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 superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, community ranking, earnings, risk, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends and media sentiment.

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 21.2%. 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.

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%

Do analysts rate JDW or MARS?

J D Wetherspoon presently has a consensus target price of GBX 674, suggesting a potential upside of 9.68%. Marston's has a consensus target price of GBX 58, suggesting a potential upside of 53.85%. Given Marston's' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Marston's is more favorable than J D Wetherspoon.

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

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of 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 large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has higher valuation and earnings, 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	1,575.64
Marston's	£893.40M	0.27	-£17.10M	-£0.03	-1,256.67

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer JDW or MARS?

Marston's received 314 more outperform votes than J D Wetherspoon when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.16% 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 623 64.16%	Underperform Votes 348 35.84%

Which has more risk and volatility, JDW or MARS?

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

Does the media refer more to JDW or MARS?

In the previous week, Marston's' average media sentiment score of 0.21 beat J D Wetherspoon's score of -0.46 indicating that Marston's is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
J D Wetherspoon	Neutral
Marston's	Neutral

Summary

J D Wetherspoon beats Marston's on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.