Wendy's (WEN) Competitors

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

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, WEN or PZZA?

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.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Wendy's	$2.25B	0.82	$194.36M	$0.96	10.06
Papa John's International	$2.06B	0.80	$83.49M	$2.26	22.31

Does the media refer more to WEN or PZZA?

In the previous week, Wendy's had 7 more articles in the media than Papa John's International. MarketBeat recorded 19 mentions for Wendy's and 12 mentions for Papa John's International. Papa John's International's average media sentiment score of 1.20 beat Wendy's' score of 0.52 indicating that Papa John's International is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Wendy's	8 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	4 Negative mention(s)	2 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Papa John's International	9 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility & risk, WEN or PZZA?

Wendy's has a beta of 0.37, suggesting that its share price is 63% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Papa John's International has a beta of 1.15, suggesting that its share price is 15% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer WEN or PZZA?

Wendy's currently has a consensus target price of $12.97, indicating a potential upside of 34.29%. Papa John's International has a consensus target price of $52.33, indicating a potential upside of 3.82%. Given Wendy's' higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Wendy's is more favorable than Papa John's International.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Wendy's	2 Sell rating(s)	12 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33
Papa John's International	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.45

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in WEN or PZZA?

86.0% of Wendy's shares are held by institutional investors. 17.0% of Wendy's shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.3% of Papa John's International 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.

Is WEN or PZZA 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
Wendy's	8.63%	103.07%	3.94%
Papa John's International	3.58%	-14.42%	6.78%

Is WEN or PZZA a better dividend stock?

Wendy's pays an annual dividend of $0.56 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.8%. Papa John's International pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.7%. Wendy's pays out 58.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. 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. Papa John's International has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Wendy's is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Wendy's beats Papa John's International on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.