Brinker International (EAT) Competitors

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

Does the MarketBeat Community favor DRI or EAT?

Darden Restaurants received 469 more outperform votes than Brinker International when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 66.42% of users gave Darden Restaurants an outperform vote while only 57.61% of users gave Brinker International an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Darden Restaurants	Outperform Votes 1181 66.42%	Underperform Votes 597 33.58%
Brinker International	Outperform Votes 712 57.61%	Underperform Votes 524 42.39%

Do analysts recommend DRI or EAT?

Darden Restaurants presently has a consensus price target of $201.38, suggesting a potential downside of 1.20%. Brinker International has a consensus price target of $141.14, suggesting a potential upside of 6.02%. Given Brinker International's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Brinker International is more favorable than Darden Restaurants.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Darden Restaurants	1 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	17 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.62
Brinker International	0 Sell rating(s)	13 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.24

Which has more volatility and risk, DRI or EAT?

Darden Restaurants has a beta of 0.93, suggesting that its share price is 7% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Brinker International has a beta of 2.21, suggesting that its share price is 121% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is DRI or EAT more profitable?

Darden Restaurants has a net margin of 9.01% compared to Brinker International's net margin of 5.45%. Brinker International's return on equity of 879.47% beat Darden Restaurants' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Darden Restaurants	9.01%	50.12%	9.30%
Brinker International	5.45%	879.47%	11.82%

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

93.6% of Darden Restaurants shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.6% of Darden Restaurants shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.7% of Brinker International shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media prefer DRI or EAT?

In the previous week, Brinker International had 22 more articles in the media than Darden Restaurants. MarketBeat recorded 39 mentions for Brinker International and 17 mentions for Darden Restaurants. Darden Restaurants' average media sentiment score of 1.37 beat Brinker International's score of 0.84 indicating that Darden Restaurants is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Darden Restaurants	14 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Brinker International	18 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	10 Neutral mention(s)	4 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is DRI or EAT a better dividend stock?

Darden Restaurants pays an annual dividend of $5.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. Brinker International pays an annual dividend of $1.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Darden Restaurants pays out 63.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Brinker International pays out 26.3% 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.

Which has higher earnings and valuation, DRI or EAT?

Darden Restaurants has higher revenue and earnings than Brinker International. Darden Restaurants is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Brinker 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
Darden Restaurants	$11.76B	2.03	$1.03B	$8.87	22.98
Brinker International	$4.83B	1.23	$155.30M	$5.77	23.07

Summary

Darden Restaurants beats Brinker International on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.