Potbelly (PBPB) Competitors

Potbelly (NASDAQ:PBPB) and J. Alexander's (NYSE:JAX) are both small-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, community ranking, media sentiment, valuation, dividends, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations and risk.

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer PBPB or JAX?

Potbelly received 160 more outperform votes than J. Alexander's when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 67.16% of users gave J. Alexander's an outperform vote while only 64.39% of users gave Potbelly an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Potbelly	Outperform Votes 340 64.39%	Underperform Votes 188 35.61%
J. Alexander's	Outperform Votes 180 67.16%	Underperform Votes 88 32.84%

Does the media favor PBPB or JAX?

In the previous week, Potbelly had 3 more articles in the media than J. Alexander's. MarketBeat recorded 3 mentions for Potbelly and 0 mentions for J. Alexander's. Potbelly's average media sentiment score of 1.00 beat J. Alexander's' score of 0.52 indicating that Potbelly is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Potbelly	Positive
J. Alexander's	Positive

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of PBPB or JAX?

72.6% of Potbelly shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 42.8% of J. Alexander's shares are owned by institutional investors. 9.1% of Potbelly shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 21.2% of J. Alexander's shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts recommend PBPB or JAX?

Potbelly currently has a consensus target price of $16.00, suggesting a potential upside of 64.27%. Given Potbelly's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Potbelly is more favorable than J. Alexander's.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Potbelly	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
J. Alexander's	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, PBPB or JAX?

Potbelly has higher revenue and earnings than J. Alexander's.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Potbelly	$491.41M	0.59	$5.12M	$1.25	7.79
J. Alexander's	$183.37M	1.15	-$22.47M	N/A	N/A

Which has more risk and volatility, PBPB or JAX?

Potbelly has a beta of 1.21, suggesting that its share price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, J. Alexander's has a beta of 1.54, suggesting that its share price is 54% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is PBPB or JAX more profitable?

Potbelly has a net margin of 8.14% compared to J. Alexander's' net margin of 3.48%. Potbelly's return on equity of 18.69% beat J. Alexander's' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Potbelly	8.14%	18.69%	2.41%
J. Alexander's	3.48%	6.53%	3.02%

Summary

Potbelly beats J. Alexander's on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.