Wendy's (WEN) Competitors

Brinker International (NYSE:EAT) and Wendy's (NASDAQ:WEN) are both mid-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, institutional ownership and earnings.

Do analysts prefer EAT or WEN?

Brinker International presently has a consensus target price of $144.75, suggesting a potential downside of 19.83%. Wendy's has a consensus target price of $16.34, suggesting a potential upside of 43.10%. Given Wendy's' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Wendy's is more favorable than Brinker International.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Brinker International	0 Sell rating(s)	13 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.24
Wendy's	2 Sell rating(s)	12 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Is EAT or WEN more profitable?

Wendy's has a net margin of 8.57% compared to Brinker International's net margin of 6.50%. Brinker International's return on equity of 333.03% beat Wendy's' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Brinker International	6.50%	333.03%	14.37%
Wendy's	8.57%	85.36%	3.92%

Does the media favor EAT or WEN?

In the previous week, Wendy's had 10 more articles in the media than Brinker International. MarketBeat recorded 21 mentions for Wendy's and 11 mentions for Brinker International. Brinker International's average media sentiment score of 0.97 beat Wendy's' score of 0.51 indicating that Brinker International is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Brinker International	5 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Wendy's	6 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	10 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has higher earnings and valuation, EAT or WEN?

Wendy's has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Brinker International. Wendy's is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Brinker 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
Brinker International	$4.42B	1.82	$155.30M	$7.25	24.90
Wendy's	$2.25B	0.98	$194.36M	$0.94	12.15

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of EAT or WEN?

86.0% of Wendy's shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.7% of Brinker International shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 17.0% of Wendy's shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more volatility and risk, EAT or WEN?

Brinker International has a beta of 1.71, indicating that its stock price is 71% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Wendy's has a beta of 0.34, indicating that its stock price is 66% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Wendy's beats Brinker International on 9 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.