Maison Solutions (NASDAQ:MSS) & Empire (OTCMKTS:EMLAF) Head-To-Head Review

Empire (OTCMKTS:EMLAF) and Maison Solutions (NASDAQ:MSS) are both consumer defensive companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Empire and Maison Solutions’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Empire	N/A	N/A	N/A
Maison Solutions	-3.16%	-24.68%	-3.96%

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Empire and Maison Solutions”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Empire	N/A	N/A	N/A	$2.61	14.54
Maison Solutions	$111.74 million	0.16	-$3.34 million	($0.07)	-12.59

Empire has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Maison Solutions. Maison Solutions is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Empire, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

36.6% of Empire shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 2.4% of Maison Solutions shares are held by institutional investors. 80.4% of Maison Solutions shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Empire and Maison Solutions, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Empire	0	2	0	0	2.00
Maison Solutions	0	0	0	0	0.00

Summary

Empire beats Maison Solutions on 7 of the 9 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Empire

Empire Company Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the food retail and related real estate businesses in Canada. It operates through two segments, Food Retailing, and Investments and Other Operations. The company owns, affiliates, and franchises retail stores under various retail banners, including Sobeys, Safeway, IGA, Foodland, FreshCo, Thrifty Foods, Farm Boy, Longo's, and Lawtons Drugs; and operates grocery e-commerce stores under the banners, such as Voilà, Grocery Gateway, IGA.net, and ThriftyFoods.com. It also owns interest in the Crombie Real Estate Investment Trust, an open-ended real estate investment trust to own, operate, and develop a portfolio of grocery and pharmacy-anchored shopping centers, freestanding stores, and mixed-use developments; and various equity accounted interests in Genstar partnerships that develop residential real estate properties in Ontario, Western Canada, and the United States. Empire Company Limited was founded in 1907 and is headquartered in Stellarton, Canada.

About Maison Solutions

Maison Solutions Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as the specialty grocery retailer in California. The company offers perishable products, such as meat, seafood, vegetables, and fruit; non-perishable products, including grocery products comprising cooking utensils, canned foods, Chinese and Asian seasonings and spices, and snacks, as well as liquor, cigarette, lottery, newspaper, reusable bag, non-food, and health products, and general merchandise, beauty care, pharmacy, fuel, and other items and services in its stores. It also offers its products online. The company was formerly known as Maison International, Inc. and changed its name to Maison Solutions Inc. in September 2021. Maison Solutions Inc. was incorporated in 2019 and is based in Monterey Park, California.