PriceSmart (PSMT) Competitors

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) and Walmart (NYSE:WMT) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, profitability, valuation, risk, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, community ranking and institutional ownership.

Which has more risk & volatility, PSMT or WMT?

PriceSmart has a beta of 0.86, indicating that its share price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Walmart has a beta of 0.55, indicating that its share price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is PSMT or WMT a better dividend stock?

PriceSmart pays an annual dividend of $1.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Walmart pays an annual dividend of $0.83 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. PriceSmart pays out 25.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Walmart pays out 34.0% 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. Walmart has increased its dividend for 35 consecutive years. PriceSmart is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the media refer more to PSMT or WMT?

In the previous week, Walmart had 108 more articles in the media than PriceSmart. MarketBeat recorded 114 mentions for Walmart and 6 mentions for PriceSmart. PriceSmart's average media sentiment score of 1.14 beat Walmart's score of 1.09 indicating that PriceSmart is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
PriceSmart	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Walmart	79 Very Positive mention(s)	8 Positive mention(s)	19 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of PSMT or WMT?

80.5% of PriceSmart shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 26.8% of Walmart shares are held by institutional investors. 17.1% of PriceSmart shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 45.6% of Walmart shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts rate PSMT or WMT?

PriceSmart currently has a consensus price target of $90.00, suggesting a potential downside of 0.71%. Walmart has a consensus price target of $94.69, suggesting a potential upside of 1.53%. Given Walmart's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Walmart is more favorable than PriceSmart.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
PriceSmart	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Walmart	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	28 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.97

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer PSMT or WMT?

Walmart received 1236 more outperform votes than PriceSmart when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 66.46% of users gave PriceSmart an outperform vote while only 61.55% of users gave Walmart an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
PriceSmart	Outperform Votes 317 66.46%	Underperform Votes 160 33.54%
Walmart	Outperform Votes 1553 61.55%	Underperform Votes 970 38.45%

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, PSMT or WMT?

Walmart has higher revenue and earnings than PriceSmart. PriceSmart is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Walmart, 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
PriceSmart	$4.91B	0.57	$138.88M	$4.54	19.96
Walmart	$673.82B	1.11	$15.51B	$2.44	38.22

Is PSMT or WMT more profitable?

Walmart has a net margin of 2.92% compared to PriceSmart's net margin of 2.76%. Walmart's return on equity of 21.78% beat PriceSmart's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
PriceSmart	2.76%	12.29%	6.75%
Walmart	2.92%	21.78%	7.73%

Summary

Walmart beats PriceSmart on 14 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.