Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) and Carrols Restaurant Group (NASDAQ:TAST) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, valuation, risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and earnings.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
90.0% of Chipotle Mexican Grill shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 49.7% of Carrols Restaurant Group shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Chipotle Mexican Grill shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 22.0% of Carrols Restaurant Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
Profitability
This table compares Chipotle Mexican Grill and Carrols Restaurant Group's net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets |
|---|
| Chipotle Mexican Grill | 4.08% | 16.70% | 5.38% |
| Carrols Restaurant Group | -1.36% | -3.46% | -0.58% |
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Chipotle Mexican Grill and Carrols Restaurant Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score |
|---|
| Chipotle Mexican Grill | 0 | 12 | 19 | 0 | 2.61 |
| Carrols Restaurant Group | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 3.00 |
Chipotle Mexican Grill presently has a consensus price target of $1,598.9032, suggesting a potential upside of 4.36%. Carrols Restaurant Group has a consensus price target of $7.50, suggesting a potential upside of 34.41%. Given Carrols Restaurant Group's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Carrols Restaurant Group is more favorable than Chipotle Mexican Grill.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares Chipotle Mexican Grill and Carrols Restaurant Group's revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio |
|---|
| Chipotle Mexican Grill | $5.59 billion | 7.73 | $350.16 million | $14.05 | 109.05 |
| Carrols Restaurant Group | $1.46 billion | 0.20 | $-31,920,000.00 | ($0.36) | -15.50 |
Chipotle Mexican Grill has higher revenue and earnings than Carrols Restaurant Group. Carrols Restaurant Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Chipotle Mexican Grill, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Volatility & Risk
Chipotle Mexican Grill has a beta of 1.31, meaning that its share price is 31% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Carrols Restaurant Group has a beta of 2.61, meaning that its share price is 161% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Chipotle Mexican Grill beats Carrols Restaurant Group on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
