Dollar General (DG) Competitors

Dollar General (NYSE:DG) and Target (NYSE:TGT) are both large-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, community ranking, earnings, media sentiment, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Which has higher valuation and earnings, DG or TGT?

Target has higher revenue and earnings than Dollar General. Target is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Dollar General, 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
Dollar General	$40.61B	0.55	$1.66B	$5.11	19.73
Target	$106.57B	0.40	$4.14B	$8.86	10.50

Is DG or TGT more profitable?

Target has a net margin of 4.06% compared to Dollar General's net margin of 3.33%. Target's return on equity of 31.11% beat Dollar General's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Dollar General	3.33%	18.85%	4.27%
Target	4.06%	31.11%	7.77%

Is DG or TGT a better dividend stock?

Dollar General pays an annual dividend of $2.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Target pays an annual dividend of $4.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. Dollar General pays out 46.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Target pays out 50.6% 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. Target has raised its dividend for 54 consecutive years. Target is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor DG or TGT?

Target received 6292 more outperform votes than Dollar General when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 89.36% of users gave Target an outperform vote while only 67.02% of users gave Dollar General an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Dollar General	Outperform Votes 1209 67.02%	Underperform Votes 595 32.98%
Target	Outperform Votes 7501 89.36%	Underperform Votes 893 10.64%

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in DG or TGT?

91.8% of Dollar General shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.7% of Target shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Dollar General shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Target shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media refer more to DG or TGT?

In the previous week, Dollar General had 5 more articles in the media than Target. MarketBeat recorded 40 mentions for Dollar General and 35 mentions for Target. Dollar General's average media sentiment score of 0.96 beat Target's score of -0.14 indicating that Dollar General is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Dollar General	19 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	13 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Target	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	13 Neutral mention(s)	9 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Do analysts prefer DG or TGT?

Dollar General currently has a consensus target price of $95.48, suggesting a potential downside of 5.29%. Target has a consensus target price of $127.29, suggesting a potential upside of 36.86%. Given Target's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Target is more favorable than Dollar General.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Dollar General	1 Sell rating(s)	14 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.42
Target	2 Sell rating(s)	22 Hold rating(s)	11 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.26

Which has more volatility & risk, DG or TGT?

Dollar General has a beta of 0.27, suggesting that its stock price is 73% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Target has a beta of 1.27, suggesting that its stock price is 27% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Target beats Dollar General on 13 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.