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 investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, community ranking, earnings, dividends, media sentiment, valuation, profitability and institutional ownership.

Which has more volatility and risk, EAT or WEN?

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

Which has higher valuation & earnings, 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	$5.13B	1.45	$155.30M	$7.25	23.09
Wendy's	$2.24B	1.00	$194.36M	$0.94	12.32

Does the media refer more to EAT or WEN?

In the previous week, Wendy's had 13 more articles in the media than Brinker International. MarketBeat recorded 24 mentions for Wendy's and 11 mentions for Brinker International. Brinker International's average media sentiment score of 1.06 beat Wendy's' score of 0.40 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	9 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Wendy's	9 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer EAT or WEN?

Wendy's received 29 more outperform votes than Brinker International when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 62.27% of users gave Wendy's an outperform vote while only 57.61% of users gave Brinker International an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Brinker International	Outperform Votes 712 57.61%	Underperform Votes 524 42.39%
Wendy's	Outperform Votes 741 62.27%	Underperform Votes 449 37.73%

Do insiders and institutionals 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 company insiders. Comparatively, 17.0% of Wendy's shares are owned by company 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 EAT or WEN more profitable?

Wendy's has a net margin of 8.65% compared to Brinker International's net margin of 5.45%. Brinker International's return on equity of 879.47% beat Wendy's' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Brinker International	5.45%	879.47%	11.82%
Wendy's	8.65%	75.56%	4.03%

Is EAT or WEN a better dividend stock?

Brinker International pays an annual dividend of $1.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Wendy's pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. Brinker International pays out 21.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Wendy's pays out 59.6% 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.

Do analysts rate EAT or WEN?

Brinker International presently has a consensus target price of $141.14, indicating a potential downside of 15.69%. Wendy's has a consensus target price of $16.34, indicating a potential upside of 41.06%. 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

Summary

Wendy's beats Brinker International on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.