Head to Head Review: First Watch Restaurant Group (NASDAQ:FWRG) and Granite City Food & Brewery (OTCMKTS:GCFB)

First Watch Restaurant Group (NASDAQ:FWRG) and Granite City Food & Brewery (OTCMKTS:GCFB) are both retail/wholesale companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, profitability, risk and institutional ownership.

Risk and Volatility

First Watch Restaurant Group has a beta of 1, suggesting that its share price has a similar volatility profile to the S&P 500.Comparatively, Granite City Food & Brewery has a beta of -3.49, suggesting that its share price is 449% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares First Watch Restaurant Group and Granite City Food & Brewery’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
First Watch Restaurant Group	2.11%	3.18%	1.51%
Granite City Food & Brewery	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for First Watch Restaurant Group and Granite City Food & Brewery, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
First Watch Restaurant Group	0	2	4	0	2.67
Granite City Food & Brewery	0	0	0	0	N/A

First Watch Restaurant Group presently has a consensus target price of $21.00, suggesting a potential upside of 11.17%.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

96.1% of First Watch Restaurant Group shares are held by institutional investors. 4.5% of First Watch Restaurant Group shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 26.3% of Granite City Food & Brewery shares are held 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.

Earnings and Valuation

This table compares First Watch Restaurant Group and Granite City Food & Brewery’s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
First Watch Restaurant Group	$800.30 million	1.40	$6.91 million	$0.27	69.96
Granite City Food & Brewery	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

First Watch Restaurant Group has higher revenue and earnings than Granite City Food & Brewery.

Summary

First Watch Restaurant Group beats Granite City Food & Brewery on 7 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About First Watch Restaurant Group

First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. operates and franchises restaurants under the First Watch trade name in the United States. The company was formerly known as AI Fresh Super Holdco, Inc. and changed its name to First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc. in December 2019. The company was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Bradenton, Florida.

About Granite City Food & Brewery

Granite City Food & Brewery, Ltd. operates casual dining restaurants in the United States. The company's upscale casual dining restaurants include the Granite City Food & Brewery restaurant that offers various menu items and handcrafted beers, as well as other regional craft beers; and the Cadillac Ranch All American Bar & Grill restaurant that offers American cuisine, including homemade meatloaf and pasta dishes. The company was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Bloomington, Minnesota.