Head to Head Survey: Loblaw Companies (OTCMKTS:LBLCF) vs. Arko (NASDAQ:ARKO)

Arko (NASDAQ:ARKO) and Loblaw Companies (OTCMKTS:LBLCF) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, profitability and valuation.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings for Arko and Loblaw Companies, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Arko	0	2	0	0	2.00
Loblaw Companies	0	0	0	0	N/A

Arko currently has a consensus price target of $6.13, indicating a potential upside of 1.24%. Given Arko’s higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Arko is more favorable than Loblaw Companies.

Profitability

This table compares Arko and Loblaw Companies’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Arko	0.39%	13.12%	0.98%
Loblaw Companies	N/A	N/A	N/A

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Arko and Loblaw Companies”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Arko	$9.32 billion	0.08	$34.37 million	$0.26	23.27
Loblaw Companies	N/A	N/A	N/A	($0.22)	-584.14

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

Dividends

Arko pays an annual dividend of $0.12 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Loblaw Companies pays an annual dividend of $0.97 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. Arko pays out 46.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Loblaw Companies pays out -438.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

78.3% of Arko shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.9% of Loblaw Companies shares are owned by institutional investors. 21.6% of Arko shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Arko beats Loblaw Companies on 10 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Arko

Arko Corp. operates convenience stores in the United States. It operates through Retail, Wholesale, Fleet Fueling, and GPMP segments. The Retail segment engages in the sale of fuel and merchandise to retail consumers. Its Wholesale segment supplies fuel to third-party dealers and consignment agents. The Fleet Fueling segment supplies fuel to proprietary and third-party cardlock, and issuance of proprietary fuel cards. Its GPMP segment supplies fuel to retail and wholesale segments. The company is based in Richmond, Virginia.

About Loblaw Companies

Loblaw Companies Limited, a food and pharmacy company, provides grocery, pharmacy and healthcare services, health and beauty products, apparels, general merchandise, financial services, and wireless mobile products and services in Canada. It operates in two segments, Retail and Financial Services. The Retail segment operates corporate and franchise-owned retail food, and associate-owned drug stores. This segment also includes in-store pharmacies, health care services, other health and beauty product stores, apparel stores, and other general merchandise stores. The Financial Services segment provides credit card and banking services, the PC Optimum loyalty program, insurance brokerage services, and telecommunication services. The company offers PC Health app. It provides its products and services under various brands. The company was founded in 1919 and is headquartered in Brampton, Canada. Loblaw Companies Limited operates as a subsidiary of George Weston Limited.