Critical Comparison: Cronos Group (CRON) & Its Rivals

Cronos Group (NASDAQ:CRON) is one of 897 public companies in the “Pharmaceuticals” industry, but how does it contrast to its peers? We will compare Cronos Group to similar businesses based on the strength of its risk, analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, valuation, profitability and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Cronos Group and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cronos Group	39.08%	4.85%	4.62%
Cronos Group Competitors	-2,380.91%	-221.72%	-15.99%

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Cronos Group and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cronos Group	0	1	3	1	3.00
Cronos Group Competitors	7765	13847	25696	1031	2.41

Cronos Group presently has a consensus price target of $2.30, suggesting a potential downside of 30.30%. As a group, “Pharmaceuticals” companies have a potential upside of 24.00%. Given Cronos Group’s peers higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Cronos Group has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Volatility and Risk

Cronos Group has a beta of 0.9, meaning that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cronos Group’s peers have a beta of -4.29, meaning that their average stock price is 529% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

8.7% of Cronos Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 32.4% of shares of all “Pharmaceuticals” companies are held by institutional investors. 7.8% of Cronos Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 14.2% of shares of all “Pharmaceuticals” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Cronos Group and its peers gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cronos Group	$146.59 million	-$9.45 million	16.50
Cronos Group Competitors	$3.54 billion	$3.17 billion	546.63

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

Summary

Cronos Group beats its peers on 7 of the 13 factors compared.

About Cronos Group

Cronos Group Inc. operates as a cannabinoid company that engages in the cultivation, production and marketing of cannabis products in Canada, Israel, and Germany. It offers dried flower, pre-rolls, oils, vaporizers, edibles, and cannabis tinctures under the Spinach, Lord Jones, and PEACE NATURALS brands. Cronos Group Inc. was founded in 2012 and is based in Toronto, Canada.