ABF vs. IMB, TSCO, BNZL, CCH, SBRY, BME, RKT, BATS, CCR, and DGE
Should you be buying Associated British Foods stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Associated British Foods include Imperial Brands (IMB), Tesco (TSCO), Bunzl (BNZL), Coca-Cola HBC (CCH), J Sainsbury (SBRY), B&M European Value Retail (BME), Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT), British American Tobacco (BATS), C&C Group (CCR), and Diageo (DGE). These companies are all part of the "consumer defensive" sector.
Imperial Brands (LON:IMB) and Associated British Foods (LON:ABF) 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 profitability, valuation, risk, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, community ranking, earnings and dividends.
74.1% of Imperial Brands shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 18.9% of Associated British Foods shares are held by institutional investors. 6.5% of Imperial Brands shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 58.6% of Associated British Foods shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Imperial Brands pays an annual dividend of GBX 147 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.6%. Associated British Foods pays an annual dividend of GBX 47 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Imperial Brands pays out 5,927.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Associated British Foods pays out 3,507.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.
Imperial Brands presently has a consensus target price of GBX 2,171, suggesting a potential upside of 26.66%. Associated British Foods has a consensus target price of GBX 2,041.67, suggesting a potential downside of 11.92%. Given Associated British Foods' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Imperial Brands is more favorable than Associated British Foods.
Imperial Brands has a beta of 0.42, meaning that its share price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Associated British Foods has a beta of 1.24, meaning that its share price is 24% more volatile than the S&P 500.
In the previous week, Imperial Brands had 1 more articles in the media than Associated British Foods. MarketBeat recorded 4 mentions for Imperial Brands and 3 mentions for Associated British Foods. Associated British Foods' average media sentiment score of 0.39 beat Imperial Brands' score of 0.37 indicating that Imperial Brands is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Imperial Brands has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Associated British Foods. Imperial Brands is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Associated British Foods, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Imperial Brands has a net margin of 12.88% compared to Imperial Brands' net margin of 5.29%. Associated British Foods' return on equity of 34.80% beat Imperial Brands' return on equity.
Associated British Foods received 528 more outperform votes than Imperial Brands when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 73.00% of users gave Associated British Foods an outperform vote while only 69.60% of users gave Imperial Brands an outperform vote.
Summary
Imperial Brands beats Associated British Foods on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
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This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding ABF and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Skip ChartThis chart shows the average media sentiment of LON 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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