Central Garden & Pet (CENTA) Competitors

WD-40 (NASDAQ:WDFC) and Central Garden & Pet (NASDAQ:CENTA) are both mid-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, profitability, community ranking, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, media sentiment, earnings and dividends.

Which has more risk & volatility, WDFC or CENTA?

WD-40 has a beta of 0.17, suggesting that its share price is 83% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Central Garden & Pet has a beta of 0.68, suggesting that its share price is 32% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate WDFC or CENTA?

WD-40 currently has a consensus target price of $301.00, indicating a potential upside of 24.02%. Central Garden & Pet has a consensus target price of $33.00, indicating a potential upside of 6.55%. Given WD-40's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe WD-40 is more favorable than Central Garden & Pet.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
WD-40	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
Central Garden & Pet	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Do insiders & institutionals have more ownership in WDFC or CENTA?

91.5% of WD-40 shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 50.8% of Central Garden & Pet shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of WD-40 shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 20.3% of Central Garden & Pet shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media prefer WDFC or CENTA?

In the previous week, Central Garden & Pet had 4 more articles in the media than WD-40. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for Central Garden & Pet and 6 mentions for WD-40. WD-40's average media sentiment score of 1.70 beat Central Garden & Pet's score of 0.81 indicating that WD-40 is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
WD-40	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Central Garden & Pet	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is WDFC or CENTA more profitable?

WD-40 has a net margin of 11.78% compared to Central Garden & Pet's net margin of 3.77%. WD-40's return on equity of 31.68% beat Central Garden & Pet's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
WD-40	11.78%	31.68%	15.93%
Central Garden & Pet	3.77%	10.08%	4.38%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor WDFC or CENTA?

WD-40 received 98 more outperform votes than Central Garden & Pet when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 62.29% of users gave Central Garden & Pet an outperform vote while only 53.60% of users gave WD-40 an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
WD-40	Outperform Votes 283 53.60%	Underperform Votes 245 46.40%
Central Garden & Pet	Outperform Votes 185 62.29%	Underperform Votes 112 37.71%

Which has better earnings & valuation, WDFC or CENTA?

Central Garden & Pet has higher revenue and earnings than WD-40. Central Garden & Pet is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than WD-40, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
WD-40	$610.64M	5.38	$69.64M	$6.27	38.71
Central Garden & Pet	$3.16B	0.64	$107.98M	$1.87	16.56

Summary

WD-40 beats Central Garden & Pet on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.