Lancaster Colony (LANC) Competitors

Hormel Foods (NYSE:HRL) and Lancaster Colony (NASDAQ:LANC) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, media sentiment, profitability, earnings, institutional ownership, risk, dividends and valuation.

Which has more risk & volatility, HRL or LANC?

Hormel Foods has a beta of 0.33, suggesting that its share price is 67% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lancaster Colony has a beta of 0.47, suggesting that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts recommend HRL or LANC?

Hormel Foods currently has a consensus price target of $32.86, indicating a potential upside of 7.06%. Lancaster Colony has a consensus price target of $203.50, indicating a potential upside of 17.79%. Given Lancaster Colony's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Lancaster Colony is more favorable than Hormel Foods.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Hormel Foods	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.57
Lancaster Colony	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Does the media refer more to HRL or LANC?

In the previous week, Hormel Foods had 7 more articles in the media than Lancaster Colony. MarketBeat recorded 14 mentions for Hormel Foods and 7 mentions for Lancaster Colony. Hormel Foods' average media sentiment score of 1.00 beat Lancaster Colony's score of 0.38 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	9 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Lancaster Colony	2 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Which has higher earnings & valuation, HRL or LANC?

Hormel Foods has higher revenue and earnings than Lancaster Colony. Hormel Foods is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Lancaster Colony, 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	$11.92B	1.42	$805.04M	$1.36	22.57
Lancaster Colony	$1.87B	2.54	$158.61M	$6.15	28.09

Do institutionals and insiders believe in HRL or LANC?

41.0% of Hormel Foods shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 66.4% of Lancaster Colony shares are held by institutional investors. 0.7% of Hormel Foods shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 29.5% of Lancaster Colony shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is HRL or LANC more profitable?

Lancaster Colony has a net margin of 8.99% compared to Hormel Foods' net margin of 6.27%. Lancaster Colony's return on equity of 19.30% beat Hormel Foods' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Hormel Foods	6.27%	10.20%	6.11%
Lancaster Colony	8.99%	19.30%	15.03%

Is HRL or LANC a better dividend stock?

Hormel Foods pays an annual dividend of $1.16 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Lancaster Colony pays an annual dividend of $3.80 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. Hormel Foods pays out 85.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Lancaster Colony pays out 61.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hormel Foods has raised its dividend for 60 consecutive years and Lancaster Colony has raised its dividend for 62 consecutive years.

Summary

Lancaster Colony beats Hormel Foods on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.