Planet Fitness (NYSE:PLNT) & Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (NASDAQ:CBRL) Critical Contrast

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (NASDAQ:CBRL) and Planet Fitness (NYSE:PLNT) are both consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations and risk.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations and price targets for Cracker Barrel Old Country Store and Planet Fitness, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store	3	4	3	2	2.33
Planet Fitness	1	9	11	1	2.55

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store presently has a consensus price target of $50.86, suggesting a potential downside of 18.91%. Planet Fitness has a consensus price target of $69.34, suggesting a potential upside of 47.81%. Given Planet Fitness’ stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Planet Fitness is more favorable than Cracker Barrel Old Country Store.

Profitability

This table compares Cracker Barrel Old Country Store and Planet Fitness’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store	0.95%	4.01%	0.86%
Planet Fitness	16.88%	-59.46%	8.60%

Risk & Volatility

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store has a beta of 1.21, indicating that its share price is 21% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Planet Fitness has a beta of 1.05, indicating that its share price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Cracker Barrel Old Country Store and Planet Fitness”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store	$3.32 billion	0.42	$31.67 million	$1.40	44.80
Planet Fitness	$1.41 billion	2.51	$219.10 million	$2.95	15.90

Planet Fitness has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Cracker Barrel Old Country Store. Planet Fitness is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

96.0% of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.5% of Planet Fitness shares are held by institutional investors. 1.3% of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Planet Fitness shares 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.

Summary

Planet Fitness beats Cracker Barrel Old Country Store on 8 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Cracker Barrel Old Country Store

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. develops and operates the Cracker Barrel Old Country Store concept in the United States. Its Cracker Barrel stores consist of restaurants with a gift shop. The company's restaurants serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily, as well as dine-in, pick-up, and delivery services. Its gift shop offers various decorative and functional items, such as rocking chairs, seasonal gifts, apparel, toys, food, cookware, and various other gift items, as well as various candies, preserves, and other food items. The company was incorporated in 1969 and is headquartered in Lebanon, Tennessee.

About Planet Fitness

Planet Fitness, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, franchises and operates fitness centers under the Planet Fitness brand. The company operates through three segments: Franchise, Corporate-Owned Stores, and Equipment. The company is involved in franchising business in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Panama, Mexico, and Australia. It engages in the sale of fitness equipment to franchisee-owned stores in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. In addition, the company operates corporate-owned stores in the United States and Canada. Planet Fitness, Inc. was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Hampton, New Hampshire.