Japan Tob (OTCMKTS:JAPAY) and Imperial Tobacco Group (OTCMKTS:IMBBY) Critical Contrast

Japan Tob (OTCMKTS:JAPAY) and Imperial Tobacco Group (OTCMKTS:IMBBY) are both large-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, risk and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Japan Tob and Imperial Tobacco Group, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Japan Tob	2	0	0	0	1.00
Imperial Tobacco Group	0	2	0	0	2.00

Japan Tob presently has a consensus price target of $17.00, suggesting a potential downside of 7.50%. Given Japan Tob’s higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Japan Tob is more favorable than Imperial Tobacco Group.

Volatility and Risk

Japan Tob has a beta of 0.33, suggesting that its share price is 67% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Imperial Tobacco Group has a beta of 0.38, suggesting that its share price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares Japan Tob and Imperial Tobacco Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Japan Tob	N/A	N/A	N/A
Imperial Tobacco Group	N/A	N/A	N/A

Dividends

Japan Tob pays an annual dividend of $0.51 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Imperial Tobacco Group pays an annual dividend of $2.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.5%. Japan Tob pays out 56.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Japan Tob and Imperial Tobacco Group”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Japan Tob	$23.20 billion	2.81	$3.42 billion	$0.91	20.20
Imperial Tobacco Group	$42.02 billion	0.71	$2.70 billion	N/A	N/A

Japan Tob has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Imperial Tobacco Group.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

0.0% of Imperial Tobacco Group shares are held by institutional investors. 1.0% of Imperial Tobacco Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Imperial Tobacco Group beats Japan Tob on 7 of the 10 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Japan Tob

Japan Tobacco Inc., a tobacco company, manufactures and sells tobacco products, pharmaceuticals, and processed foods in Japan and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Tobacco Business, Pharmaceutical, and Processed Food. It offers tobacco products, such as cigarettes, heat-not-burn tobacco products, E-vapor products, fine cut tobacco products, cigars, pipes, smokeless tobacco products, and hookah and kretek products. The company also provides reduced-risk products, including infused tobacco capsules and heated tobacco sticks. In addition, it researches and develops, manufactures, and sells prescription drugs for the therapeutic areas, such as cardiovascular, kidney and metabolism, immunity/inflammation, and central nervous system. Further, the company provides frozen and room-temperature products, such as frozen udon noodles, packed rice, and frozen okonomiyaki; bakery products; and seasonings, including yeast extracts, assembled, kelp and bonito extracts, and oyster sauces. It offers its products under the Winston, Camel, MEVIUS, and LD brands. Japan Tobacco Inc. was incorporated in 1985 and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

About Imperial Tobacco Group

Imperial Brands PLC, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, imports, markets, and sells tobacco and tobacco-related products in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Australasia. It offers a range of cigarettes, tobacco accessories, vapour, heated tobacco, and oral nicotine. The company sells its products under various brands, including JPS, Davidoff, Gauloises, West, Winston, Kool, Lambert & Butler, Fortuna, Nobel, News, Backwoods, Champion, Golden Virginia, Rizla, Blu, Pulze, Skruf, and Zone X. In addition, it engages in the distribution of tobacco and NGP products for tobacco and NGP product manufacturers; and various non-tobacco and NGP products and services. Further, the company is involved in the management of a golf course; distribution of pharmaceuticals, POS software, and published materials and other products; printing and publishing activities; and provision of long haul transportation, industrial parcel and express delivery, pharmaceutical products logistics, advertising, payment, and support management services, as well as owns the trademarks; and retails its products. Additionally, it engages in distribution of books; waste management, leaf processing related activities. Furthermore, the company is involved in research and development of e-vapour products. The company was formerly known as Imperial Tobacco Group PLC and changed its name to Imperial Brands PLC in February 2016. Imperial Brands PLC was founded in 1636 and is based in Bristol, the United Kingdom.