The Boston Beer (NYSE:SAM) and National Beverage (NASDAQ:FIZZ) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, risk, institutional ownership, profitability and valuation.
Volatility and Risk
The Boston Beer has a beta of 0.76, suggesting that its stock price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, National Beverage has a beta of 1.39, suggesting that its stock price is 39% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Institutional & Insider Ownership
68.8% of The Boston Beer shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 32.7% of National Beverage shares are owned by institutional investors. 29.1% of The Boston Beer shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 75.2% of National Beverage shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
Profitability
This table compares The Boston Beer and National Beverage's net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets |
|---|
| The Boston Beer | 10.77% | 20.36% | 13.84% |
| National Beverage | 15.34% | 33.20% | 23.86% |
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for The Boston Beer and National Beverage, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score |
|---|
| The Boston Beer | 1 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 2.50 |
| National Beverage | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.25 |
The Boston Beer presently has a consensus target price of $1,048.50, indicating a potential upside of 1.72%. National Beverage has a consensus target price of $32.50, indicating a potential downside of 33.51%. Given The Boston Beer's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe The Boston Beer is more favorable than National Beverage.
Valuation and Earnings
This table compares The Boston Beer and National Beverage's revenue, earnings per share and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio |
|---|
| The Boston Beer | $1.25 billion | 10.12 | $110.04 million | $9.17 | 112.41 |
| National Beverage | $1.00 billion | 4.56 | $129.97 million | $2.78 | 17.58 |
National Beverage has lower revenue, but higher earnings than The Boston Beer. National Beverage is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than The Boston Beer, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
The Boston Beer beats National Beverage on 8 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.
