Analyzing Jack In The Box (NASDAQ:JACK) and U-Swirl (OTCMKTS:SWRL)

Jack In The Box (NASDAQ:JACK) and U-Swirl (OTCMKTS:SWRL) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk, dividends and valuation.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

99.8% of Jack In The Box shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.4% of U-Swirl shares are held by institutional investors. 1.4% of Jack In The Box shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 19.4% of U-Swirl shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Jack In The Box and U-Swirl, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Jack In The Box	2	12	3	0	2.06
U-Swirl	0	0	0	0	0.00

Jack In The Box presently has a consensus target price of $15.84, suggesting a potential upside of 39.96%. Given Jack In The Box’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Jack In The Box is more favorable than U-Swirl.

Profitability

This table compares Jack In The Box and U-Swirl’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Jack In The Box	2.82%	-6.34%	2.58%
U-Swirl	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Jack In The Box and U-Swirl”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Jack In The Box	$1.47 billion	0.15	-$80.72 million	$1.85	6.12
U-Swirl	N/A	N/A	N/A	($0.09)	-0.01

U-Swirl has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Jack In The Box. U-Swirl is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Jack In The Box, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Jack In The Box beats U-Swirl on 9 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Jack In The Box

Jack in the Box Inc. operates and franchises Jack in the Box and Del Taco quick-service restaurants in the United States. The company was founded in 1951 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.

About U-Swirl

U-Swirl, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates and franchises self-serve frozen yogurt cafés. It operates and franchises frozen yogurt cafés under the U-SWIRL Frozen Yogurt, CherryBerry, Yogurtini, Fuzzy Peach, Aspen Leaf Yogurt, Yogli Mogli, Let's Yo!, and Josie's Frozen Yogurt brand names. The company's cafés offer frozen yogurt in non-fat and low-fat flavors and with toppings. U-Swirl, Inc. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Durango, Colorado.