BATS vs. IMB, ULVR, BMK, DGE, RKT, CCEP, TSCO, ABF, CCH, and BNZL
Should you be buying British American Tobacco stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of British American Tobacco include Imperial Brands (IMB), Unilever (ULVR), Benchmark (BMK), Diageo (DGE), Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT), Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP), Tesco (TSCO), Associated British Foods (ABF), Coca-Cola HBC (CCH), and Bunzl (BNZL). These companies are all part of the "consumer defensive" sector.
British American Tobacco vs. Its Competitors
Imperial Brands (LON:IMB) and British American Tobacco (LON:BATS) are both large-cap consumer defensive companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, media sentiment and valuation.
80.9% of Imperial Brands shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 75.6% of British American Tobacco shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Imperial Brands shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of British American Tobacco shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
In the previous week, Imperial Brands had 11 more articles in the media than British American Tobacco. MarketBeat recorded 15 mentions for Imperial Brands and 4 mentions for British American Tobacco. British American Tobacco's average media sentiment score of 0.92 beat Imperial Brands' score of 0.34 indicating that British American Tobacco is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Imperial Brands has higher revenue and earnings than British American Tobacco. Imperial Brands is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than British American Tobacco, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Imperial Brands presently has a consensus target price of GBX 3,600, indicating a potential upside of 16.35%. British American Tobacco has a consensus target price of GBX 4,040, indicating a potential upside of 4.66%. Given Imperial Brands' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Imperial Brands is more favorable than British American Tobacco.
Imperial Brands pays an annual dividend of GBX 1.53 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.0%. British American Tobacco pays an annual dividend of GBX 2.38 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.1%. Imperial Brands pays out 51.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. British American Tobacco pays out 170.8% 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 has a net margin of 11.44% compared to British American Tobacco's net margin of -52.84%. Imperial Brands' return on equity of 41.84% beat British American Tobacco's return on equity.
Imperial Brands has a beta of 0.42, suggesting that its share price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, British American Tobacco has a beta of 0.27, suggesting that its share price is 73% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Imperial Brands beats British American Tobacco on 13 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding BATS and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Media Sentiment Over Time
This 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.
British American Tobacco Competitors List
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This page (LON:BATS) was last updated on 10/9/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
