Target (TGT) Competitors

Target (NYSE:TGT) and Dollar General (NYSE:DG) are both large-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, community ranking, valuation, profitability, risk, earnings, institutional ownership and media sentiment.

Is TGT or DG more profitable?

Target has a net margin of 4.18% compared to Dollar General's net margin of 3.57%. Target's return on equity of 33.10% beat Dollar General's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Target	4.18%	33.10%	8.06%
Dollar General	3.57%	20.62%	4.56%

Is TGT or DG a better dividend stock?

Target pays an annual dividend of $4.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Dollar General pays an annual dividend of $2.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. Target pays out 46.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Dollar General pays out 36.6% 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. Target has raised its dividend for 54 consecutive years. Target is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the media refer more to TGT or DG?

In the previous week, Target had 12 more articles in the media than Dollar General. MarketBeat recorded 54 mentions for Target and 42 mentions for Dollar General. Dollar General's average media sentiment score of 0.69 beat Target's score of 0.08 indicating that Dollar General is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Target	9 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	18 Neutral mention(s)	13 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Dollar General	23 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	9 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community favor TGT or DG?

Target received 6284 more outperform votes than Dollar General when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 89.85% of users gave Target an outperform vote while only 67.42% of users gave Dollar General an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Target	Outperform Votes 7482 89.85%	Underperform Votes 845 10.15%
Dollar General	Outperform Votes 1198 67.42%	Underperform Votes 579 32.58%

Which has more risk and volatility, TGT or DG?

Target has a beta of 1.24, suggesting that its share price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Dollar General has a beta of 0.45, suggesting that its share price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate TGT or DG?

Target presently has a consensus price target of $171.90, indicating a potential upside of 41.21%. Dollar General has a consensus price target of $104.00, indicating a potential upside of 41.98%. Given Dollar General's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Dollar General is more favorable than Target.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Target	1 Sell rating(s)	13 Hold rating(s)	16 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.55
Dollar General	2 Sell rating(s)	13 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.30

Do institutionals & insiders believe in TGT or DG?

79.7% of Target shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.8% of Dollar General shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Target shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Dollar General shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has stronger earnings and valuation, TGT or DG?

Target has higher revenue and earnings than Dollar General. Dollar General is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Target, 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
Target	$107.30B	0.52	$4.14B	$9.68	12.58
Dollar General	$38.69B	0.42	$1.66B	$6.44	11.37

Summary

Target beats Dollar General on 16 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.