Albertsons Companies (ACI) Competitors

Albertsons Companies (NYSE:ACI) and Kroger (NYSE:KR) are both large-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, valuation, community ranking, risk, earnings and media sentiment.

Is ACI or KR more profitable?

Kroger has a net margin of 1.85% compared to Albertsons Companies' net margin of 1.25%. Albertsons Companies' return on equity of 49.50% beat Kroger's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Albertsons Companies	1.25%	49.50%	5.27%
Kroger	1.85%	27.73%	6.35%

Which has more volatility & risk, ACI or KR?

Albertsons Companies has a beta of 0.51, indicating that its stock price is 49% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kroger has a beta of 0.48, indicating that its stock price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of ACI or KR?

71.3% of Albertsons Companies shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.9% of Kroger shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.3% of Albertsons Companies shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of Kroger shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in ACI or KR?

Kroger received 1059 more outperform votes than Albertsons Companies when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 65.29% of users gave Kroger an outperform vote while only 46.15% of users gave Albertsons Companies an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Albertsons Companies	Outperform Votes 66 46.15%	Underperform Votes 77 53.85%
Kroger	Outperform Votes 1125 65.29%	Underperform Votes 598 34.71%

Do analysts recommend ACI or KR?

Albertsons Companies presently has a consensus target price of $22.75, suggesting a potential upside of 16.55%. Kroger has a consensus target price of $65.43, suggesting a potential upside of 5.79%. Given Albertsons Companies' higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Albertsons Companies is more favorable than Kroger.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Albertsons Companies	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.54
Kroger	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67

Is ACI or KR a better dividend stock?

Albertsons Companies pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Kroger pays an annual dividend of $1.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Albertsons Companies pays out 28.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Kroger pays out 33.9% 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. Kroger has increased its dividend for 19 consecutive years. Albertsons Companies is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, ACI or KR?

Kroger has higher revenue and earnings than Albertsons Companies. Albertsons Companies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Kroger, 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
Albertsons Companies	$79.71B	0.14	$1.30B	$1.71	11.42
Kroger	$149.88B	0.30	$2.16B	$3.78	16.36

Does the media favor ACI or KR?

In the previous week, Kroger had 25 more articles in the media than Albertsons Companies. MarketBeat recorded 46 mentions for Kroger and 21 mentions for Albertsons Companies. Albertsons Companies' average media sentiment score of 0.57 beat Kroger's score of 0.30 indicating that Albertsons Companies is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Albertsons Companies	3 Very Positive mention(s)	5 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Kroger	10 Very Positive mention(s)	10 Positive mention(s)	19 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	2 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Summary

Kroger beats Albertsons Companies on 16 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.