Ituran Location and Control (ITRN) Competitors

Central Garden & Pet (NASDAQ:CENT) and Ituran Location and Control (NASDAQ:ITRN) are both wholesale companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, media sentiment, earnings and valuation.

Do insiders & institutionals believe in CENT or ITRN?

16.1% of Central Garden & Pet shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.8% of Ituran Location and Control shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.2% of Central Garden & Pet shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Ituran Location and Control shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is CENT or ITRN more profitable?

Ituran Location and Control has a net margin of 16.35% compared to Central Garden & Pet's net margin of 4.44%. Ituran Location and Control's return on equity of 28.24% beat Central Garden & Pet's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Central Garden & Pet	4.44%	10.77%	4.65%
Ituran Location and Control	16.35%	28.24%	16.47%

Which has more risk & volatility, CENT or ITRN?

Central Garden & Pet has a beta of 0.7, meaning that its stock price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Ituran Location and Control has a beta of 0.89, meaning that its stock price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer CENT or ITRN?

Central Garden & Pet presently has a consensus target price of $40.00, indicating a potential upside of 12.23%. Ituran Location and Control has a consensus target price of $50.00, indicating a potential upside of 36.28%. Given Ituran Location and Control's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Ituran Location and Control is more favorable than Central Garden & Pet.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Central Garden & Pet	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33
Ituran Location and Control	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, CENT or ITRN?

Central Garden & Pet has higher revenue and earnings than Ituran Location and Control. Ituran Location and Control is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Central Garden & Pet, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Central Garden & Pet	$3.20B	0.70	$107.98M	$2.20	16.20
Ituran Location and Control	$336.26M	2.17	$53.65M	$2.79	13.15

Does the media refer more to CENT or ITRN?

In the previous week, Ituran Location and Control had 17 more articles in the media than Central Garden & Pet. MarketBeat recorded 19 mentions for Ituran Location and Control and 2 mentions for Central Garden & Pet. Central Garden & Pet's average media sentiment score of 0.70 beat Ituran Location and Control's score of 0.26 indicating that Central Garden & Pet is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Central Garden & Pet	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Ituran Location and Control	3 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	10 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Summary

Ituran Location and Control beats Central Garden & Pet on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.