Wendy's (WEN) Competitors

Wendy's (NASDAQ:WEN) and Shake Shack (NYSE:SHAK) are both mid-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership, media sentiment, risk, profitability, dividends, community ranking and earnings.

Does the media prefer WEN or SHAK?

In the previous week, Wendy's had 41 more articles in the media than Shake Shack. MarketBeat recorded 48 mentions for Wendy's and 7 mentions for Shake Shack. Shake Shack's average media sentiment score of 0.34 beat Wendy's' score of -0.02 indicating that Shake Shack is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Wendy's	14 Very Positive mention(s)	5 Positive mention(s)	19 Neutral mention(s)	4 Negative mention(s)	5 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Shake Shack	3 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is WEN or SHAK more profitable?

Wendy's has a net margin of 9.37% compared to Shake Shack's net margin of 1.82%. Wendy's' return on equity of 56.24% beat Shake Shack's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Wendy's	9.37%	56.24%	3.87%
Shake Shack	1.82%	3.67%	1.04%

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer WEN or SHAK?

Wendy's received 222 more outperform votes than Shake Shack when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 65.06% of users gave Wendy's an outperform vote while only 51.90% of users gave Shake Shack an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Wendy's	Outperform Votes 728 65.06%	Underperform Votes 391 34.94%
Shake Shack	Outperform Votes 506 51.90%	Underperform Votes 469 48.10%

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, WEN or SHAK?

Wendy's has higher revenue and earnings than Shake Shack. Wendy's is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Shake Shack, 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	$2.18B	1.79	$204.44M	$0.98	19.39
Shake Shack	$1.09B	3.70	$20.26M	$0.46	207.02

Do analysts prefer WEN or SHAK?

Wendy's currently has a consensus price target of $22.47, indicating a potential upside of 18.28%. Shake Shack has a consensus price target of $88.67, indicating a potential downside of 6.89%. Given Wendy's' higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Wendy's is more favorable than Shake Shack.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Wendy's	0 Sell rating(s)	12 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.20
Shake Shack	1 Sell rating(s)	10 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.35

Do institutionals and insiders believe in WEN or SHAK?

86.0% of Wendy's shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 86.1% of Shake Shack shares are owned by institutional investors. 17.1% of Wendy's shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 10.1% of Shake Shack shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more volatility and risk, WEN or SHAK?

Wendy's has a beta of 0.82, indicating that its stock price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Shake Shack has a beta of 1.8, indicating that its stock price is 80% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Wendy's beats Shake Shack on 11 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.