Head-To-Head Analysis: GEN Restaurant Group (NASDAQ:GENK) vs. Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN)

GEN Restaurant Group (NASDAQ:GENK) and Denny’s (NASDAQ:DENN) are both small-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, valuation and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares GEN Restaurant Group and Denny’s’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
GEN Restaurant Group	2.46%	20.27%	2.84%
Denny’s	5.27%	-63.27%	6.66%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares GEN Restaurant Group and Denny’s’ top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
GEN Restaurant Group	$181.01 million	1.82	$8.41 million	N/A	N/A
Denny’s	$456.43 million	0.92	$19.94 million	$0.43	18.81

Denny’s has higher revenue and earnings than GEN Restaurant Group.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

10.2% of GEN Restaurant Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 85.1% of Denny’s shares are held by institutional investors. 4.2% of Denny’s shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for GEN Restaurant Group and Denny’s, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
GEN Restaurant Group	0	0	4	0	3.00
Denny’s	0	3	3	0	2.50

GEN Restaurant Group presently has a consensus price target of $14.33, suggesting a potential upside of 40.94%. Denny’s has a consensus price target of $11.42, suggesting a potential upside of 41.12%. Given Denny’s’ higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Denny’s is more favorable than GEN Restaurant Group.

Summary

Denny’s beats GEN Restaurant Group on 7 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About GEN Restaurant Group

GEN Restaurant Group, Inc. operates restaurants in California, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, Texas, New York, and Florida. It offers meats, poultry, and seafood. The company was founded in 2011 and is based in Cerritos, California.

About Denny’s

Denny's Corporation, through its subsidiaries, owns and operates franchised full-service restaurant chains under the Denny's and Keke's Breakfast Cafe brands in the United States and internationally. The company was formerly known as Advantica Restaurant Group, Inc. and changed its name to Denny's Corporation in July 2002. Denny's Corporation was founded in 1953 and is headquartered in Spartanburg, South Carolina.