Financial Comparison: Amcon Distributing (NASDAQ:DIT) & SpartanNash (NASDAQ:SPTN)

Amcon Distributing (NASDAQ:DIT) and SpartanNash (NASDAQ:SPTN) are both small-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, profitability, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, earnings and risk.

Institutional & Insider Ownership

11.1% of Amcon Distributing shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.6% of SpartanNash shares are owned by institutional investors. 73.0% of Amcon Distributing shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 1.4% of SpartanNash shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Dividends

Amcon Distributing pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. SpartanNash pays an annual dividend of $0.87 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.8%. Amcon Distributing pays out 10.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. SpartanNash pays out 65.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. SpartanNash has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years. SpartanNash is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Volatility & Risk

Amcon Distributing has a beta of 0.58, indicating that its share price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SpartanNash has a beta of 0.35, indicating that its share price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

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

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Amcon Distributing	0.16%	3.97%	1.18%
SpartanNash	0.48%	8.57%	2.81%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Amcon Distributing and SpartanNash”s 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	$7.17	17.59
SpartanNash	$9.73 billion	0.06	$52.24 million	$1.33	13.54

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

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Amcon Distributing and SpartanNash, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Amcon Distributing	0	0	0	0	0.00
SpartanNash	0	1	0	0	2.00

SpartanNash has a consensus target price of $20.00, suggesting a potential upside of 11.05%. Given SpartanNash’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe SpartanNash is more favorable than Amcon Distributing.

Summary

SpartanNash beats Amcon Distributing on 11 of the 16 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 SpartanNash

SpartanNash Company distributes and retails grocery products in the United States of America. It operates through Wholesale and Retail segments. The Wholesale segment offers grocery products and perishable food products, including dry groceries, produce, dairy products, meat, delicatessen items, bakery goods, frozen food, seafood, floral products, general merchandise, beverages, tobacco products, health and beauty care, and pharmaceutical products to independent retailers, national accounts, food service distributors, e-commerce providers, and corporate owned retail stores. This segment offers various support services to independent retailers. The Retail segment operates retail stores, fuel centers, and pharmacies primarily under the banners of Family Fare, Martin’s Super Markets, D&W Fresh Market, VG’s Grocery, Family Fresh Market, Supermercado Nuestra Familia, Forest Hills Foods, Dillonvale IGA, and Fresh City Market. It supplies private brand products to military commissaries. The company was formerly known as Spartan Stores, Inc. and changed its name to SpartanNash Company in November 2013. SpartanNash Company was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan.