Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) & CAVA Group (NYSE:CAVA) Critical Survey

CAVA Group (NYSE:CAVA) and Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) are both large-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their valuation, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, earnings, dividends and institutional ownership.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares CAVA Group and Chipotle Mexican Grill”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CAVA Group	$963.71 million	10.80	$13.28 million	$1.10	81.85
Chipotle Mexican Grill	$11.49 billion	6.13	$1.53 billion	$1.13	46.26

Chipotle Mexican Grill has higher revenue and earnings than CAVA Group. Chipotle Mexican Grill is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than CAVA Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for CAVA Group and Chipotle Mexican Grill, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CAVA Group	0	5	12	0	2.71
Chipotle Mexican Grill	0	8	19	1	2.75

CAVA Group presently has a consensus price target of $123.00, indicating a potential upside of 36.62%. Chipotle Mexican Grill has a consensus price target of $61.74, indicating a potential upside of 18.12%. Given CAVA Group’s higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe CAVA Group is more favorable than Chipotle Mexican Grill.

Profitability

This table compares CAVA Group and Chipotle Mexican Grill’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CAVA Group	5.88%	9.10%	5.24%
Chipotle Mexican Grill	13.56%	42.92%	17.32%

Volatility and Risk

CAVA Group has a beta of 3.28, indicating that its stock price is 228% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Chipotle Mexican Grill has a beta of 1.11, indicating that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

73.2% of CAVA Group shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 91.3% of Chipotle Mexican Grill shares are held by institutional investors. 6.8% of CAVA Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Chipotle Mexican Grill shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Chipotle Mexican Grill beats CAVA Group on 10 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About CAVA Group

CAVA Group, Inc. owns and operates a chain of restaurants under the CAVA brand in the United States. The company also offers dips, spreads, and dressings through grocery stores. In addition, the company provides online and mobile ordering platforms. Cava Group, Inc. was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Washington, the District of Columbia.

About Chipotle Mexican Grill

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, owns and operates Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants. It sells food and beverages through offering burritos, burrito bowls, quesadillas, tacos, and salads. The company also provides delivery and related services its app and website. It has operations in the United States, Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Newport Beach, California.