Darden Restaurants (DRI) Competitors

BJ's Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) and Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their media sentiment, institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, valuation and earnings.

Which has more risk and volatility, BJRI or DRI?

BJ's Restaurants has a beta of 1.37, suggesting that its stock price is 37% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Darden Restaurants has a beta of 0.71, suggesting that its stock price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor BJRI or DRI?

In the previous week, Darden Restaurants had 28 more articles in the media than BJ's Restaurants. MarketBeat recorded 36 mentions for Darden Restaurants and 8 mentions for BJ's Restaurants. Darden Restaurants' average media sentiment score of 0.99 beat BJ's Restaurants' score of 0.92 indicating that Darden Restaurants is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
BJ's Restaurants	5 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Darden Restaurants	21 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	4 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is BJRI or DRI a better dividend stock?

BJ's Restaurants pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Darden Restaurants pays an annual dividend of $6.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. BJ's Restaurants pays out 43.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Darden Restaurants pays out 67.6% 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. Darden Restaurants has increased its dividend for 4 consecutive years. Darden Restaurants is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do analysts rate BJRI or DRI?

BJ's Restaurants currently has a consensus price target of $39.67, indicating a potential upside of 27.10%. Darden Restaurants has a consensus price target of $224.92, indicating a potential upside of 5.19%. Given BJ's Restaurants' higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe BJ's Restaurants is more favorable than Darden Restaurants.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BJ's Restaurants	2 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Darden Restaurants	0 Sell rating(s)	11 Hold rating(s)	16 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.59

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, BJRI or DRI?

Darden Restaurants has higher revenue and earnings than BJ's Restaurants. Darden Restaurants is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than BJ's Restaurants, 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
BJ's Restaurants	$1.38B	0.50	$16.69M	$1.19	26.23
Darden Restaurants	$12.08B	2.06	$1.05B	$8.88	24.08

Is BJRI or DRI more profitable?

Darden Restaurants has a net margin of 8.69% compared to BJ's Restaurants' net margin of 1.99%. Darden Restaurants' return on equity of 51.81% beat BJ's Restaurants' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BJ's Restaurants	1.99%	11.73%	4.27%
Darden Restaurants	8.69%	51.81%	9.23%

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in BJRI or DRI?

99.9% of BJ's Restaurants shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.6% of Darden Restaurants shares are held by institutional investors. 4.3% of BJ's Restaurants shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Darden Restaurants shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Darden Restaurants beats BJ's Restaurants on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.