Critical Comparison: Grocery Outlet (NASDAQ:GO) vs. Epsium Enterprise (NASDAQ:EPSM)

Grocery Outlet (NASDAQ:GO) and Epsium Enterprise (NASDAQ:EPSM) are both small-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, risk, profitability, dividends, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

99.9% of Grocery Outlet shares are owned by institutional investors. 5.6% of Grocery Outlet shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Grocery Outlet and Epsium Enterprise, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Grocery Outlet	2	12	0	0	1.86
Epsium Enterprise	1	0	0	0	1.00

Grocery Outlet currently has a consensus price target of $10.59, suggesting a potential downside of 11.82%. Given Grocery Outlet’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Grocery Outlet is more favorable than Epsium Enterprise.

Profitability

This table compares Grocery Outlet and Epsium Enterprise’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Grocery Outlet	-8.04%	5.84%	1.79%
Epsium Enterprise	N/A	N/A	N/A

Risk & Volatility

Grocery Outlet has a beta of 0.72, indicating that its share price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Epsium Enterprise has a beta of 1.35, indicating that its share price is 35% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Grocery Outlet and Epsium Enterprise”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Grocery Outlet	$4.69 billion	0.25	-$224.91 million	($3.87)	-3.10
Epsium Enterprise	$5.12 million	3.77	-$1.50 million	N/A	N/A

Epsium Enterprise has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Grocery Outlet.

Summary

Grocery Outlet beats Epsium Enterprise on 7 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Grocery Outlet

Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. operates as a retailer of consumables and fresh products sold through independently operated stores in the United States. Its stores offer products in various categories, such as dairy and deli, produce, floral, fresh meat, seafood products, grocery, general merchandise, health and beauty care, frozen food, beer and wine, and ethnic products. The company was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Emeryville, California.

About Epsium Enterprise

We are a holding company incorporated under the laws of British Virgin Islands. As a holding company with no material operation of its own, we conduct substantially all our operations through an indirect Macau subsidiary, Companhia de Comercio Luz Limitada in Macau, or Luz. Luz is an 80%-owned subsidiary of Epsium Enterprise Limited in Hong Kong, or Epsium HK. Mr. Son I Tam, our CEO, Chairman, principal shareholder, and the founder of Epsium and Luz directly holds (i) 89.996% ownership interest in Epsium, (ii) 19% interest in Epsium HK, and (iii) 20% ownership interest in Luz. Luz is an import trading and wholesaler of primarily alcoholic beverages in Macau. Through Luz, we import and sell a broad range of premium beverages, primarily alcoholic beverages and, in 2022, a small quantity of tea and fruit juice. The alcoholic beverages we sell include Chinese liquor, French cognac, Scottish whiskey, fine wine, Champagne, and other miscellaneous beverage alcohol. Sales of Chinese liquor is by far our most significant operations, and we are a top wholesaler of high-end Chinese liquor in Macau. We operate only in Macau. Our principal executive office is located in Macau, SAR China.