Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage (NGVC) Competitors

Weis Markets (NYSE:WMK) and Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage (NYSE:NGVC) are both small-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, institutional ownership and dividends.

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, WMK or NGVC?

Weis Markets has higher revenue and earnings than Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage. Weis Markets is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, 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
Weis Markets	$4.77B	0.41	$109.94M	$3.99	18.12
Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage	$1.24B	0.75	$33.94M	$1.78	22.81

Is WMK or NGVC a better dividend stock?

Weis Markets pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage pays an annual dividend of $0.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Weis Markets pays out 34.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage pays out 27.0% 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. Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years.

Does the media refer more to WMK or NGVC?

In the previous week, Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage had 5 more articles in the media than Weis Markets. MarketBeat recorded 12 mentions for Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage and 7 mentions for Weis Markets. Weis Markets' average media sentiment score of 1.05 beat Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage's score of 0.71 indicating that Weis Markets is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Weis Markets	3 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage	2 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk and volatility, WMK or NGVC?

Weis Markets has a beta of 0.47, suggesting that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage has a beta of 1.44, suggesting that its share price is 44% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Is WMK or NGVC more profitable?

Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage has a net margin of 3.18% compared to Weis Markets' net margin of 2.23%. Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage's return on equity of 23.27% beat Weis Markets' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Weis Markets	2.23%	7.46%	5.15%
Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage	3.18%	23.27%	6.28%

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of WMK or NGVC?

32.0% of Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage shares are held by institutional investors. 27.0% of Weis Markets shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 58.8% of Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage shares are held 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.

Summary

Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage beats Weis Markets on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.