Reviewing George Weston (OTCMKTS:WNGRF) & Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF)

Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) and George Weston (OTCMKTS:WNGRF) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, dividends, valuation, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Chefs’ Warehouse and George Weston, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Chefs’ Warehouse	0	3	5	0	2.62
George Weston	0	2	4	0	2.67

Chefs’ Warehouse presently has a consensus target price of $87.57, suggesting a potential downside of 8.58%. Given Chefs’ Warehouse’s higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Chefs’ Warehouse is more favorable than George Weston.

Profitability

This table compares Chefs’ Warehouse and George Weston’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Chefs’ Warehouse	1.87%	15.54%	4.65%
George Weston	1.74%	13.95%	3.40%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Chefs’ Warehouse and George Weston”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Chefs’ Warehouse	$4.15 billion	0.94	$72.36 million	$1.80	53.22
George Weston	$46.17 billion	0.58	$817.33 million	$2.08	34.12

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

Insider and Institutional Ownership

91.5% of Chefs’ Warehouse shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of George Weston shares are held by institutional investors. 11.1% of Chefs’ Warehouse shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 53.6% of George Weston shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility & Risk

Chefs’ Warehouse has a beta of 1.39, meaning that its share price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, George Weston has a beta of 0.47, meaning that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Chefs’ Warehouse beats George Weston on 9 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 George Weston

George Weston Limited provides food and drug retailing, and financial services in Canada. The company operates through two segments, Loblaw Companies Limited (Loblaw) and Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (Choice Properties). The Loblaw segment provides grocery, pharmacy and healthcare services, health and beauty products, apparel, general merchandise, and financial services. This segment also offers credit card and other banking services, insurance brokerage services, guaranteed investment certificates, and wireless mobile products and services. The Choice Properties segment owns, operates, manages, and develops retail commercial and residential properties, leased to necessity-based tenants, industrial, and mixed-use and residential assets. It markets its products under the Shoppers Drug Mart, Joe Fresh, President’s Choice Bank, no name, Farmer’s Market, T&T, Life Brand, and PC Optimum brands. The company was founded in 1882 and is based in Toronto, Canada. George Weston Limited operates as a subsidiary of Wittington Investments, Limited.