Head to Head Survey: Toast (NYSE:TOST) and Eaton Vance California Municipal Income Trust (NYSE:CEV)

Toast (NYSE:TOST) and Eaton Vance California Municipal Income Trust (NYSE:CEV) are both finance companies, but which is the better investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, risk, institutional ownership, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares Toast and Eaton Vance California Municipal Income Trust’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Toast	7.14%	23.90%	15.77%
Eaton Vance California Municipal Income Trust	N/A	N/A	N/A

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Toast and Eaton Vance California Municipal Income Trust”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Toast	$6.15 billion	2.83	$342.00 million	$0.78	43.38
Eaton Vance California Municipal Income Trust	$7.66 million	9.74	N/A	N/A	N/A

Toast has higher revenue and earnings than Eaton Vance California Municipal Income Trust.

Institutional and Insider Ownership

82.9% of Toast shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 35.9% of Eaton Vance California Municipal Income Trust shares are held by institutional investors. 10.0% of Toast shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

Toast has a beta of 1.72, meaning that its stock price is 72% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Eaton Vance California Municipal Income Trust has a beta of 0.58, meaning that its stock price is 42% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Toast and Eaton Vance California Municipal Income Trust, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Toast	0	10	17	0	2.63
Eaton Vance California Municipal Income Trust	0	0	0	0	0.00

Toast presently has a consensus price target of $39.31, indicating a potential upside of 16.17%. Given Toast’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Toast is more favorable than Eaton Vance California Municipal Income Trust.

Summary

Toast beats Eaton Vance California Municipal Income Trust on 10 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Toast

Toast, Inc. operates a cloud-based digital technology platform for the restaurant industry in the United States, Ireland, and India. The company offers software products for restaurant operations and point of sale, such as Toast POS, Toast now, multi-location management, kitchen display system, Toast mobile order and pay, Toast catering and events, Toast invoicing, Toast tables, and restaurant retail; and hardware products, including Toast flex, Toast flex for guest, Toast go 2, Toast tap, kiosks, and Delphi by Toast. It provides toast online ordering and toast takeout, first-party delivery toast delivery services, and third-party delivery integrations and orders hub; and loyalty, email marketing, and toast gift cards. In addition, the company offers payroll and team management, Sling by Toast, Toast pay card and payout, and tips manager, as well as partner-enabled products comprising insurance and benefits; supply chain and accounting products, such as xtraCHEF by toast; and financial technology solutions consisting of payment processing, toast capital, and purchase plans. Further, it offers reporting and analytics, Toast shop, and Toast partner connect and application programming interfaces. The company was formerly known as Opti Systems, Inc. and changed its name to Toast, Inc. in May 2012. Toast, Inc. was incorporated in 2011 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

About Eaton Vance California Municipal Income Trust

Eaton Vance California Municipal Income Trust is a close ended fixed income mutual fund launched and managed by Eaton Vance Management. It invests in the fixed income markets. The fund invests primarily in debt securities issued by education, hospital, housing, insured-education, insured-electric utilities, insured-hospital, insured-transportation, insured-water and sewer, transportation, and other sectors. Eaton Vance California Municipal Income Trust was formed in 1999 and is domiciled in United States.