United Natural Foods (UNFI) Competitors

United Natural Foods (NYSE:UNFI) and Chefs' Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, risk, media sentiment, valuation, community ranking, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Does the media favor UNFI or CHEF?

In the previous week, United Natural Foods had 11 more articles in the media than Chefs' Warehouse. MarketBeat recorded 14 mentions for United Natural Foods and 3 mentions for Chefs' Warehouse. United Natural Foods' average media sentiment score of 1.47 beat Chefs' Warehouse's score of 1.32 indicating that United Natural Foods is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
United Natural Foods	12 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Chefs' Warehouse	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, UNFI or CHEF?

Chefs' Warehouse has lower revenue, but higher earnings than United Natural Foods. United Natural Foods is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Chefs' Warehouse, 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
United Natural Foods	$31.68B	0.05	-$112M	-$1.37	-17.81
Chefs' Warehouse	$3.79B	0.57	$55.48M	$1.31	40.43

Does the MarketBeat Community favor UNFI or CHEF?

United Natural Foods received 219 more outperform votes than Chefs' Warehouse when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 62.52% of users gave Chefs' Warehouse an outperform vote while only 55.30% of users gave United Natural Foods an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
United Natural Foods	Outperform Votes 636 55.30%	Underperform Votes 514 44.70%
Chefs' Warehouse	Outperform Votes 417 62.52%	Underperform Votes 250 37.48%

Is UNFI or CHEF more profitable?

Chefs' Warehouse has a net margin of 1.46% compared to United Natural Foods' net margin of -0.30%. Chefs' Warehouse's return on equity of 12.90% beat United Natural Foods' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
United Natural Foods	-0.30%	1.27%	0.27%
Chefs' Warehouse	1.46%	12.90%	3.54%

Do analysts prefer UNFI or CHEF?

United Natural Foods currently has a consensus target price of $27.50, indicating a potential upside of 12.70%. Chefs' Warehouse has a consensus target price of $67.60, indicating a potential upside of 27.64%. Given Chefs' Warehouse's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Chefs' Warehouse is more favorable than United Natural Foods.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
United Natural Foods	1 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.13
Chefs' Warehouse	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Which has more risk and volatility, UNFI or CHEF?

United Natural Foods has a beta of 1.08, meaning that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Chefs' Warehouse has a beta of 1.89, meaning that its stock price is 89% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals and insiders believe in UNFI or CHEF?

87.6% of United Natural Foods shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.6% of Chefs' Warehouse shares are held by institutional investors. 2.1% of United Natural Foods shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 11.9% of Chefs' Warehouse shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Chefs' Warehouse beats United Natural Foods on 14 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.