Head to Head Comparison: BJ’s Wholesale Club (BJ) & The Competition

BJ’s Wholesale Club (NYSE:BJ) is one of 149 publicly-traded companies in the “Consumer Staples Distribution & Retail” industry, but how does it contrast to its competitors? We will compare BJ’s Wholesale Club to related companies based on the strength of its institutional ownership, dividends, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, earnings and valuation.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares BJ’s Wholesale Club and its competitors top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
BJ’s Wholesale Club	$21.46 billion	$578.38 million	24.02
BJ’s Wholesale Club Competitors	$36.52 billion	$846.26 million	17.23

BJ’s Wholesale Club’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than BJ’s Wholesale Club. BJ’s Wholesale Club 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.

Profitability

This table compares BJ’s Wholesale Club and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
BJ’s Wholesale Club	2.62%	27.40%	7.69%
BJ’s Wholesale Club Competitors	-25.86%	3.88%	2.96%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for BJ’s Wholesale Club and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
BJ’s Wholesale Club	1	9	9	1	2.50
BJ’s Wholesale Club Competitors	2243	8276	10067	459	2.42

BJ’s Wholesale Club currently has a consensus target price of $106.19, indicating a potential downside of 3.27%. As a group, “Consumer Staples Distribution & Retail” companies have a potential upside of 58.09%. Given BJ’s Wholesale Club’s competitors higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe BJ’s Wholesale Club has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

98.6% of BJ’s Wholesale Club shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 45.0% of shares of all “Consumer Staples Distribution & Retail” companies are held by institutional investors. 1.1% of BJ’s Wholesale Club shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 19.7% of shares of all “Consumer Staples Distribution & Retail” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

BJ’s Wholesale Club has a beta of 0.12, suggesting that its stock price is 88% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BJ’s Wholesale Club’s competitors have a beta of 0.44, suggesting that their average stock price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

BJ’s Wholesale Club beats its competitors on 7 of the 13 factors compared.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Company Profile

BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. engages in the operation of membership warehouse clubs. Its product categories include grocery, household and pet, television and electronics, furniture, computer and tablets, patio and outdoor living, lawn and garden, baby and kids, toys, home, health and beauty, appliances, and jewelry. The company was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Marlborough, MA.