Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) vs. BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Head to Head Comparison

Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) and BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) are both small-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability and institutional ownership.

Volatility & Risk

Sweetgreen has a beta of 1.99, indicating that its share price is 99% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BJ’s Restaurants has a beta of 1.95, indicating that its share price is 95% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

79.2% of Sweetgreen shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 100.0% of BJ’s Restaurants shares are owned by institutional investors. 22.0% of Sweetgreen shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.2% of BJ’s Restaurants shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Sweetgreen and BJ’s Restaurants’ gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sweetgreen	$470.11 million	3.27	-$190.44 million	($1.41)	-9.74
BJ’s Restaurants	$1.28 billion	0.52	$4.08 million	$0.75	37.67

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Sweetgreen and BJ’s Restaurants, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sweetgreen	0	5	3	0	2.38
BJ’s Restaurants	1	4	6	0	2.45

Sweetgreen presently has a consensus price target of $13.50, suggesting a potential downside of 1.68%. BJ’s Restaurants has a consensus price target of $37.64, suggesting a potential upside of 33.23%. Given BJ’s Restaurants’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe BJ’s Restaurants is more favorable than Sweetgreen.

Profitability

This table compares Sweetgreen and BJ’s Restaurants’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sweetgreen	-30.29%	-26.30%	-16.73%
BJ’s Restaurants	1.32%	3.89%	1.31%

Summary

BJ’s Restaurants beats Sweetgreen on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Sweetgreen

Sweetgreen, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops and operates fast-casual restaurants serving healthy foods prepared from seasonal and organic ingredients. The company also accepts orders through its online and mobile ordering platforms, as well as sells gift cards that can be redeemed in its restaurants. The company was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

About BJ’s Restaurants

BJ's Restaurants, Inc. owns and operates casual dining restaurants in the United States. The company's restaurants offer pizzas, craft and other beers, appetizers, entrées, pastas, sandwiches, specialty salads, and desserts. BJ's Restaurants, Inc. was founded in 1978 and is based in Huntington Beach, California.