Wendy's (WEN) Competitors $8.88 0.00 (0.00%) Closing price 10/17/2025 04:00 PM EasternExtended Trading$8.85 -0.03 (-0.34%) As of 10/17/2025 07:42 PM Eastern Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Polygon.io. Learn more. Add Compare Share Share Competitors Stock AnalysisAnalyst ForecastsChartCompetitorsDividendEarningsFinancialsHeadlinesInsider TradesOptions ChainOwnershipSEC FilingsShort InterestSustainabilityTrendsBuy This Stock WEN vs. PZZA, ARCO, QSR, EAT, CAKE, CBRL, BH, BJRI, BLMN, and NATHShould you be buying Wendy's stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Wendy's include Papa John's International (PZZA), Arcos Dorados (ARCO), Restaurant Brands International (QSR), Brinker International (EAT), Cheesecake Factory (CAKE), Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (CBRL), Biglari (BH), BJ's Restaurants (BJRI), Bloomin' Brands (BLMN), and Nathan's Famous (NATH). These companies are all part of the "retail - restrnts" industry. Wendy's vs. Its Competitors Papa John's International Arcos Dorados Restaurant Brands International Brinker International Cheesecake Factory Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Biglari BJ's Restaurants Bloomin' Brands Nathan's Famous Papa John's International (NASDAQ:PZZA) and Wendy's (NASDAQ:WEN) are both small-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, dividends, media sentiment, valuation, risk and institutional ownership. Is PZZA or WEN more profitable? Wendy's has a net margin of 8.63% compared to Papa John's International's net margin of 3.58%. Wendy's' return on equity of 103.07% beat Papa John's International's return on equity.Company Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Papa John's International3.58% -14.42% 6.78% Wendy's 8.63%103.07%3.94% Do analysts prefer PZZA or WEN? Papa John's International presently has a consensus target price of $49.78, suggesting a potential downside of 4.29%. Wendy's has a consensus target price of $12.43, suggesting a potential upside of 39.92%. Given Wendy's' higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Wendy's is more favorable than Papa John's International.Company Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Papa John's International 0 Sell rating(s) 8 Hold rating(s) 4 Buy rating(s) 0 Strong Buy rating(s) 2.33Wendy's 4 Sell rating(s) 14 Hold rating(s) 5 Buy rating(s) 1 Strong Buy rating(s) 2.13 Which has more risk and volatility, PZZA or WEN? Papa John's International has a beta of 1.1, meaning that its share price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Wendy's has a beta of 0.38, meaning that its share price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500. Does the media prefer PZZA or WEN? In the previous week, Wendy's had 21 more articles in the media than Papa John's International. MarketBeat recorded 38 mentions for Wendy's and 17 mentions for Papa John's International. Papa John's International's average media sentiment score of 0.54 beat Wendy's' score of -0.66 indicating that Papa John's International is being referred to more favorably in the media. Company Very Positive Positive Neutral Negative Very Negative Overall Sentiment Papa John's International 6 Very Positive mention(s) 3 Positive mention(s) 7 Neutral mention(s) 1 Negative mention(s) 0 Very Negative mention(s) Positive Wendy's 5 Very Positive mention(s) 3 Positive mention(s) 14 Neutral mention(s) 3 Negative mention(s) 12 Very Negative mention(s) Negative Is PZZA or WEN a better dividend stock? Papa John's International pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Wendy's pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 6.3%. Papa John's International pays out 81.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Wendy's pays out 58.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Papa John's International has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Wendy's is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio. Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of PZZA or WEN? 86.0% of Wendy's shares are held by institutional investors. 