Nathan’s Famous (NASDAQ:NATH) & Compass Group (OTCMKTS:CMPGY) Head to Head Analysis

Compass Group (OTCMKTS:CMPGY) and Nathan’s Famous (NASDAQ:NATH) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, profitability, risk, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Compass Group and Nathan’s Famous’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Compass Group	N/A	N/A	N/A
Nathan’s Famous	15.74%	-143.21%	42.41%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Compass Group and Nathan’s Famous”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Compass Group	$46.16 billion	1.26	$1.40 billion	N/A	N/A
Nathan’s Famous	$148.18 million	2.87	$24.03 million	$5.76	18.03

Compass Group has higher revenue and earnings than Nathan’s Famous.

Dividends

Compass Group pays an annual dividend of $0.41 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Nathan’s Famous pays an annual dividend of $2.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Nathan’s Famous pays out 34.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for Compass Group and Nathan’s Famous, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Compass Group	0	1	0	0	2.00
Nathan’s Famous	0	0	0	0	0.00

Insider and Institutional Ownership

0.0% of Compass Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 66.5% of Nathan’s Famous shares are held by institutional investors. 0.0% of Compass Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 30.7% of Nathan’s Famous shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Volatility and Risk

Compass Group has a beta of 0.9, indicating that its share price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Nathan’s Famous has a beta of 0.39, indicating that its share price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500.

About Compass Group

Compass Group PLC operates as a food and support services company in North America, Europe, and internationally. The company offers support services, such as cleaning in hospitals; reception services at corporate headquarters; managing remote camps; grounds and facilities services at schools and universities; and others. It serves business and industry; healthcare and senior living market; education; sports and leisure; and defense, offshore, and remote sectors. Compass Group PLC was founded in 1941 and is based in Chertsey, the United Kingdom.

About Nathan’s Famous

Nathan’s Famous, Inc. engages in the operation of franchised fast-food units. It is involved in the licensing, wholesaling, and retailing of products marketed under the Nathan’s Famous brand. The firm operates through the following business segments: Branded Product Program, Product Licensing, Restaurant Operations, and Corporate. The Branded Product Program segment markets and sells hot dog products. The Product Licensing segment is composed of royalties from licensing a variety of Nathan’s Famous products such as hotdogs, sausage and corned beef products, frozen French fries, and additional products through retail grocery channels and club stores. The Restaurant Operations segment deals with the sale of products at company-owned restaurants and fees and royalties from franchised restaurants. The Corporate segment includes administrative expenses such as executive management, finance, information technology, legal, insurance, corporate office costs, corporate incentive compensation, and compliance costs. The company was founded by Nathan Handwerker in 1916 and is headquartered in Jericho, NY.