Comparing Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (NASDAQ:CBRL) and Compass Group (OTCMKTS:CMPGY)

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (NASDAQ:CBRL) and Compass Group (OTCMKTS:CMPGY) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations and risk.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

96.0% of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of Compass Group shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.4% of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of Compass Group shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Cracker Barrel Old Country Store and Compass Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store	3	4	2	0	1.89
Compass Group	0	1	0	0	2.00

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store currently has a consensus target price of $52.43, suggesting a potential upside of 19.07%. Given Cracker Barrel Old Country Store’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Cracker Barrel Old Country Store is more favorable than Compass Group.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Cracker Barrel Old Country Store and Compass Group”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store	$3.48 billion	0.28	$46.38 million	$2.07	21.27
Compass Group	$46.16 billion	1.22	$1.40 billion	N/A	N/A

Compass Group has higher revenue and earnings than Cracker Barrel Old Country Store.

Dividends

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store pays an annual dividend of $1.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Compass Group pays an annual dividend of $0.41 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Cracker Barrel Old Country Store pays out 48.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Profitability

This table compares Cracker Barrel Old Country Store and Compass Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store	1.33%	15.48%	3.28%
Compass Group	N/A	N/A	N/A

Risk and Volatility

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store has a beta of 1.41, indicating that its stock price is 41% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Compass Group has a beta of 0.9, indicating that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store beats Compass Group on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cracker Barrel Old Country Store

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. develops and operates the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store concept in the United States. Its Cracker Barrel stores consist of restaurants with a gift shop. The company's restaurants serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily, as well as dine-in, pick-up, and delivery services. Its gift shop offers various decorative and functional items, such as rocking chairs, seasonal gifts, apparel, toys, food, cookware, and various other gift items, as well as various candies, preserves, and other food items. The company was incorporated in 1969 and is headquartered in Lebanon, Tennessee.

About Compass Group

Compass Group PLC operates as a food and support services company in North America, Europe, and internationally. The company offers support services, such as cleaning in hospitals; reception services at corporate headquarters; managing remote camps; grounds and facilities services at schools and universities; and others. It serves business and industry; healthcare and senior living market; education; sports and leisure; and defense, offshore, and remote sectors. Compass Group PLC was founded in 1941 and is based in Chertsey, the United Kingdom.