Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) and Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) Head-To-Head Analysis

Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) and Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, earnings, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, valuation, dividends and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for Sweetgreen and Starbucks, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Sweetgreen	2	11	3	0	2.06
Starbucks	3	10	15	1	2.48

Sweetgreen presently has a consensus target price of $11.43, suggesting a potential upside of 45.72%. Starbucks has a consensus target price of $102.12, suggesting a potential upside of 14.90%. Given Sweetgreen’s higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Sweetgreen is more favorable than Starbucks.

Profitability

This table compares Sweetgreen and Starbucks’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Sweetgreen	-16.55%	-25.67%	-13.00%
Starbucks	4.99%	-31.32%	7.48%

Volatility & Risk

Sweetgreen has a beta of 1.93, suggesting that its stock price is 93% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Starbucks has a beta of 0.97, suggesting that its stock price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

95.8% of Sweetgreen shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 72.3% of Starbucks shares are held by institutional investors. 19.8% of Sweetgreen shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Starbucks shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Sweetgreen and Starbucks”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Sweetgreen	$676.83 million	1.37	-$90.37 million	($0.97)	-8.09
Starbucks	$37.18 billion	2.72	$1.86 billion	$1.64	54.20

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

Summary

Starbucks beats Sweetgreen on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

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.

About Starbucks

Starbucks Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a roaster, marketer, and retailer of coffee worldwide. The company operates through three segments: North America, International, and Channel Development. Its stores offer coffee and tea beverages, roasted whole beans and ground coffees, single serve products, and ready-to-drink beverages; and various food products, such as pastries, breakfast sandwiches, and lunch items. The company also licenses its trademarks through licensed stores, and grocery and foodservice accounts. The company offers its products under the Starbucks Coffee, Teavana, Seattle’s Best Coffee, Ethos, Starbucks Reserve, and Princi brands. Starbucks Corporation was founded in 1971 and is based in Seattle, Washington.