Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) vs. Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) Head to Head Contrast

Yum! Brands (NYSE:YUM) and Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and risk.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Yum! Brands and Sweetgreen’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Yum! Brands	$7.08 billion	5.27	$1.60 billion	$5.64	23.46
Sweetgreen	$584.04 million	5.68	-$113.38 million	($0.93)	-31.49

Yum! Brands has higher revenue and earnings than Sweetgreen. Sweetgreen is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Yum! Brands, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

82.4% of Yum! Brands shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.8% of Sweetgreen shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Yum! Brands shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 21.5% of Sweetgreen shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility & Risk

Yum! Brands has a beta of 1.08, suggesting that its stock price is 8% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Sweetgreen has a beta of 2.34, suggesting that its stock price is 134% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations for Yum! Brands and Sweetgreen, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Yum! Brands	0	10	6	0	2.38
Sweetgreen	1	2	7	0	2.60

Yum! Brands presently has a consensus price target of $144.33, suggesting a potential upside of 9.07%. Sweetgreen has a consensus price target of $29.67, suggesting a potential upside of 1.29%. Given Yum! Brands’ higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Yum! Brands is more favorable than Sweetgreen.

Profitability

This table compares Yum! Brands and Sweetgreen’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Yum! Brands	22.92%	-18.64%	24.65%
Sweetgreen	-17.15%	-20.74%	-11.75%

Summary

Yum! Brands beats Sweetgreen on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Yum! Brands

Yum! Brands, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops, operates, and franchises quick service restaurants worldwide. The company operates through the KFC Division, the Taco Bell Division, the Pizza Hut Division, and the Habit Burger Grill Division segments. It also operates restaurants under the KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and The Habit Burger Grill brands, which specialize in chicken, pizza, made-to-order chargrilled burgers, sandwiches, Mexican-style food categories, and other food products. The company was formerly known as TRICON Global Restaurants, Inc. and changed its name to Yum! Brands, Inc. in May 2002. Yum! Brands, Inc. was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.

About Sweetgreen

Sweetgreen, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates fast food restaurants serving healthy foods at scale in the United States. The company also accepts orders through its online and mobile ordering platforms, as well as sells gift cards that do not have an expiration date and can be redeemed. The company was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.