Papa John's International (PZZA) Competitors

Arcos Dorados (NYSE:ARCO) and Papa John's International (NASDAQ:PZZA) are both small-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, earnings, dividends, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and media sentiment.

Do analysts recommend ARCO or PZZA?

Arcos Dorados currently has a consensus price target of $8.80, indicating a potential upside of 22.31%. Papa John's International has a consensus price target of $51.25, indicating a potential upside of 18.80%. Given Arcos Dorados' higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Arcos Dorados is more favorable than Papa John's International.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Arcos Dorados	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Papa John's International	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.46

Does the media favor ARCO or PZZA?

In the previous week, Papa John's International had 12 more articles in the media than Arcos Dorados. MarketBeat recorded 12 mentions for Papa John's International and 0 mentions for Arcos Dorados. Arcos Dorados' average media sentiment score of 1.76 beat Papa John's International's score of 1.74 indicating that Arcos Dorados is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
Arcos Dorados	Very Positive
Papa John's International	Very Positive

Which has higher valuation and earnings, ARCO or PZZA?

Arcos Dorados has higher revenue and earnings than Papa John's International. Arcos Dorados is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Papa John's International, 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
Arcos Dorados	$4.47B	0.34	$148.76M	$0.65	11.07
Papa John's International	$2.06B	0.69	$83.49M	$2.35	18.36

Is ARCO or PZZA more profitable?

Papa John's International has a net margin of 3.77% compared to Arcos Dorados' net margin of 3.00%. Arcos Dorados' return on equity of 26.70% beat Papa John's International's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Arcos Dorados	3.00%	26.70%	4.39%
Papa John's International	3.77%	-15.72%	7.63%

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of ARCO or PZZA?

55.9% of Arcos Dorados shares are held by institutional investors. 1.3% of Papa John's International shares are held 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 ARCO or PZZA a better dividend stock?

Arcos Dorados pays an annual dividend of $0.24 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.3%. Papa John's International pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.3%. Arcos Dorados pays out 36.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Papa John's International pays out 78.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Arcos Dorados has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years and Papa John's International has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Papa John's International is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has more risk & volatility, ARCO or PZZA?

Arcos Dorados has a beta of 0.63, indicating that its share price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Papa John's International has a beta of 1.19, indicating that its share price is 19% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Papa John's International beats Arcos Dorados on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.