Analyzing Biglari (NYSE:BH) & Alsea (OTCMKTS:ALSSF)

Biglari (NYSE:BH) and Alsea (OTCMKTS:ALSSF) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, dividends and institutional ownership.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

74.3% of Biglari shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 22.5% of Alsea shares are held by institutional investors. 71.4% of Biglari shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Biglari and Alsea’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Biglari	-10.35%	1.21%	0.84%
Alsea	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Biglari and Alsea, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Biglari	0	0	0	0	N/A
Alsea	0	0	0	0	N/A

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Biglari and Alsea”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Biglari	$365.32 million	1.08	$54.95 million	($133.83)	-1.29
Alsea	N/A	N/A	N/A	$1.06	2.34

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

Summary

Biglari beats Alsea on 5 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Biglari

Biglari Holdings Inc., through its subsidiaries, primarily operates and franchises restaurants in the United States. It owns, operates, and franchises restaurants under the Steak n Shake and Western Sizzlin names. The company also engages in underwriting commercial trucking insurance; selling physical damage and non-trucking liability insurance to truckers; and providing property and casualty insurance. In addition, it operates oil and natural gas properties in the Gulf of Mexico; and publishes and sells magazines under the MAXIM brand name. Further, it licenses media products and services; and engages in the investment activities. The company was formerly known as The Steak n Shake Company and changed its name to Biglari Holdings Inc. in April 2010. Biglari Holdings Inc. was founded in 1934 and is based in San Antonio, Texas.

About Alsea

Alsea, S.A.B. de C.V. operates restaurants in Latin America and Europe. It operates fast food, coffee shops, casual food, and family restaurants under the Domino's Pizza, Starbucks, Burger King, Chili's, PF Chang's, Italianni's, The Cheesecake Factory, Vips, The gate, Foster's Hollywood, Archies, Ginos, T.G.I. Fridays, Vips Europe, Vips Smart, Ole Mole, and Clay Hear brands. The company was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico.