Kroger (KR) Competitors

Casey's General Stores (NASDAQ:CASY) and Kroger (NYSE:KR) are both large-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, media sentiment, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Does the media favor CASY or KR?

In the previous week, Kroger had 81 more articles in the media than Casey's General Stores. MarketBeat recorded 97 mentions for Kroger and 16 mentions for Casey's General Stores. Casey's General Stores' average media sentiment score of 1.07 beat Kroger's score of 0.62 indicating that Casey's General Stores is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Casey's General Stores	14 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Kroger	36 Very Positive mention(s)	9 Positive mention(s)	31 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	2 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts prefer CASY or KR?

Casey's General Stores currently has a consensus price target of $520.55, indicating a potential downside of 4.82%. Kroger has a consensus price target of $72.70, indicating a potential upside of 10.77%. Given Kroger's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Kroger is more favorable than Casey's General Stores.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Casey's General Stores	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.73
Kroger	0 Sell rating(s)	10 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.47

Which has higher earnings and valuation, CASY or KR?

Kroger has higher revenue and earnings than Casey's General Stores. Kroger is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Casey's General Stores, 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
Casey's General Stores	$15.94B	1.28	$546.52M	$15.58	35.10
Kroger	$147.12B	0.29	$2.67B	$3.94	16.66

Is CASY or KR more profitable?

Casey's General Stores has a net margin of 3.54% compared to Kroger's net margin of 1.86%. Kroger's return on equity of 32.62% beat Casey's General Stores' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Casey's General Stores	3.54%	16.73%	7.15%
Kroger	1.86%	32.62%	5.79%

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of CASY or KR?

85.6% of Casey's General Stores shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.9% of Kroger shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Casey's General Stores shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.4% of Kroger shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is CASY or KR a better dividend stock?

Casey's General Stores pays an annual dividend of $2.28 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Kroger pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Casey's General Stores pays out 14.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Kroger pays out 35.5% 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. Casey's General Stores has raised its dividend for 24 consecutive years and Kroger has raised its dividend for 19 consecutive years.

Which has more volatility & risk, CASY or KR?

Casey's General Stores has a beta of 0.66, meaning that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Kroger has a beta of 0.59, meaning that its stock price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Casey's General Stores beats Kroger on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.