Cheesecake Factory (CAKE) Competitors

Cheesecake Factory (NASDAQ:CAKE) and Arcos Dorados (NYSE:ARCO) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, earnings, valuation, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, community ranking, profitability and dividends.

Do analysts rate CAKE or ARCO?

Cheesecake Factory currently has a consensus target price of $44.75, indicating a potential downside of 4.03%. Arcos Dorados has a consensus target price of $13.50, indicating a potential upside of 58.36%. Given Arcos Dorados' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Arcos Dorados is more favorable than Cheesecake Factory.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cheesecake Factory	3 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.08
Arcos Dorados	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, CAKE or ARCO?

Arcos Dorados has higher revenue and earnings than Cheesecake Factory. Arcos Dorados is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cheesecake Factory, 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
Cheesecake Factory	$3.54B	0.67	$101.35M	$2.63	17.73
Arcos Dorados	$4.50B	0.40	$181.27M	$0.70	12.18

Does the media favor CAKE or ARCO?

In the previous week, Cheesecake Factory had 11 more articles in the media than Arcos Dorados. MarketBeat recorded 18 mentions for Cheesecake Factory and 7 mentions for Arcos Dorados. Cheesecake Factory's average media sentiment score of 0.79 beat Arcos Dorados' score of 0.76 indicating that Cheesecake Factory is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Cheesecake Factory	8 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Arcos Dorados	3 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is CAKE or ARCO more profitable?

Cheesecake Factory has a net margin of 3.63% compared to Arcos Dorados' net margin of 3.25%. Cheesecake Factory's return on equity of 43.90% beat Arcos Dorados' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cheesecake Factory	3.63%	43.90%	5.43%
Arcos Dorados	3.25%	29.74%	4.99%

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer CAKE or ARCO?

Cheesecake Factory received 265 more outperform votes than Arcos Dorados when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 55.33% of users gave Arcos Dorados an outperform vote while only 52.07% of users gave Cheesecake Factory an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Cheesecake Factory	Outperform Votes 540 52.07%	Underperform Votes 497 47.93%
Arcos Dorados	Outperform Votes 275 55.33%	Underperform Votes 222 44.67%

Which has more volatility & risk, CAKE or ARCO?

Cheesecake Factory has a beta of 1.47, suggesting that its share price is 47% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Arcos Dorados has a beta of 1.16, suggesting that its share price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in CAKE or ARCO?

94.5% of Cheesecake Factory shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 55.9% of Arcos Dorados shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.1% of Cheesecake Factory shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is CAKE or ARCO a better dividend stock?

Cheesecake Factory pays an annual dividend of $1.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Arcos Dorados pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Cheesecake Factory pays out 41.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Arcos Dorados pays out 34.3% 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. Arcos Dorados is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Cheesecake Factory beats Arcos Dorados on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.