Financial Review: Weis Markets (WMK) versus Its Rivals

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Weis Markets and its competitors, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Weis Markets	0	0	1	0	3.00
Weis Markets Competitors	2240	8260	10030	459	2.41

As a group, “Consumer Staples Distribution & Retail” companies have a potential upside of 59.59%. Given Weis Markets’ competitors higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Weis Markets has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Weis Markets	1.99%	7.40%	4.97%
Weis Markets Competitors	-25.68%	1.93%	2.63%

Dividends

Weis Markets pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Weis Markets pays out 33.7% 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 36.7% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Weis Markets and its competitors top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Weis Markets	$4.96 billion	$93.69 million	18.43
Weis Markets Competitors	$35.04 billion	$846.03 million	15.91

Weis Markets’ competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Weis Markets. Weis Markets 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 & Volatility

Weis Markets has a beta of 0.4, meaning that its share price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Weis Markets’ competitors have a beta of 0.43, meaning that their average share price is 57% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

45.0% of shares of all “Consumer Staples Distribution & Retail” companies are held by institutional investors. 21.6% of Weis Markets shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 19.7% of shares of all “Consumer Staples Distribution & Retail” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Weis Markets beats its competitors on 8 of the 15 factors compared.

About Weis Markets

Weis Markets, Inc. engages in the retail sale of food through a chain of supermarkets in Pennsylvania and surrounding states. The company’s retail food stores sell groceries, dairy products, frozen foods, meats, seafood, fresh produce, floral, pharmacy services, deli products, prepared foods, bakery products, beer and wine, and fuel; and general merchandise items, such as health and beauty care, and household products. It operates stores in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia primarily under the Weis Markets name, as well as Weis, Weis 2 Go, Weis Great Meals Start Here, Weis Gas-n-Go, and Weis Nutri-Facts. Weis Markets, Inc. was founded in 1912 and is based in Sunbury, Pennsylvania.