Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) vs. Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Head-To-Head Analysis

Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) and Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings, risk, institutional ownership and profitability.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Sweetgreen and Yum! Brands’ top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sweetgreen	$584.04 million	5.85	-$113.38 million	($0.93)	-32.41
Yum! Brands	$7.08 billion	5.27	$1.60 billion	$5.64	23.49

Yum! Brands has higher revenue and earnings than Sweetgreen. Sweetgreen is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Yum! Brands, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

95.8% of Sweetgreen shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 82.4% of Yum! Brands shares are owned by institutional investors. 21.5% of Sweetgreen shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.3% of Yum! Brands shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

Sweetgreen has a beta of 2.34, suggesting that its share price is 134% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Yum! Brands has a beta of 1.08, suggesting that its share price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Sweetgreen and Yum! Brands, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sweetgreen	1	2	7	0	2.60
Yum! Brands	0	10	6	0	2.38

Sweetgreen currently has a consensus target price of $29.67, indicating a potential downside of 1.57%. Yum! Brands has a consensus target price of $144.33, indicating a potential upside of 8.96%. Given Yum! Brands’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Yum! Brands is more favorable than Sweetgreen.

Profitability

This table compares Sweetgreen and Yum! Brands’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sweetgreen	-17.15%	-20.74%	-11.75%
Yum! Brands	22.92%	-18.64%	24.65%

Summary

Yum! Brands beats Sweetgreen on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sweetgreen

Sweetgreen, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates fast food restaurants serving healthy foods at scale in the United States. The company also accepts orders through its online and mobile ordering platforms, as well as sells gift cards that do not have an expiration date and can be redeemed. The company was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

About Yum! Brands

Yum! Brands, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops, operates, and franchises quick service restaurants worldwide. The company operates through the KFC Division, the Taco Bell Division, the Pizza Hut Division, and the Habit Burger Grill Division segments. It also operates restaurants under the KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and The Habit Burger Grill brands, which specialize in chicken, pizza, made-to-order chargrilled burgers, sandwiches, Mexican-style food categories, and other food products. The company was formerly known as TRICON Global Restaurants, Inc. and changed its name to Yum! Brands, Inc. in May 2002. Yum! Brands, Inc. was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.