Analyzing Chefs’ Warehouse (CHEF) & The Competition

Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) is one of 149 public companies in the “Consumer Staples Distribution & Retail” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its peers? We will compare Chefs’ Warehouse to similar businesses based on the strength of its earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, profitability, valuation and institutional ownership.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Chefs’ Warehouse and its peers gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Chefs’ Warehouse	$4.15 billion	$72.36 million	43.33
Chefs’ Warehouse Competitors	$34.71 billion	$846.26 million	15.79

Chefs’ Warehouse’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than Chefs’ Warehouse. Chefs’ Warehouse is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Risk and Volatility

Chefs’ Warehouse has a beta of 1.47, suggesting that its share price is 47% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Chefs’ Warehouse’s peers have a beta of 0.44, suggesting that their average share price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

91.5% of Chefs’ Warehouse shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 45.0% of shares of all “Consumer Staples Distribution & Retail” companies are held by institutional investors. 11.1% of Chefs’ Warehouse shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 19.7% of shares of all “Consumer Staples Distribution & Retail” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations for Chefs’ Warehouse and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Chefs’ Warehouse	0	2	5	0	2.71
Chefs’ Warehouse Competitors	2241	8261	10032	459	2.41

Chefs’ Warehouse currently has a consensus target price of $120.17, indicating a potential upside of 19.04%. As a group, “Consumer Staples Distribution & Retail” companies have a potential upside of 60.24%. Given Chefs’ Warehouse’s peers higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Chefs’ Warehouse has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Profitability

This table compares Chefs’ Warehouse and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Chefs’ Warehouse	2.27%	17.48%	5.48%
Chefs’ Warehouse Competitors	-25.88%	3.91%	2.94%

Summary

Chefs’ Warehouse beats its peers on 8 of the 13 factors compared.

About Chefs’ Warehouse

The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, distributes specialty food and center-of-the-plate products in the United States, the Middle East, and Canada. The company’s product portfolio includes specialty food products, such as artisan charcuterie, specialty cheeses, unique oils and vinegars, truffles, caviar, chocolate, and pastry products; and center-of-the-plate products consisting of custom cut beef, seafood, and hormone-free poultry, as well as broadline food products comprising cooking oils, butter, eggs, milk, and flour. The company serves menu-driven independent restaurants, fine dining establishments, country clubs, hotels, caterers, culinary schools, bakeries, patisseries, chocolatiers, cruise lines, casinos, and specialty food stores. It markets its center-of-the-plate products directly to consumers through a mail and e-commerce platform. The Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc. was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Ridgefield, Connecticut.