PriceSmart (PSMT) Competitors

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

Do analysts recommend WMT or PSMT?

Walmart currently has a consensus price target of $104.94, suggesting a potential upside of 7.29%. Given Walmart's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly 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)	30 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

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership 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 is poised for long-term growth.

Is WMT or PSMT more profitable?

Walmart has a net margin of 2.85% compared to PriceSmart's net margin of 2.76%. Walmart's return on equity of 21.87% beat PriceSmart's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Walmart	2.85%	21.87%	7.84%
PriceSmart	2.76%	12.29%	6.75%

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in WMT or PSMT?

Walmart received 1276 more outperform votes than PriceSmart when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 66.46% of users gave PriceSmart an outperform vote while only 62.06% of users gave Walmart an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Walmart	Outperform Votes 1595 62.06%	Underperform Votes 975 37.94%
PriceSmart	Outperform Votes 319 66.46%	Underperform Votes 161 33.54%

Which has more volatility & risk, WMT or PSMT?

Walmart has a beta of 0.7, suggesting that its stock price is 30% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, PriceSmart has a beta of 0.75, suggesting that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has better valuation and earnings, 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	$15.51B	$2.34	41.80
PriceSmart	$5.08B	0.65	$138.88M	$4.68	22.93

Does the media favor WMT or PSMT?

In the previous week, Walmart had 207 more articles in the media than PriceSmart. MarketBeat recorded 219 mentions for Walmart and 12 mentions for PriceSmart. PriceSmart's average media sentiment score of 0.68 beat Walmart's score of 0.68 indicating that PriceSmart is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Walmart	92 Very Positive mention(s)	39 Positive mention(s)	42 Neutral mention(s)	25 Negative mention(s)	6 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
PriceSmart	8 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

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 26.9% 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 raised its dividend for 53 consecutive years and PriceSmart has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years. PriceSmart is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Walmart beats PriceSmart on 15 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.