Potbelly (PBPB) Competitors

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

Do insiders & institutionals believe in PBPB or ARCO?

72.6% of Potbelly shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 55.9% of Arcos Dorados shares are held by institutional investors. 10.2% of Potbelly shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has better earnings & valuation, PBPB or ARCO?

Arcos Dorados has higher revenue and earnings than Potbelly. Arcos Dorados is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Potbelly, 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
Potbelly	$469.14M	0.84	$40.29M	$0.35	37.31
Arcos Dorados	$4.50B	0.33	$148.76M	$0.63	11.06

Do analysts recommend PBPB or ARCO?

Potbelly presently has a consensus price target of $18.00, indicating a potential upside of 37.83%. Arcos Dorados has a consensus price target of $8.80, indicating a potential upside of 26.35%. Given Potbelly's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Potbelly is more favorable than Arcos Dorados.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Potbelly	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
Arcos Dorados	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Does the media prefer PBPB or ARCO?

In the previous week, Arcos Dorados had 2 more articles in the media than Potbelly. MarketBeat recorded 4 mentions for Arcos Dorados and 2 mentions for Potbelly. Potbelly's average media sentiment score of 0.94 beat Arcos Dorados' score of 0.80 indicating that Potbelly is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Potbelly	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Arcos Dorados	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility and risk, PBPB or ARCO?

Potbelly has a beta of 1.55, indicating that its share price is 55% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Arcos Dorados has a beta of 0.59, indicating that its share price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is PBPB or ARCO more profitable?

Arcos Dorados has a net margin of 2.89% compared to Potbelly's net margin of 2.30%. Arcos Dorados' return on equity of 24.54% beat Potbelly's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Potbelly	2.30%	16.31%	3.56%
Arcos Dorados	2.89%	24.54%	4.10%

Summary

Potbelly beats Arcos Dorados on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.