McCormick & Company, Incorporated (MKC) Competitors

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) and McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) are both large-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, media sentiment, institutional ownership, community ranking, profitability, earnings, analyst recommendations, valuation and risk.

Does the media favor HRL or MKC?

In the previous week, Hormel Foods had 3 more articles in the media than McCormick & Company, Incorporated. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for Hormel Foods and 5 mentions for McCormick & Company, Incorporated. McCormick & Company, Incorporated's average media sentiment score of 0.98 beat Hormel Foods' score of 0.50 indicating that Hormel Foods is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Hormel Foods	5 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
McCormick & Company, Incorporated	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is HRL or MKC a better dividend stock?

Hormel Foods pays an annual dividend of $1.13 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. McCormick & Company, Incorporated pays an annual dividend of $1.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. Hormel Foods pays out 77.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. McCormick & Company, Incorporated pays out 64.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hormel Foods has raised its dividend for 59 consecutive years and McCormick & Company, Incorporated has raised its dividend for 37 consecutive years. Hormel Foods is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of HRL or MKC?

41.0% of Hormel Foods shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.7% of McCormick & Company, Incorporated shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of Hormel Foods shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 22.9% of McCormick & Company, Incorporated shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in HRL or MKC?

McCormick & Company, Incorporated received 9 more outperform votes than Hormel Foods when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 57.99% of users gave McCormick & Company, Incorporated an outperform vote while only 57.73% of users gave Hormel Foods an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Hormel Foods	Outperform Votes 448 57.73%	Underperform Votes 328 42.27%
McCormick & Company, Incorporated	Outperform Votes 457 57.99%	Underperform Votes 331 42.01%

Which has stronger earnings and valuation, HRL or MKC?

Hormel Foods has higher revenue and earnings than McCormick & Company, Incorporated. Hormel Foods is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than McCormick & Company, Incorporated, 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
Hormel Foods	$12.11B	1.59	$793.57M	$1.46	24.10
McCormick & Company, Incorporated	$6.66B	3.00	$680.60M	$2.62	28.37

Is HRL or MKC more profitable?

McCormick & Company, Incorporated has a net margin of 10.56% compared to McCormick & Company, Incorporated's net margin of 6.55%. Hormel Foods' return on equity of 14.45% beat McCormick & Company, Incorporated's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hormel Foods	6.55%	11.51%	6.64%
McCormick & Company, Incorporated	10.56%	14.45%	5.70%

Which has more volatility and risk, HRL or MKC?

Hormel Foods has a beta of 0.27, meaning that its stock price is 73% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, McCormick & Company, Incorporated has a beta of 0.74, meaning that its stock price is 26% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate HRL or MKC?

Hormel Foods presently has a consensus target price of $31.00, indicating a potential downside of 12.82%. McCormick & Company, Incorporated has a consensus target price of $77.88, indicating a potential upside of 2.39%. Given Hormel Foods' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe McCormick & Company, Incorporated is more favorable than Hormel Foods.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hormel Foods	2 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.60
McCormick & Company, Incorporated	2 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Summary

McCormick & Company, Incorporated beats Hormel Foods on 14 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.