Contrasting GreenTree Hospitality Group (NYSE:GHG) and BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI)

GreenTree Hospitality Group (NYSE:GHG) and BJ’s Restaurants (NASDAQ:BJRI) are both small-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, dividends, earnings, valuation, profitability, risk and institutional ownership.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

8.1% of GreenTree Hospitality Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 100.0% of BJ’s Restaurants shares are held by institutional investors. 88.7% of GreenTree Hospitality Group shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 2.4% of BJ’s Restaurants shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings for GreenTree Hospitality Group and BJ’s Restaurants, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
GreenTree Hospitality Group	1	0	0	0	1.00
BJ’s Restaurants	1	5	3	0	2.22

BJ’s Restaurants has a consensus target price of $62.00, indicating a potential upside of 10.81%. Given BJ’s Restaurants’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe BJ’s Restaurants is more favorable than GreenTree Hospitality Group.

Profitability

This table compares GreenTree Hospitality Group and BJ’s Restaurants’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
GreenTree Hospitality Group	4.14%	2.49%	0.84%
BJ’s Restaurants	3.13%	14.17%	5.49%

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares GreenTree Hospitality Group and BJ’s Restaurants”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
GreenTree Hospitality Group	$1.01 billion	0.10	$23.85 million	$0.05	20.92
BJ’s Restaurants	$1.40 billion	0.88	$48.81 million	$2.09	26.77

BJ’s Restaurants has higher revenue and earnings than GreenTree Hospitality Group. GreenTree Hospitality Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than BJ’s Restaurants, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility and Risk

GreenTree Hospitality Group has a beta of 0.65, meaning that its stock price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, BJ’s Restaurants has a beta of 1.46, meaning that its stock price is 46% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

BJ’s Restaurants beats GreenTree Hospitality Group on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About GreenTree Hospitality Group

GreenTree Hospitality Group Ltd. is a China-based hotel management and franchising company. It develops and operates a portfolio of lodging brands serving business and leisure travelers, with offerings spanning economy, midscale and selected upscale hotel segments. The company’s brand portfolio has included GreenTree Inn, GreenTree Alliance, Vatica, GME, Gya, Shell and other hospitality concepts. Its services generally include hotel franchising and management, reservation and membership platforms, marketing support, operating standards, technology systems, and assistance with procurement and other hotel-related functions.

About BJ’s Restaurants

BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. operates casual-dining restaurants under the BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse name. The company traces its roots to 1978, when it began as BJ’s Chicago Pizzeria in California. Its menu includes deep-dish and other pizzas, burgers, salads, pasta, ribs, appetizers and desserts, including its signature Pizookie. Restaurants also offer a selection of handcrafted beers alongside other beverages. BJ’s serves guests through restaurants in multiple U.S. states, with locations combining a broad food menu and beer offerings in a casual dining setting.