CrossAmerica Partners (CAPL) Competitors

CrossAmerica Partners (NYSE:CAPL) and Central Garden & Pet (NASDAQ:CENT) are both small-cap wholesale companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings and media sentiment.

Which has preferable valuation & earnings, CAPL or CENT?

Central Garden & Pet has lower revenue, but higher earnings than CrossAmerica Partners. Central Garden & Pet is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CrossAmerica Partners, 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
CrossAmerica Partners	$4.10B	0.19	$19.89M	$1.13	17.98
Central Garden & Pet	$3.20B	0.61	$107.98M	$2.20	14.22

Is CAPL or CENT more profitable?

Central Garden & Pet has a net margin of 4.44% compared to CrossAmerica Partners' net margin of 1.19%. Central Garden & Pet's return on equity of 10.77% beat CrossAmerica Partners' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CrossAmerica Partners	1.19%	-32.78%	2.13%
Central Garden & Pet	4.44%	10.77%	4.65%

Do analysts rate CAPL or CENT?

Central Garden & Pet has a consensus target price of $40.00, suggesting a potential upside of 27.84%. Given Central Garden & Pet's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Central Garden & Pet is more favorable than CrossAmerica Partners.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CrossAmerica Partners	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Central Garden & Pet	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of CAPL or CENT?

24.1% of CrossAmerica Partners shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 16.1% of Central Garden & Pet shares are owned by institutional investors. 52.0% of CrossAmerica Partners shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 8.2% of Central Garden & Pet shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more volatility & risk, CAPL or CENT?

CrossAmerica Partners has a beta of 0.48, indicating that its stock price is 52% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Central Garden & Pet has a beta of 0.67, indicating that its stock price is 33% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor CAPL or CENT?

In the previous week, CrossAmerica Partners had 5 more articles in the media than Central Garden & Pet. MarketBeat recorded 7 mentions for CrossAmerica Partners and 2 mentions for Central Garden & Pet. Central Garden & Pet's average media sentiment score of 1.18 beat CrossAmerica Partners' score of 0.49 indicating that Central Garden & Pet is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
CrossAmerica Partners	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Central Garden & Pet	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Central Garden & Pet beats CrossAmerica Partners on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.