D Wetherspoon, 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
J D Wetherspoon	£2.04B	0.37	£48.78M	£0.39	1,557.69
Marston's	£893.40M	0.32	-£17.10M	-£0.03	-1,518.33

Summary

J D Wetherspoon beats Marston's on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.