1.3% of Papa John's International shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 17.0% of Wendy's shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth. Which has stronger valuation & earnings, PZZA or WEN? Wendy's has higher revenue and earnings than Papa John's International. Wendy's 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. CompanyGross RevenuePrice/Sales RatioNet IncomeEarnings Per SharePrice/Earnings RatioPapa John's International$2.06B0.83$83.49M$2.2623.01Wendy's$2.25B0.75$194.36M$0.969.25 SummaryWendy's beats Papa John's International on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks. Get Wendy's News Delivered to You Automatically Sign up to receive the latest news and ratings for WEN and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter. Subscribe Now View SMS TermsBy entering your phone number and clicking the sign-up button, you agree to receive periodic text messages from MarketBeat at the phone number you submitted, including texts that may be sent using an automatic telephone dialing system. Message and data rates may apply. Message frequency will vary. Messages will consist of stock alerts, news stories, and partner advertisements/offers. Consent is not a condition of the purchase of any goods or services. Text HELP for help/customer support. Unsubscribe at any time by replying "STOP" to any text message that you receive from MarketBeat or by visiting our mailing preferences page. Read our full terms of service and privacy policy. New MarketBeat Followers Over TimeWhat are MarkeBeat Followers?This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding WEN and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period. Skip ChartMedia Sentiment Over TimeWhat is Media Sentiment?This chart shows the average media sentiment of NASDAQ and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.Skip Chart WEN vs. The Competition Export to ExcelMetricWendy'sRETAIL IndustryRetail SectorNASDAQ ExchangeMarket Cap$1.69B$10.94B$26.97B$10.49BDividend Yield6.31%3.19%172.46%4.80%P/E Ratio9.2532.4019.4527.11Price / Sales0.751.888.94179.59Price / Cash4.9814.9662.7261.22Price / Book6.994.425.106.52Net Income$194.36M$405.78M$911.72M$276.84M7 Day Performance1.66%2.98%2.07%1.95%1 Month Performance-6.72%-2.42%-4.73%2.21%1 Year Performance-54.92%-13.35%11.21%34.06% Wendy's Competitors List Export to ExcelCompanyMarketRankShare PriceAnalysts' Price Target1Y Price PerformanceMarket CapRevenueP/E RatioEmployee CountIndicator(s)WENWendy's4.6018 of 5 stars$8.88flat$12.43+39.9%-54.9%$1.69B$2.25B9.2514,500Analyst ForecastOptions VolumePZZAPapa John's International1.5339 of 5 stars$45.62+9.7%$49.78+9.1%-5.4%$1.49B$2.09B20.1911,400High Trading VolumeARCOArcos Dorados3.7473 of 5 stars$6.93+1.6%$8.80+27.0%-26.4%$1.46B$4.47B11.0098,615QSRRestaurant Brands International4.2284 of 5 stars$66.75-0.1%$75.13+12.5%-5.2%$21.88B$9.11B25.2837,600Analyst ForecastEATBrinker International4.5444 of 5 stars$128.61+3.0%$169.83+32.1%+42.8%$5.71B$5.38B15.4883,840Analyst ForecastCAKECheesecake Factory4.2992 of 5 stars$53.77+3.2%$62.56+16.4%+28.1%$2.68B$3.67B16.5447,900News CoverageAnalyst ForecastCBRLCracker Barrel Old Country Store4.5812 of 5 stars$40.28+2.4%$52.14+29.5%-20.5%$897.00M$3.48B19.4676,730Analyst ForecastBHBiglari2.3642 of 5 stars$349.26+3.3%N/A+109.3%$794.92M$377.18M2.392,535BJRIBJ's Restaurants4.4346 of 5 stars$31.19+5.6%$39.67+27.2%-13.4%$689.92M$1.36B26.2121,000Analyst RevisionBLMNBloomin' Brands3.2415 of 5 stars$7.26+5.4%$9.88+36.0%-56.0%$617.61M$3.95B-145.2081,000NATHNathan's Famous2.1577 of 5 stars$107.36+2.8%N/A+24.0%$439.00M$150.41M18.64130High Trading Volume Related Companies and Tools Related Companies Papa John's International Competitors Arcos Dorados Competitors Restaurant Brands International Competitors Brinker International Competitors Cheesecake Factory Competitors Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Competitors Biglari Competitors BJ's Restaurants Competitors Bloomin' Brands Competitors Nathan's Famous Competitors Top 10 Stock Comparisons Semiconductor Stocks Artificial Intelligence Stocks Growth Stocks Magnificent Seven Stocks Pharmaceutical Stocks Ecommerce Stocks Bitcoin Stocks Meme Stocks Cryptocurrency Stocks Cybersecurity Stocks This page (NASDAQ:WEN) was last updated on 10/18/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff From Our PartnersHoly ****... 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