Corteva (NYSE:CTVA) and Limoneira (NASDAQ:LMNR) 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.
Risk and Volatility
Corteva has a beta of 0.82, indicating that its share price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Limoneira has a beta of 1.04, indicating that its share price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Institutional and Insider Ownership
77.2% of Corteva shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 52.9% of Limoneira shares are held by institutional investors. 0.2% of Corteva shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 4.5% of Limoneira 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.
Profitability
This table compares Corteva and Limoneira's net margins, return on equity and return on assets.
| Net Margins | Return on Equity | Return on Assets |
---|
Corteva | 4.42% | 4.70% | 2.72% |
Limoneira | -9.99% | -5.77% | -2.99% |
Dividends
Corteva pays an annual dividend of $0.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Limoneira pays an annual dividend of $0.30 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. Corteva pays out 36.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Limoneira pays out -43.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Corteva has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years and Limoneira has increased its dividend for 1 consecutive years. Limoneira is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Analyst Recommendations
This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Corteva and Limoneira, as reported by MarketBeat.com.
| Sell Ratings | Hold Ratings | Buy Ratings | Strong Buy Ratings | Rating Score |
---|
Corteva | 3 | 7 | 11 | 0 | 2.38 |
Limoneira | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 2.86 |
Corteva presently has a consensus target price of $41.6875, indicating a potential downside of 12.24%. Limoneira has a consensus target price of $23.25, indicating a potential upside of 32.33%. Given Limoneira's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Limoneira is more favorable than Corteva.
Valuation & Earnings
This table compares Corteva and Limoneira's gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.
| Gross Revenue | Price/Sales Ratio | Net Income | Earnings Per Share | Price/Earnings Ratio |
---|
Corteva | $13.85 billion | 2.54 | $-959,000,000.00 | $1.43 | 33.22 |
Limoneira | $164.56 million | 1.89 | $-5,940,000.00 | ($0.69) | -25.46 |
Limoneira has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Corteva. Limoneira is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Corteva, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Summary
Corteva beats Limoneira on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.