Alsea (OTCMKTS:ALSSF) and Papa Johns International (NASDAQ:PZZA) Head to Head Review

Papa Johns International (NASDAQ:PZZA) and Alsea (OTCMKTS:ALSSF) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability and risk.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

22.5% of Alsea shares are held by institutional investors. 8.9% of Papa Johns International shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Papa Johns International and Alsea, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Papa Johns International	0	6	7	0	2.54
Alsea	0	0	0	0	N/A

Papa Johns International currently has a consensus price target of $58.82, suggesting a potential upside of 31.03%. Given Papa Johns International’s higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Papa Johns International is more favorable than Alsea.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Papa Johns International and Alsea’s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Papa Johns International	$2.14 billion	0.69	$82.10 million	$2.25	19.95
Alsea	N/A	N/A	N/A	$1.06	2.71

Papa Johns International has higher revenue and earnings than Alsea. Alsea is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Papa Johns International, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Papa Johns International and Alsea’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Papa Johns International	3.25%	-19.85%	10.37%
Alsea	N/A	N/A	N/A

Summary

Papa Johns International beats Alsea on 8 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Papa Johns International

Papa John’s International, Inc. operates and franchises pizza delivery and carryout restaurants under the Papa John’s trademark in the United States and internationally. The company operates through four segments: Domestic Company-Owned Restaurants, North America Commissaries, North America Franchising, and International Operations. It also operates dine-in and delivery restaurants under the Papa John’s trademark internationally. Papa John’s International, Inc. was founded in 1984 and is based in Louisville, Kentucky.

About Alsea

Alsea, S.A.B. de C.V. operates restaurants in Latin America and Europe. It operates fast food, coffee shops, casual food, and family restaurants under the Domino's Pizza, Starbucks, Burger King, Chili's, PF Chang's, Italianni's, The Cheesecake Factory, Vips, The gate, Foster's Hollywood, Archies, Ginos, T.G.I. Fridays, Vips Europe, Vips Smart, Ole Mole, and Clay Hear brands. The company was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico.