Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (NASDAQ:RMCF) vs. BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) Financial Comparison

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

Volatility and Risk

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory has a beta of 0.71, meaning that its stock price is 29% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BJ’s Restaurants has a beta of 1.28, meaning that its stock price is 28% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

50.3% of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 100.0% of BJ’s Restaurants shares are held by institutional investors. 42.2% of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 4.3% of BJ’s Restaurants shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and BJ’s Restaurants, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory	1	0	0	0	1.00
BJ’s Restaurants	2	4	3	0	2.11

BJ’s Restaurants has a consensus target price of $41.43, indicating a potential downside of 6.40%. Given BJ’s Restaurants’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe BJ’s Restaurants is more favorable than Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and BJ’s Restaurants”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory	$29.58 million	0.64	-$6.12 million	($0.52)	-3.88
BJ’s Restaurants	$1.36 billion	0.69	$16.69 million	$1.34	33.03

BJ’s Restaurants has higher revenue and earnings than Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory 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.

Profitability

This table compares Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and BJ’s Restaurants’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory	-13.62%	-62.48%	-19.16%
BJ’s Restaurants	2.23%	12.92%	4.67%

Summary

BJ’s Restaurants beats Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory on 13 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a confectionery franchisor, manufacturer, and retail operator. It operates through Franchising, Manufacturing, Retail Stores, and Other segments. The company produces approximately 400 chocolate candies and other confectionery products, including clusters, caramels, creams, toffees, mints, and truffles; and offers 15 varieties of caramel apples and other products that are prepared in individual stores, as well as provides ice cream, coffee, and other sundries. Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Inc. was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in Durango, Colorado.

About BJ’s Restaurants

BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. owns and operates casual dining restaurants in the United States. Its restaurants offer pizzas, craft and other beers, appetizers, entrées, pastas, sandwiches, specialty salads, and desserts under brand name Pizookie. The company was formerly known as Chicago Pizza & Brewery, Inc. and changed its name to BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. in August 2004. BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. was founded in 1978 and is based in Huntington Beach, California.