US Foods (NYSE:USFD) & Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) Head to Head Survey

Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) and US Foods (NYSE:USFD) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, valuation, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

91.6% of Chefs’ Warehouse shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 98.8% of US Foods shares are held by institutional investors. 11.9% of Chefs’ Warehouse shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.6% of US Foods shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Profitability

This table compares Chefs’ Warehouse and US Foods’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Chefs’ Warehouse	1.85%	14.11%	4.15%
US Foods	1.43%	17.71%	5.88%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Chefs’ Warehouse and US Foods”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Chefs’ Warehouse	$3.79 billion	0.71	$55.48 million	$1.70	39.22
US Foods	$37.88 billion	0.53	$494.00 million	$2.40	37.68

US Foods has higher revenue and earnings than Chefs’ Warehouse. US Foods is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Chefs’ Warehouse, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings for Chefs’ Warehouse and US Foods, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Chefs’ Warehouse	1	2	6	0	2.56
US Foods	0	2	9	0	2.82

Chefs’ Warehouse currently has a consensus price target of $74.71, suggesting a potential upside of 12.07%. US Foods has a consensus price target of $90.00, suggesting a potential downside of 0.46%. Given Chefs’ Warehouse’s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Chefs’ Warehouse is more favorable than US Foods.

Risk and Volatility

Chefs’ Warehouse has a beta of 1.3, indicating that its share price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, US Foods has a beta of 1.02, indicating that its share price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

US Foods beats Chefs’ Warehouse on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Chefs’ Warehouse

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.

About US Foods

US Foods Holding Corp., together with its subsidiaries, engages in marketing, sale, and distribution of fresh, frozen, and dry food and non-food products to foodservice customers in the United States. The company's customers include independently owned single and multi-unit restaurants, regional concepts, national restaurant chains, hospitals, nursing homes, hotels and motels, country clubs, government and military organizations, colleges and universities, and retail locations. The company was formerly known as USF Holding Corp. and changed its name to US Foods Holding Corp. in February 2016. US Foods Holding Corp. was incorporated in 2007 and is headquartered in Rosemont, Illinois.