MRU vs. WN, EMP.A, L, SAP, PRMW, DOL, NWC, PBH, MFI, and JWEL
Should you be buying Metro stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Metro include George Weston (WN), Empire (EMP.A), Loblaw Companies (L), Saputo (SAP), Primo Water (PRMW), Dollarama (DOL), North West (NWC), Premium Brands (PBH), Maple Leaf Foods (MFI), and Jamieson Wellness (JWEL). These companies are all part of the "consumer defensive" sector.
Metro (TSE:MRU) and George Weston (TSE:WN) are both large-cap consumer defensive companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, media sentiment, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, dividends and community ranking.
Metro pays an annual dividend of C$1.34 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. George Weston pays an annual dividend of C$3.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Metro pays out 31.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. George Weston pays out 34.6% 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. Metro is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Metro has a net margin of 4.64% compared to George Weston's net margin of 2.22%. George Weston's return on equity of 18.50% beat Metro's return on equity.
Metro has a beta of 0.05, suggesting that its stock price is 95% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, George Weston has a beta of 0.38, suggesting that its stock price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Metro currently has a consensus price target of C$77.86, indicating a potential upside of 6.65%. George Weston has a consensus price target of C$216.67, indicating a potential upside of 14.42%. Given George Weston's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe George Weston is more favorable than Metro.
Metro received 109 more outperform votes than George Weston when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 65.62% of users gave George Weston an outperform vote while only 55.72% of users gave Metro an outperform vote.
45.1% of Metro shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 15.3% of George Weston shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Metro shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 58.5% of George Weston shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
George Weston has higher revenue and earnings than Metro. Metro is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than George Weston, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
In the previous week, George Weston had 10 more articles in the media than Metro. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for George Weston and 3 mentions for Metro. George Weston's average media sentiment score of -0.13 beat Metro's score of -0.34 indicating that George Weston is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Summary
George Weston beats Metro on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding MRU and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
This chart shows the average media sentiment of TSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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