Financial Contrast: Chefs’ Warehouse (CHEF) and Its Peers

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Chefs’ Warehouse and its peers, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Chefs’ Warehouse	0	0	6	0	3.00
Chefs’ Warehouse Competitors	710	3417	3726	153	2.41

Chefs’ Warehouse presently has a consensus target price of $67.40, suggesting a potential upside of 5.34%. As a group, “FOOD – MISC/DIVERSIFIED” companies have a potential upside of 19.23%. Given Chefs’ Warehouse’s peers higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Chefs’ Warehouse has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Profitability

This table compares Chefs’ Warehouse and its peers’ 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	-3.76%	-16.96%	1.87%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

91.6% of Chefs’ Warehouse shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 54.4% of shares of all “FOOD – MISC/DIVERSIFIED” companies are held by institutional investors. 11.5% of Chefs’ Warehouse shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 16.0% of shares of all “FOOD – MISC/DIVERSIFIED” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Chefs’ Warehouse and its peers top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Chefs’ Warehouse	$3.79 billion	$55.48 million	42.37
Chefs’ Warehouse Competitors	$8.09 billion	$399.01 million	24.57

Chefs’ Warehouse’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than Chefs’ Warehouse. Chefs’ Warehouse is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Volatility & Risk

Chefs’ Warehouse has a beta of 1.74, suggesting that its share price is 74% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Chefs’ Warehouse’s peers have a beta of 0.83, suggesting that their average share price is 17% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Chefs’ Warehouse beats its peers 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.