PriceSmart (PSMT) Competitors

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) and PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, institutional ownership, risk, media sentiment, earnings, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Which has more volatility & risk, WMT or PSMT?

Walmart has a beta of 0.66, indicating that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, PriceSmart has a beta of 0.77, indicating that its stock price is 23% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals and insiders believe in WMT or PSMT?

26.8% of Walmart shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.5% of PriceSmart shares are owned by institutional investors. 45.6% of Walmart shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 17.1% of PriceSmart shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Is WMT or PSMT a better dividend stock?

Walmart pays an annual dividend of $0.94 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. PriceSmart pays an annual dividend of $1.26 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Walmart pays out 40.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. PriceSmart pays out 26.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Walmart has increased its dividend for 53 consecutive years and PriceSmart has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years. PriceSmart is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has higher earnings and valuation, WMT or PSMT?

Walmart has higher revenue and earnings than PriceSmart. PriceSmart is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Walmart, 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
Walmart	$680.99B	1.15	$19.44B	$2.34	42.05
PriceSmart	$4.91B	0.68	$138.88M	$4.74	23.04

Is WMT or PSMT more profitable?

PriceSmart has a net margin of 2.82% compared to Walmart's net margin of 2.75%. Walmart's return on equity of 21.76% beat PriceSmart's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Walmart	2.75%	21.76%	7.79%
PriceSmart	2.82%	12.46%	6.97%

Do analysts rate WMT or PSMT?

Walmart currently has a consensus target price of $106.67, suggesting a potential upside of 8.40%. Given Walmart's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Walmart is more favorable than PriceSmart.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Walmart	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	29 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.97
PriceSmart	0 Sell rating(s)	0 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	0.00

Does the media prefer WMT or PSMT?

In the previous week, Walmart had 140 more articles in the media than PriceSmart. MarketBeat recorded 144 mentions for Walmart and 4 mentions for PriceSmart. Walmart's average media sentiment score of 1.35 beat PriceSmart's score of 1.22 indicating that Walmart is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Walmart	109 Very Positive mention(s)	21 Positive mention(s)	12 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
PriceSmart	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Walmart beats PriceSmart on 14 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.