CAVA Group (NYSE:CAVA) vs. Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) Head-To-Head Analysis

CAVA Group (NYSE:CAVA) and Darden Restaurants (NYSE:DRI) are both large-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, valuation, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends and institutional ownership.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

73.2% of CAVA Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.6% of Darden Restaurants shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Darden Restaurants shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for CAVA Group and Darden Restaurants, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
CAVA Group	0	8	8	0	2.50
Darden Restaurants	1	6	17	0	2.67

CAVA Group currently has a consensus price target of $115.64, indicating a potential downside of 8.22%. Darden Restaurants has a consensus price target of $179.25, indicating a potential upside of 12.35%. Given Darden Restaurants’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Darden Restaurants is more favorable than CAVA Group.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares CAVA Group and Darden Restaurants”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
CAVA Group	$845.22 million	17.00	$13.28 million	$0.41	307.32
Darden Restaurants	$11.42 billion	1.67	$1.03 billion	$8.52	18.73

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

Volatility & Risk

CAVA Group has a beta of 3.33, suggesting that its share price is 233% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Darden Restaurants has a beta of 1.3, suggesting that its share price is 30% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares CAVA Group and Darden Restaurants’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
CAVA Group	5.04%	7.37%	4.25%
Darden Restaurants	9.11%	49.46%	9.39%

Summary

Darden Restaurants beats CAVA Group on 11 of the 14 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 Darden Restaurants

Darden Restaurants, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, owns and operates full-service restaurants in the United States and Canada. It operates under Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, Yard House, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, Bahama Breeze, Eddie V’s Prime Seafood, and Capital Burger brand names. Darden Restaurants, Inc. was incorporated in 1995 and is based in Orlando, Florida.