Comparing Domino’s Pizza (NASDAQ:DPZ) and Ark Restaurants (NASDAQ:ARKR)

Ark Restaurants (NASDAQ:ARKR) and Domino’s Pizza (NASDAQ:DPZ) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership and valuation.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and target prices for Ark Restaurants and Domino’s Pizza, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Ark Restaurants	1	0	0	0	1.00
Domino’s Pizza	1	12	17	0	2.53

Domino’s Pizza has a consensus price target of $412.97, indicating a potential upside of 44.68%. Given Domino’s Pizza’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Domino’s Pizza is more favorable than Ark Restaurants.

Profitability

This table compares Ark Restaurants and Domino’s Pizza’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Ark Restaurants	-3.97%	-8.49%	-2.09%
Domino’s Pizza	11.89%	-15.04%	33.66%

Volatility & Risk

Ark Restaurants has a beta of 0.32, meaning that its stock price is 68% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Domino’s Pizza has a beta of 0.97, meaning that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Ark Restaurants and Domino’s Pizza”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Ark Restaurants	$165.75 million	0.14	-$11.47 million	($1.74)	-3.61
Domino’s Pizza	$4.94 billion	1.92	$601.70 million	$17.37	16.43

Domino’s Pizza has higher revenue and earnings than Ark Restaurants. Ark Restaurants is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Domino’s Pizza, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

32.0% of Ark Restaurants shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 94.6% of Domino’s Pizza shares are owned by institutional investors. 37.5% of Ark Restaurants shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Domino’s Pizza shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Domino’s Pizza beats Ark Restaurants on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Ark Restaurants

Ark Restaurants Corp., through its subsidiaries, owns and operates restaurants and bars in the United States. It operates restaurants in New York City; Washington, D.C.; Las Vegas, Nevada; Atlantic City, New Jersey; Florida; and Alabama, as well as fast food concepts and catering operations. The company was incorporated in 1983 and is based in New York, New York.

About Domino’s Pizza

Domino’s Pizza, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates as a pizza company in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: U.S. Stores, International Franchise, and Supply Chain. It offers pizzas under the Domino’s brand name through company-owned and franchised stores. It also provides oven-baked sandwiches, pastas, boneless chicken and chicken wings, breads and dips, desserts, and soft drink products, as well as loaded tots and pepperoni stuffed cheesy breads. Domino’s Pizza, Inc. was founded in 1960 and is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan.