Target (TGT) Competitors

Target (NYSE:TGT) and Dollar General (NYSE:DG) are both large-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their community ranking, risk, valuation, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, media sentiment, earnings, profitability and dividends.

Is TGT or DG a better dividend stock?

Target pays an annual dividend of $4.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. Dollar General pays an annual dividend of $2.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.5%. Target pays out 50.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Dollar General pays out 46.2% 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. Target has increased its dividend for 54 consecutive years. Target is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the media favor TGT or DG?

In the previous week, Dollar General had 31 more articles in the media than Target. MarketBeat recorded 41 mentions for Dollar General and 10 mentions for Target. Dollar General's average media sentiment score of 1.06 beat Target's score of 0.31 indicating that Dollar General is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Target	3 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Dollar General	31 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	2 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, TGT or DG?

Target has higher revenue and earnings than Dollar General. Target is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Dollar General, 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
Target	$106.57B	0.40	$4.14B	$8.86	10.51
Dollar General	$40.61B	0.50	$1.66B	$5.11	18.23

Is TGT or DG more profitable?

Target has a net margin of 4.06% compared to Dollar General's net margin of 3.33%. Target's return on equity of 31.11% beat Dollar General's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Target	4.06%	31.11%	7.77%
Dollar General	3.33%	18.85%	4.27%

Which has more volatility & risk, TGT or DG?

Target has a beta of 1.28, suggesting that its stock price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Dollar General has a beta of 0.4, suggesting that its stock price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders & institutionals hold more shares of TGT or DG?

79.7% of Target shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.8% of Dollar General shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Target shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of Dollar General shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts recommend TGT or DG?

Target currently has a consensus target price of $132.37, indicating a potential upside of 42.14%. Dollar General has a consensus target price of $94.75, indicating a potential upside of 1.72%. Given Target's higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Target is more favorable than Dollar General.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Target	1 Sell rating(s)	21 Hold rating(s)	11 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.30
Dollar General	1 Sell rating(s)	14 Hold rating(s)	9 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40

Does the MarketBeat Community favor TGT or DG?

Target received 6293 more outperform votes than Dollar General when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 89.43% of users gave Target an outperform vote while only 67.00% of users gave Dollar General an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Target	Outperform Votes 7499 89.43%	Underperform Votes 886 10.57%
Dollar General	Outperform Votes 1206 67.00%	Underperform Votes 594 33.00%

Summary

Target beats Dollar General on 13 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.