Brinker International (EAT) Competitors

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

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, EAT or DRI?

Darden Restaurants has higher revenue and earnings than Brinker International. Brinker International is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Darden 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
Brinker International	$5.13B	1.52	$155.30M	$7.25	24.27
Darden Restaurants	$11.76B	2.17	$1.03B	$8.87	24.53

Is EAT or DRI a better dividend stock?

Brinker International pays an annual dividend of $1.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.9%. Darden Restaurants pays an annual dividend of $5.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. Brinker International pays out 21.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Darden Restaurants pays out 63.1% 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 raised 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.

Does the media favor EAT or DRI?

In the previous week, Darden Restaurants had 1 more articles in the media than Brinker International. MarketBeat recorded 14 mentions for Darden Restaurants and 13 mentions for Brinker International. Darden Restaurants' average media sentiment score of 1.10 beat Brinker International's score of 1.03 indicating that Darden Restaurants is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Brinker International	8 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Darden Restaurants	7 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals and insiders believe in EAT or DRI?

93.6% of Darden Restaurants shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.7% of Brinker International shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of Darden Restaurants shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts prefer EAT or DRI?

Brinker International presently has a consensus price target of $141.14, indicating a potential downside of 19.80%. Darden Restaurants has a consensus price target of $202.62, indicating a potential downside of 6.89%. Given Darden Restaurants' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Darden Restaurants is more favorable than Brinker International.

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

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in EAT or DRI?

Darden Restaurants received 471 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
Brinker International	Outperform Votes 712 57.61%	Underperform Votes 524 42.39%
Darden Restaurants	Outperform Votes 1183 66.42%	Underperform Votes 598 33.58%

Which has more risk and volatility, EAT or DRI?

Brinker International has a beta of 1.71, indicating that its share price is 71% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Darden Restaurants has a beta of 0.75, indicating that its share price is 25% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is EAT or DRI 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
Brinker International	5.45%	879.47%	11.82%
Darden Restaurants	9.01%	50.12%	9.30%

Summary

Darden Restaurants beats Brinker International on 15 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.