MRU vs. WN, EMP.A, L, SAP, PRMW, DOL, NWC, PBH, MFI, and JWEL
Should you be buying Metro stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Metro include George Weston (WN), Empire (EMP.A), Loblaw Companies (L), Saputo (SAP), Primo Water (PRMW), Dollarama (DOL), North West (NWC), Premium Brands (PBH), Maple Leaf Foods (MFI), and Jamieson Wellness (JWEL). These companies are all part of the "consumer defensive" sector.
George Weston (TSE:WN) and Metro (TSE:MRU) are both large-cap consumer defensive companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, earnings, community ranking, risk, profitability, media sentiment, valuation and dividends.
George Weston pays an annual dividend of C$2.85 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Metro pays an annual dividend of C$1.34 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. George Weston pays out 26.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Metro pays out 30.7% 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.
George Weston has higher revenue and earnings than Metro. Metro is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than George Weston, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
15.1% of George Weston shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 45.2% of Metro shares are owned by institutional investors. 58.6% of George Weston shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Metro shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
Metro has a net margin of 4.81% compared to Metro's net margin of 2.56%. Metro's return on equity of 19.71% beat George Weston's return on equity.
Metro received 111 more outperform votes than George Weston when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 65.87% of users gave George Weston an outperform vote while only 55.72% of users gave Metro an outperform vote.
In the previous week, Metro had 29 more articles in the media than George Weston. MarketBeat recorded 38 mentions for Metro and 9 mentions for George Weston. George Weston's average media sentiment score of 0.47 beat Metro's score of 0.20 indicating that Metro is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
George Weston presently has a consensus price target of C$201.00, suggesting a potential upside of 9.14%. Metro has a consensus price target of C$77.86, suggesting a potential upside of 9.78%. Given George Weston's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Metro is more favorable than George Weston.
George Weston has a beta of 0.38, indicating that its stock price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Metro has a beta of 0.04, indicating that its stock price is 96% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
George Weston beats Metro on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
Get Metro News Delivered to You Automatically
Sign up to receive the latest news and ratings for MRU and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter.
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding MRU and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
This chart shows the average media sentiment of TSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
Related Companies and Tools
