TreeHouse Foods (THS) Competitors

TreeHouse Foods (NYSE:THS) and Lancaster Colony (NASDAQ:LANC) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, dividends, analyst recommendations, valuation, community ranking, institutional ownership, earnings, profitability and risk.

Does the media prefer THS or LANC?

In the previous week, Lancaster Colony had 5 more articles in the media than TreeHouse Foods. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for Lancaster Colony and 1 mentions for TreeHouse Foods. Lancaster Colony's average media sentiment score of 1.75 beat TreeHouse Foods' score of 1.54 indicating that Lancaster Colony is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
TreeHouse Foods	1 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive
Lancaster Colony	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Very Positive

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in THS or LANC?

TreeHouse Foods received 102 more outperform votes than Lancaster Colony when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 65.73% of users gave TreeHouse Foods an outperform vote while only 63.24% of users gave Lancaster Colony an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
TreeHouse Foods	Outperform Votes 489 65.73%	Underperform Votes 255 34.27%
Lancaster Colony	Outperform Votes 387 63.24%	Underperform Votes 225 36.76%

Is THS or LANC more profitable?

Lancaster Colony has a net margin of 7.10% compared to TreeHouse Foods' net margin of 0.76%. Lancaster Colony's return on equity of 18.96% beat TreeHouse Foods' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
TreeHouse Foods	0.76%	5.81%	2.32%
Lancaster Colony	7.10%	18.96%	14.80%

Do institutionals & insiders believe in THS or LANC?

99.8% of TreeHouse Foods shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 66.4% of Lancaster Colony shares are held by institutional investors. 0.9% of TreeHouse Foods shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 29.6% of Lancaster Colony shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, THS or LANC?

Lancaster Colony has lower revenue, but higher earnings than TreeHouse Foods. Lancaster Colony is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than TreeHouse Foods, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
TreeHouse Foods	$3.43B	0.54	$53.10M	$0.46	76.48
Lancaster Colony	$1.82B	2.76	$111.29M	$4.82	37.89

Which has more volatility and risk, THS or LANC?

TreeHouse Foods has a beta of 0.35, meaning that its share price is 65% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lancaster Colony has a beta of 0.39, meaning that its share price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts prefer THS or LANC?

TreeHouse Foods presently has a consensus price target of $38.40, indicating a potential upside of 9.03%. Lancaster Colony has a consensus price target of $198.75, indicating a potential upside of 8.97%. Given TreeHouse Foods' higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe TreeHouse Foods is more favorable than Lancaster Colony.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
TreeHouse Foods	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Lancaster Colony	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25

Summary

Lancaster Colony beats TreeHouse Foods on 12 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.