Financial Contrast: Noble Roman’s (OTCMKTS:NROM) and TH International (NASDAQ:THCH)

TH International (NASDAQ:THCH) and Noble Roman’s (OTCMKTS:NROM) are both small-cap retail/wholesale companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, earnings, dividends, risk, valuation, institutional ownership and analyst recommendations.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

91.9% of TH International shares are owned by institutional investors. 30.1% of Noble Roman’s shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk and Volatility

TH International has a beta of 0.26, suggesting that its stock price is 74% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Noble Roman’s has a beta of 0.86, suggesting that its stock price is 14% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares TH International and Noble Roman’s’ top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
TH International	$221.94 million	0.46	-$123.81 million	($0.74)	-0.84
Noble Roman’s	$14.37 million	0.52	$1.46 million	$0.04	8.43

Noble Roman’s has lower revenue, but higher earnings than TH International. TH International is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Noble Roman’s, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for TH International and Noble Roman’s, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
TH International	0	0	0	0	N/A
Noble Roman’s	0	0	0	0	N/A

Profitability

This table compares TH International and Noble Roman’s’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
TH International	-43.33%	N/A	-17.56%
Noble Roman’s	3.83%	23.18%	3.13%

Summary

Noble Roman’s beats TH International on 9 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About TH International

TH International Limited operates Tim Hortons coffee shops in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau. The company offers brewed tea, coffee, milk tea, lemonade, hot chocolate, and coffee drinks. It is also involved in franchise related business. The company is based in Shanghai, the People's Republic of China.

About Noble Roman’s

Noble Roman's, Inc. sells and services franchises, and licenses and operates foodservice locations for stand-alone restaurants and non-traditional foodservice operations. The company franchises, licenses, and operates foodservice locations under the Noble Roman's Craft Pizza & Pub, Noble Roman's Pizza, Noble Roman's Take-N-Bake, and Tuscano's Italian Style Subs trade names, which provide breadsticks and cheesy stix with dip, pizza, pasta, salads, wings, baked sandwiches, and other related breakfast products, as well as a selection of desserts. The company was incorporated in 1972 and is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana.