Pilgrim's Pride (PPC) Competitors

Medifast (NYSE:MED) and Pilgrim's Pride (NASDAQ:PPC) are both consumer staples companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, media sentiment, earnings, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation and profitability.

Do analysts rate MED or PPC?

Medifast currently has a consensus price target of $16.50, indicating a potential upside of 21.83%. Pilgrim's Pride has a consensus price target of $47.50, indicating a potential upside of 8.21%. Given Medifast's higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Medifast is more favorable than Pilgrim's Pride.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Medifast	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Pilgrim's Pride	0 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Is MED or PPC more profitable?

Pilgrim's Pride has a net margin of 6.81% compared to Medifast's net margin of 0.76%. Pilgrim's Pride's return on equity of 37.15% beat Medifast's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Medifast	0.76%	2.00%	1.50%
Pilgrim's Pride	6.81%	37.15%	13.46%

Does the media refer more to MED or PPC?

In the previous week, Pilgrim's Pride had 6 more articles in the media than Medifast. MarketBeat recorded 12 mentions for Pilgrim's Pride and 6 mentions for Medifast. Pilgrim's Pride's average media sentiment score of 1.49 beat Medifast's score of 0.71 indicating that Pilgrim's Pride is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Medifast	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Pilgrim's Pride	10 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, MED or PPC?

Pilgrim's Pride has higher revenue and earnings than Medifast. Pilgrim's Pride is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Medifast, 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
Medifast	$602.46M	0.25	$2.09M	$0.32	42.33
Pilgrim's Pride	$17.88B	0.58	$1.09B	$5.19	8.46

Do institutionals and insiders believe in MED or PPC?

95.5% of Medifast shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 16.6% of Pilgrim's Pride shares are held by institutional investors. 2.9% of Medifast shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 82.6% of Pilgrim's Pride shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Which has more volatility and risk, MED or PPC?

Medifast has a beta of 0.82, meaning that its share price is 18% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Pilgrim's Pride has a beta of 0.5, meaning that its share price is 50% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Pilgrim's Pride beats Medifast on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.