Noble Roman’s (OTCMKTS:NROM) versus TH International (NASDAQ:THCH) Critical Comparison

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

Profitability

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

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

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Noble Roman’s and TH International, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

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

Valuation and Earnings

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

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Noble Roman’s	$14.37 million	0.57	$1.46 million	$0.04	9.25
TH International	$221.94 million	0.47	-$123.81 million	($0.74)	-0.86

Noble Roman’s has higher earnings, but lower revenue 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.

Risk & Volatility

Noble Roman’s has a beta of 0.87, suggesting that its share price is 13% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, TH International has a beta of 0.26, suggesting that its share price is 74% less volatile than the S&P 500.

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 hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

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

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.

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.