Tractor Supply (TSCO) Competitors

Tractor Supply (NASDAQ:TSCO) and Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ:COST) are both large-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, valuation and profitability.

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, TSCO or COST?

Costco Wholesale has higher revenue and earnings than Tractor Supply. Tractor Supply is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Costco Wholesale, 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
Tractor Supply	$14.88B	1.95	$1.10B	$2.01	27.26
Costco Wholesale	$254.45B	1.72	$7.37B	$17.63	55.94

Does the media prefer TSCO or COST?

In the previous week, Costco Wholesale had 122 more articles in the media than Tractor Supply. MarketBeat recorded 137 mentions for Costco Wholesale and 15 mentions for Tractor Supply. Costco Wholesale's average media sentiment score of 1.08 beat Tractor Supply's score of 0.95 indicating that Costco Wholesale is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Tractor Supply	11 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Costco Wholesale	96 Very Positive mention(s)	14 Positive mention(s)	13 Neutral mention(s)	9 Negative mention(s)	4 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is TSCO or COST a better dividend stock?

Tractor Supply pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Costco Wholesale pays an annual dividend of $5.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Tractor Supply pays out 45.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Costco Wholesale pays out 29.5% 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. Tractor Supply has increased its dividend for 16 consecutive years and Costco Wholesale has increased its dividend for 22 consecutive years.

Is TSCO or COST more profitable?

Tractor Supply has a net margin of 7.24% compared to Costco Wholesale's net margin of 2.92%. Tractor Supply's return on equity of 47.56% beat Costco Wholesale's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Tractor Supply	7.24%	47.56%	10.89%
Costco Wholesale	2.92%	30.48%	10.52%

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of TSCO or COST?

98.7% of Tractor Supply shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 68.5% of Costco Wholesale shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of Tractor Supply shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Costco Wholesale shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more risk & volatility, TSCO or COST?

Tractor Supply has a beta of 0.75, indicating that its stock price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Costco Wholesale has a beta of 0.97, indicating that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer TSCO or COST?

Tractor Supply presently has a consensus target price of $58.02, indicating a potential upside of 5.88%. Costco Wholesale has a consensus target price of $1,034.79, indicating a potential upside of 4.92%. Given Tractor Supply's higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Tractor Supply is more favorable than Costco Wholesale.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Tractor Supply	1 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	11 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60
Costco Wholesale	0 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	20 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.69

Summary

Costco Wholesale beats Tractor Supply on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.