Cheesecake Factory (CAKE) Competitors

Brinker International (NYSE:EAT) and Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) are both mid-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations, media sentiment and community ranking.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer EAT or CAKE?

Brinker International received 162 more outperform votes than Cheesecake Factory when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 57.84% of users gave Brinker International an outperform vote while only 52.08% of users gave Cheesecake Factory an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Brinker International	Outperform Votes 712 57.84%	Underperform Votes 519 42.16%
Cheesecake Factory	Outperform Votes 550 52.08%	Underperform Votes 506 47.92%

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, EAT or CAKE?

Brinker International has higher revenue and earnings than Cheesecake Factory. Cheesecake Factory is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Brinker International, 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
Brinker International	$4.83B	1.43	$155.30M	$5.77	26.98
Cheesecake Factory	$3.58B	0.74	$101.35M	$3.20	16.01

Do analysts rate EAT or CAKE?

Brinker International presently has a consensus price target of $140.18, indicating a potential downside of 9.96%. Cheesecake Factory has a consensus price target of $52.81, indicating a potential upside of 3.11%. Given Cheesecake Factory's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Cheesecake Factory is more favorable than Brinker International.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Brinker International	0 Sell rating(s)	14 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.22
Cheesecake Factory	4 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.24

Does the media favor EAT or CAKE?

In the previous week, Cheesecake Factory had 17 more articles in the media than Brinker International. MarketBeat recorded 31 mentions for Cheesecake Factory and 14 mentions for Brinker International. Brinker International's average media sentiment score of 1.07 beat Cheesecake Factory's score of 0.28 indicating that Brinker International is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Brinker International	11 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Cheesecake Factory	10 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	11 Neutral mention(s)	8 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is EAT or CAKE a better dividend stock?

Brinker International pays an annual dividend of $1.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Cheesecake Factory pays an annual dividend of $1.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Brinker International pays out 26.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Cheesecake Factory pays out 33.8% 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.

Do institutionals & insiders believe in EAT or CAKE?

94.5% of Cheesecake Factory shares are held by institutional investors. 1.7% of Brinker International shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 8.1% of Cheesecake Factory shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more volatility & risk, EAT or CAKE?

Brinker International has a beta of 2.56, suggesting that its stock price is 156% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cheesecake Factory has a beta of 1.55, suggesting that its stock price is 55% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is EAT or CAKE more profitable?

Brinker International has a net margin of 5.45% compared to Cheesecake Factory's net margin of 4.38%. Brinker International's return on equity of 879.47% beat Cheesecake Factory's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Brinker International	5.45%	879.47%	11.82%
Cheesecake Factory	4.38%	45.89%	5.85%

Summary

Brinker International beats Cheesecake Factory on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.