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Imperial Brands (IMB) Competitors

Imperial Brands logo
GBX 3,006 -15.00 (-0.50%)
As of 10/24/2025 12:02 PM Eastern

IMB vs. BATS, BMK, DGE, RKT, CCEP, TSCO, ABF, CCH, BNZL, and SBRY

Should you be buying Imperial Brands stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Imperial Brands include British American Tobacco (BATS), Benchmark (BMK), Diageo (DGE), Reckitt Benckiser Group (RKT), Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP), Tesco (TSCO), Associated British Foods (ABF), Coca-Cola HBC (CCH), Bunzl (BNZL), and J Sainsbury (SBRY). These companies are all part of the "consumer defensive" sector.

Imperial Brands vs. Its Competitors

British American Tobacco (LON:BATS) and Imperial Brands (LON:IMB) are both large-cap consumer defensive companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, risk and media sentiment.

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.

CompanyGross RevenuePrice/Sales RatioNet IncomeEarnings Per SharePrice/Earnings Ratio
British American Tobacco£25.60B3.37-£13.64B£139.3028.41
Imperial Brands£31.95B0.76£1.98B£299.6010.03

British American Tobacco has a beta of 0.27, suggesting that its share price is 73% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Imperial Brands has a beta of 0.42, suggesting that its share price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500.

British American Tobacco pays an annual dividend of GBX 237.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.0%. Imperial Brands pays an annual dividend of GBX 153.42 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.1%. 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 pays out 51.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

British American Tobacco presently has a consensus price target of GBX 4,040, suggesting a potential upside of 2.10%. Imperial Brands has a consensus price target of GBX 3,600, suggesting a potential upside of 19.76%. Given Imperial Brands' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Imperial Brands is more favorable than British American Tobacco.

Company Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score
British American Tobacco
1 Sell rating(s)
1 Hold rating(s)
3 Buy rating(s)
0 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.40
Imperial Brands
0 Sell rating(s)
0 Hold rating(s)
2 Buy rating(s)
0 Strong Buy rating(s)
3.00

75.6% of British American Tobacco shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.9% of Imperial Brands shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of British American Tobacco shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Imperial Brands shares are owned by 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 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.

Company Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets
British American Tobacco-52.84% -25.94% 5.16%
Imperial Brands 11.44%41.84%6.92%

In the previous week, Imperial Brands had 2 more articles in the media than British American Tobacco. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for Imperial Brands and 4 mentions for British American Tobacco. Imperial Brands' average media sentiment score of 0.70 beat British American Tobacco's score of 0.38 indicating that Imperial Brands is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company Very Positive Positive Neutral Negative Very Negative Overall Sentiment
British American Tobacco
1 Very Positive mention(s)
1 Positive mention(s)
2 Neutral mention(s)
0 Negative mention(s)
0 Very Negative mention(s)
Neutral
Imperial Brands
2 Very Positive mention(s)
2 Positive mention(s)
2 Neutral mention(s)
0 Negative mention(s)
0 Very Negative mention(s)
Positive

Summary

Imperial Brands beats British American Tobacco on 14 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 IMB and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
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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.
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IMB vs. The Competition

MetricImperial BrandsTobacco IndustryDefensive SectorLON Exchange
Market Cap£24.06B£55.11B£7.66B£2.66B
Dividend Yield6.30%4.52%3.24%5.35%
P/E Ratio10.0311.08873.60400.56
Price / Sales0.7636.831,011,605.0798,316.28
Price / Cash10.5714.12144.7427.90
Price / Book4.4028.979.077.26
Net Income£1.98B£1.42B£1.01B£5.88B
7 Day PerformanceN/A0.48%1.48%1.04%
1 Month Performance-4.84%-3.20%0.73%1.69%
1 Year Performance31.32%11.40%150.38%111.57%

Imperial Brands Competitors List

CompanyMarketRankShare PriceAnalysts' Price Target1Y Price PerformanceMarket CapRevenueP/E RatioEmployee CountIndicator(s)
IMB
Imperial Brands
3.3395 of 5 stars
GBX 3,006
-0.5%
GBX 3,600
+19.8%
+30.5%£24.06B£31.95B10.0325,200Positive News
BATS
British American Tobacco
1.8234 of 5 stars
GBX 3,799
0.0%
GBX 4,040
+6.3%
+48.8%£82.83B£25.60B27.2752,000News Coverage
BMK
Benchmark
N/A£153
-0.6%
N/A+38,342.2%£94.15B£79.16M246,774.19823
DGE
Diageo
3.17 of 5 stars
GBX 1,839.50
+0.3%
GBX 2,373.38
+29.0%
-29.6%£40.90B£20.25B17.4030,269High Trading Volume
RKT
Reckitt Benckiser Group
2.3387 of 5 stars
GBX 5,860
-0.5%
GBX 5,951
+1.6%
+21.3%£39.60B£13.98B32.2026,000News Coverage
Analyst Forecast
High Trading Volume
CCEP
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners
1.8811 of 5 stars
GBX 6,790
+1.0%
GBX 8,130
+19.7%
+11.0%£30.78B£20.88B20.3327,600
TSCO
Tesco
2.2795 of 5 stars
GBX 443.70
+0.1%
GBX 468.33
+5.6%
+27.7%£28.72B£71.18B19.5549,000High Trading Volume
ABF
Associated British Foods
1.2774 of 5 stars
GBX 2,201
-0.2%
GBX 2,043.33
-7.2%
-1.2%£15.66B£19.85B12.41133,000
CCH
Coca-Cola HBC
4.1019 of 5 stars
GBX 3,517.84
-0.6%
GBX 4,104.50
+16.7%
+24.4%£12.79B£11.20B14.0232,700News Coverage
Insider Trade
High Trading Volume
BNZL
Bunzl
2.4284 of 5 stars
GBX 2,411.60
-1.6%
GBX 2,728
+13.1%
-30.4%£7.79B£11.82B16.5924,528Gap Down
High Trading Volume
SBRY
J Sainsbury
1.8191 of 5 stars
GBX 336.60
-0.1%
GBX 305
-9.4%
+25.6%£7.58B£32.81B33.00152,000

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This page (LON:IMB) was last updated on 10/25/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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