Comparing Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) & Amcon Distributing (NASDAQ:DIT)

Amcon Distributing (NASDAQ:DIT) and Chefs’ Warehouse (NASDAQ:CHEF) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends, earnings and risk.

Profitability

This table compares Amcon Distributing and Chefs’ Warehouse’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Amcon Distributing	0.13%	3.27%	0.95%
Chefs’ Warehouse	1.28%	12.67%	3.41%

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Amcon Distributing and Chefs’ Warehouse, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Amcon Distributing	0	0	0	0	0.00
Chefs’ Warehouse	0	0	5	0	3.00

Chefs’ Warehouse has a consensus target price of $53.80, indicating a potential upside of 0.19%. Given Chefs’ Warehouse’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Chefs’ Warehouse is more favorable than Amcon Distributing.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares Amcon Distributing and Chefs’ Warehouse”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Amcon Distributing	$2.71 billion	0.03	$4.34 million	$5.96	20.97
Chefs’ Warehouse	$3.43 billion	0.62	$34.59 million	$1.14	47.11

Chefs’ Warehouse has higher revenue and earnings than Amcon Distributing. Amcon Distributing is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Chefs’ Warehouse, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

11.1% of Amcon Distributing shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.6% of Chefs’ Warehouse shares are held by institutional investors. 73.0% of Amcon Distributing shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 11.9% of Chefs’ Warehouse 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.

Risk and Volatility

Amcon Distributing has a beta of 0.58, suggesting that its share price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Chefs’ Warehouse has a beta of 2.29, suggesting that its share price is 129% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Chefs’ Warehouse beats Amcon Distributing on 12 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Amcon Distributing

AMCON Distributing Co. engages in the distribution of consumer products. It operates through the Wholesale Distribution (Wholesale) and Retail Health Food (Retail) segments. The Wholesale segment refers to the wholesale distribution of consumer products. The Retail segment focuses on the sale of health and natural food products. The company was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Omaha, NE.

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.