Lifeway Foods (LWAY) Competitors

Lifeway Foods (NASDAQ:LWAY) and TreeHouse Foods (NYSE:THS) are both small-cap consumer staples companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, profitability and media sentiment.

Is LWAY or THS more profitable?

Lifeway Foods has a net margin of 5.49% compared to TreeHouse Foods' net margin of 0.62%. Lifeway Foods' return on equity of 14.32% beat TreeHouse Foods' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Lifeway Foods	5.49%	14.32%	11.35%
TreeHouse Foods	0.62%	6.35%	2.45%

Does the media refer more to LWAY or THS?

In the previous week, Lifeway Foods and Lifeway Foods both had 5 articles in the media. Lifeway Foods' average media sentiment score of 0.41 beat TreeHouse Foods' score of 0.00 indicating that Lifeway Foods is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Lifeway Foods	0 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
TreeHouse Foods	1 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, LWAY or THS?

TreeHouse Foods has higher revenue and earnings than Lifeway Foods. Lifeway Foods 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
Lifeway Foods	$186.82M	2.14	$9.02M	$0.69	38.12
TreeHouse Foods	$3.35B	0.29	$26.90M	$0.39	49.50

Do analysts prefer LWAY or THS?

Lifeway Foods currently has a consensus target price of $33.00, suggesting a potential upside of 25.48%. TreeHouse Foods has a consensus target price of $23.33, suggesting a potential upside of 20.87%. Given Lifeway Foods' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts clearly believe Lifeway Foods is more favorable than TreeHouse Foods.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Lifeway Foods	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50
TreeHouse Foods	1 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	1.88

Which has more risk and volatility, LWAY or THS?

Lifeway Foods has a beta of 0.46, indicating that its share price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, TreeHouse Foods has a beta of 0.26, indicating that its share price is 74% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of LWAY or THS?

36.4% of Lifeway Foods shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 99.8% of TreeHouse Foods shares are held by institutional investors. 18.9% of Lifeway Foods shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 11.1% of TreeHouse Foods shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Lifeway Foods beats TreeHouse Foods on 11 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.