Chefs’ Warehouse (CHEF) vs. Its Competitors Head-To-Head Review

Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) is one of 69 publicly-traded companies in the “FOOD – MISC/DIVERSIFIED” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its competitors? We will compare Chefs’ Warehouse to similar companies based on the strength of its earnings, risk, valuation, dividends, profitability, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Volatility and Risk

Chefs’ Warehouse has a beta of 1.77, suggesting that its stock price is 77% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Chefs’ Warehouse’s competitors have a beta of 0.83, suggesting that their average stock price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

91.6% of Chefs’ Warehouse shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 54.9% of shares of all “FOOD – MISC/DIVERSIFIED” companies are owned by institutional investors. 11.9% of Chefs’ Warehouse shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 15.0% of shares of all “FOOD – MISC/DIVERSIFIED” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and target prices for Chefs’ Warehouse and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Chefs’ Warehouse	0	0	6	0	3.00
Chefs’ Warehouse Competitors	704	3404	3715	151	2.42

Chefs’ Warehouse currently has a consensus price target of $67.40, indicating a potential upside of 10.67%. As a group, “FOOD – MISC/DIVERSIFIED” companies have a potential upside of 22.26%. Given Chefs’ Warehouse’s competitors higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Chefs’ Warehouse has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Profitability

This table compares Chefs’ Warehouse and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Chefs’ Warehouse	1.65%	13.15%	3.70%
Chefs’ Warehouse Competitors	-3.74%	-16.93%	1.89%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Chefs’ Warehouse and its competitors gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Chefs’ Warehouse	$3.79 billion	$55.48 million	40.33
Chefs’ Warehouse Competitors	$8.22 billion	$408.09 million	23.83

Chefs’ Warehouse’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than Chefs’ Warehouse. Chefs’ Warehouse 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.

Summary

Chefs’ Warehouse beats its competitors on 8 of the 13 factors compared.

Chefs’ Warehouse Company Profile

The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, distributes specialty food and center-of-the-plate products in the United States, the Middle East, and Canada. The company’s product portfolio includes specialty food products, such as artisan charcuterie, specialty cheeses, unique oils and vinegars, truffles, caviar, chocolate, and pastry products; and center-of-the-plate products consisting of custom cut beef, seafood, and hormone-free poultry, as well as broadline food products comprising cooking oils, butter, eggs, milk, and flour. The company serves menu-driven independent restaurants, fine dining establishments, country clubs, hotels, caterers, culinary schools, bakeries, patisseries, chocolatiers, cruise lines, casinos, and specialty food stores. It markets its center-of-the-plate products directly to consumers through a mail and e-commerce platform. The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Ridgefield, Connecticut.