BATS vs. IMB, DGE, RKT, ULVR, TSCO, CCH, TATE, BVIC, FEVR, and DCG
Should you be buying British American Tobacco stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of British American Tobacco include Imperial Brands (IMB), Diageo (DGE), Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT), Unilever (ULVR), Tesco (TSCO), Coca-Cola HBC (CCH), Tate & Lyle (TATE), Britvic (BVIC), Fevertree Drinks (FEVR), and Dairy Crest Group (DCG). These companies are all part of the "consumer defensive" sector.
British American Tobacco vs.
British American Tobacco (LON:BATS) and Imperial Brands (LON:IMB) 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 earnings, valuation, community ranking, dividends, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, media sentiment and institutional ownership.
50.4% of British American Tobacco shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 64.6% of Imperial Brands shares are held by institutional investors. 9.0% of British American Tobacco shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 6.3% of Imperial Brands shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
British American Tobacco received 602 more outperform votes than Imperial Brands when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 74.09% of users gave British American Tobacco an outperform vote while only 69.68% of users gave Imperial Brands an outperform vote.
British American Tobacco has higher revenue and earnings than Imperial Brands. British American Tobacco is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Imperial Brands, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
British American Tobacco has a net margin of 24.10% compared to Imperial Brands' net margin of 9.29%. Imperial Brands' return on equity of 24.83% beat British American Tobacco's return on equity.
In the previous week, British American Tobacco had 5 more articles in the media than Imperial Brands. MarketBeat recorded 5 mentions for British American Tobacco and 0 mentions for Imperial Brands. British American Tobacco's average media sentiment score of 0.13 beat Imperial Brands' score of 0.00 indicating that British American Tobacco is being referred to more favorably in the media.
British American Tobacco pays an annual dividend of GBX 231 per share and has a dividend yield of 8.1%. Imperial Brands pays an annual dividend of GBX 141 per share and has a dividend yield of 7.4%. British American Tobacco pays out 7,830.5% 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 pays out 8,545.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. British American Tobacco is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
British American Tobacco currently has a consensus price target of GBX 3,788, indicating a potential upside of 32.98%. Imperial Brands has a consensus price target of GBX 2,294.17, indicating a potential upside of 20.24%. Given British American Tobacco's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe British American Tobacco is more favorable than Imperial Brands.
British American Tobacco has a beta of 0.34, meaning that its stock price is 66% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Imperial Brands has a beta of 0.39, meaning that its stock price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
British American Tobacco beats Imperial Brands on 15 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
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.
Skip ChartMedia 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.
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British American Tobacco Competitors List