PriceSmart (PSMT) Competitors

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

Which has stronger valuation and 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	0.72	$138.88M	$4.74	24.17
Walmart	$680.99B	1.21	$19.44B	$2.66	38.90

Is PSMT or WMT a better dividend stock?

PriceSmart pays an annual dividend of $1.26 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Walmart pays an annual dividend of $0.94 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. PriceSmart pays out 26.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Walmart pays out 35.3% 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. PriceSmart has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years and Walmart has raised its dividend for 53 consecutive years. PriceSmart is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Is PSMT or WMT more profitable?

Walmart has a net margin of 3.08% compared to PriceSmart's net margin of 2.82%. Walmart's return on equity of 21.45% beat PriceSmart's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
PriceSmart	2.82%	12.46%	6.97%
Walmart	3.08%	21.45%	7.68%

Which has more risk and volatility, PSMT or WMT?

PriceSmart has a beta of 0.79, suggesting that its stock price is 21% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Walmart has a beta of 0.65, suggesting that its stock price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer PSMT or WMT?

In the previous week, Walmart had 95 more articles in the media than PriceSmart. MarketBeat recorded 112 mentions for Walmart and 17 mentions for PriceSmart. PriceSmart's average media sentiment score of 1.27 beat Walmart's score of 1.15 indicating that PriceSmart is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
PriceSmart	13 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Walmart	76 Very Positive mention(s)	21 Positive mention(s)	12 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts rate PSMT or WMT?

Walmart has a consensus price target of $110.76, indicating a potential upside of 7.03%. Given Walmart's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly 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)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00
Walmart	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	29 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Do insiders & institutionals believe in 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 insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Walmart shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Walmart beats PriceSmart on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.