Head to Head Contrast: PriceSmart (PSMT) and Its Competitors

PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT) is one of 149 public companies in the “Consumer Staples Distribution & Retail” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare PriceSmart to related companies based on the strength of its risk, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, dividends, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

80.5% of PriceSmart shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 45.0% of shares of all “Consumer Staples Distribution & Retail” companies are held by institutional investors. 17.0% of PriceSmart shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 19.7% of shares of all “Consumer Staples Distribution & Retail” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for PriceSmart and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
PriceSmart	0	0	2	0	3.00
PriceSmart Competitors	2243	8276	10067	459	2.42

PriceSmart currently has a consensus target price of $198.00, indicating a potential upside of 19.34%. As a group, “Consumer Staples Distribution & Retail” companies have a potential upside of 58.12%. Given PriceSmart’s competitors higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe PriceSmart has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares PriceSmart and its competitors top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
PriceSmart	$5.88 billion	$166.59 million	30.72
PriceSmart Competitors	$34.73 billion	$846.26 million	17.23

PriceSmart’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than PriceSmart. PriceSmart 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.

Risk and Volatility

PriceSmart has a beta of 0.8, indicating that its share price is 20% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, PriceSmart’s competitors have a beta of 0.44, indicating that their average share price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
PriceSmart	2.83%	12.15%	6.70%
PriceSmart Competitors	-25.86%	3.87%	2.96%

Dividends

PriceSmart pays an annual dividend of $1.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. PriceSmart pays out 25.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Consumer Staples Distribution & Retail” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.8% and pay out 37.2% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. PriceSmart has raised its dividend for 4 consecutive years.

Summary

PriceSmart beats its competitors on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

PriceSmart Company Profile

PriceSmart, Inc. owns and operates U.S.-style membership shopping warehouse clubs in the United States, Central America, the Caribbean, and Colombia. The company provides basic and private label consumer products under the Member's Selection brand, including groceries, cleaning supplies, health and beauty aids, meat, produce, deli, seafood, and poultry. It offers electronics, large and small appliances, automotive, hardware, sporting goods, seasonal products, clothing, domestics, and home furnishing products. In addition, the company offers food and bakery services, as well as health services, such as optical, audiology, and pharmacy. Further, it operates an e-commerce platform for online ordering, curbside pickup, and delivery services. PriceSmart, Inc. was incorporated in 1994 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.