CHEFS’ WAREHOUSE, INC. vs Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc., two Grocery stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
The Chefs' Warehouse delivers specialty ingredients to professional kitchens; Sprouts Farmers Market sells natural groceries straight to shoppers. Chefs' Warehouse distributes to restaurants while Sprouts sells to shoppers, and their numbers reflect the split. Sprouts keeps a healthy 5.7% of sales against Chefs' 1.87%, the reward for a curated store rather than a delivery route. Sprouts carries no net debt while Chefs' sits at 1.23 debt-to-equity. The market prices Sprouts at 15.79 times earnings and Chefs' at a far steeper 52.41, a bet on the specialty distributor's growth. Sprouts earns 35.38% on equity against Chefs' 13.05%, and generates more free cash, 4.61% versus 1.84%. Both trade well above book.
Comparison updated 2026-07-11.
| Metric | CHEF | SFM |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $95.73 | $80.80 |
| Market cap | $4.4B | $7.7B |
| Sector | Grocery | Grocery |
| Stage | Mature | Mature |
| P/E | 52.3 | 15.5 |
| P/B | 7.25 | 5.38 |
| P/S | 1.04 | 0.87 |
| EV/EBITDA | 29.6 | 8.9 |
| Revenue growth | +10.0% | +10.5% |
| Gross margin | 24.3% | 39.4% |
| Operating margin | 3.1% | 9.2% |
| Net margin | 1.9% | 5.7% |
| Return on equity | 13.1% | 35.4% |
| Return on assets | 4.0% | 11.9% |
| Return on invested capital | 8.7% | 35.8% |
| FCF yield | 1.8% | 4.7% |
| Debt / equity | 1.23 | 0.00 |
| Current ratio | 2.18 | 0.92 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 4.56 | 4.06 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 5 / 9 | 8 / 9 |
Each week boothcheck ranks the stocks whose prices are betting on the most. Read the most stretched bets archive →
boothcheck is also on Android. Get the app on Google Play →
The stronger value is highlighted per metric where one is strictly better on that single number; it is not an overall verdict on either company. For informational and research purposes only. Not investment advice. Not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. boothcheck is not a registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results.