Financial Survey: Chefs’ Warehouse (CHEF) vs. Its Rivals

Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) is one of 69 publicly-traded companies in the “FOOD – MISC/DIVERSIFIED” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare Chefs’ Warehouse to related businesses based on the strength of its profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, risk, earnings, institutional ownership and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Chefs’ Warehouse and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Chefs’ Warehouse	0	0	6	0	3.00
Chefs’ Warehouse Competitors	709	3416	3724	153	2.42

Chefs’ Warehouse currently has a consensus target price of $67.40, indicating a potential upside of 5.34%. As a group, “FOOD – MISC/DIVERSIFIED” companies have a potential upside of 19.23%. Given Chefs’ Warehouse’s competitors higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Chefs’ Warehouse has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Chefs’ Warehouse and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Chefs’ Warehouse	$3.79 billion	$55.48 million	42.37
Chefs’ Warehouse Competitors	$8.09 billion	$399.01 million	24.54

Chefs’ Warehouse’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Chefs’ Warehouse. Chefs’ Warehouse is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

91.6% of Chefs’ Warehouse shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 54.9% of shares of all “FOOD – MISC/DIVERSIFIED” companies are held by institutional investors. 11.9% of Chefs’ Warehouse shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 15.0% of shares of all “FOOD – MISC/DIVERSIFIED” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Chefs’ Warehouse and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Chefs’ Warehouse	1.65%	13.15%	3.70%
Chefs’ Warehouse Competitors	-3.77%	-16.96%	1.87%

Volatility & Risk

Chefs’ Warehouse has a beta of 1.74, meaning that its stock price is 74% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Chefs’ Warehouse’s competitors have a beta of 0.83, meaning that their average stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Chefs’ Warehouse beats its competitors on 8 of the 13 factors compared.

Chefs’ Warehouse Company Profile

The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, distributes specialty food and center-of-the-plate products in the United States, the Middle East, and Canada. The company’s product portfolio includes specialty food products, such as artisan charcuterie, specialty cheeses, unique oils and vinegars, truffles, caviar, chocolate, and pastry products; and center-of-the-plate products consisting of custom cut beef, seafood, and hormone-free poultry, as well as broadline food products comprising cooking oils, butter, eggs, milk, and flour. The company serves menu-driven independent restaurants, fine dining establishments, country clubs, hotels, caterers, culinary schools, bakeries, patisseries, chocolatiers, cruise lines, casinos, and specialty food stores. It markets its center-of-the-plate products directly to consumers through a mail and e-commerce platform. The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Ridgefield, Connecticut.