Central Garden & Pet (CENTA) Competitors

Central Garden & Pet (NASDAQ:CENTA) and WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) are both mid-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, community ranking, media sentiment, valuation, dividends, profitability, risk and analyst recommendations.

Which has more volatility and risk, CENTA or WDFC?

Central Garden & Pet has a beta of 0.73, indicating that its stock price is 27% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, WD-40 has a beta of -0.08, indicating that its stock price is 108% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is CENTA or WDFC more profitable?

WD-40 has a net margin of 11.79% compared to Central Garden & Pet's net margin of 4.42%. WD-40's return on equity of 31.53% beat Central Garden & Pet's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Central Garden & Pet	4.42%	10.66%	4.59%
WD-40	11.79%	31.53%	15.81%

Which has higher valuation and earnings, CENTA or WDFC?

Central Garden & Pet has higher revenue and earnings than WD-40. Central Garden & Pet is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than WD-40, 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
Central Garden & Pet	$3.31B	0.64	$125.64M	$2.17	14.59
WD-40	$590.56M	6.40	$69.64M	$5.11	54.60

Does the media refer more to CENTA or WDFC?

In the previous week, Central Garden & Pet and Central Garden & Pet both had 5 articles in the media. WD-40's average media sentiment score of 0.74 beat Central Garden & Pet's score of 0.72 indicating that WD-40 is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Central Garden & Pet	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
WD-40	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in CENTA or WDFC?

WD-40 received 96 more outperform votes than Central Garden & Pet when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 63.10% of users gave Central Garden & Pet an outperform vote while only 53.24% of users gave WD-40 an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Central Garden & Pet	Outperform Votes 183 63.10%	Underperform Votes 107 36.90%
WD-40	Outperform Votes 279 53.24%	Underperform Votes 245 46.76%

Do analysts recommend CENTA or WDFC?

Central Garden & Pet presently has a consensus target price of $41.33, suggesting a potential upside of 30.68%. WD-40 has a consensus target price of $301.00, suggesting a potential upside of 7.88%. Given Central Garden & Pet's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Central Garden & Pet is more favorable than WD-40.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Central Garden & Pet	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.20
WD-40	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Do institutionals & insiders believe in CENTA or WDFC?

50.8% of Central Garden & Pet shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.5% of WD-40 shares are held by institutional investors. 20.3% of Central Garden & Pet shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.7% of WD-40 shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Central Garden & Pet and WD-40 tied by winning 9 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.